New hotels in The Wharf, Washington, D.C.

Until 2017 this stretch of Southwest was a fish market, a few restaurant barges and parking. The Wharf, as the redevelopment is called, now runs about a mile along the Washington Channel, from the Francis Case Memorial Bridge to Fort McNair. It was built in two phases: the first opened on October 12, 2017, the second was completed in October 2022 and added an office building, apartments, a condominium block and a hotel. The master architects were Perkins Eastman, the developers Hoffman & Associates and Madison Marquette. Total cost is usually given as $3.6 billion, with 3.2 million square feet of retail, residential and entertainment space on 24 acres of land and 50 of water.

Two of the three hotels we track here are within a few minutes of one another. The third is the one people book by mistake.

What the ground was before

The fish market at 1100 Maine Avenue SW opened in 1805, which makes it, by the Wharf's own account, the oldest continuously operating open-air fish market in the United States and 17 years older than New York's Fulton Fish Market. It survived the clearance that wiped out most of the neighborhood. From the late 1950s the federal government urban-renewed Southwest, removing roughly 23,000 residents, most of them Black, demolishing the old street grid and replacing it with federal offices, modernist housing and the I-395 trench. The Wharf was planned on what that process left on the water.

The market is still the place to see this. Vendors sell blue crab, shucked oysters, clams, shrimp and whole fish, and the historic oyster shed has been restored alongside a market hall and two small pavilions.

Getting around

Waterfront station, on the Green Line at 4th and M Streets SW, is about 600 yards from the Maine Avenue end of the promenade. L'Enfant Plaza, where the Blue, Orange, Silver, Green and Yellow lines meet, is under ten minutes on foot from the Wharf's upper end, and a free shuttle links the two. Water taxis from Transit Pier serve Georgetown, Alexandria and National Harbor, and run seasonally, so check the schedule before planning a day around one.

From L'Enfant Plaza the Mall is close. The Museum of the Bible is at 400 4th Street SW, a few minutes north of the station, and Arena Stage's Mead Center is at 1101 6th Street SW. For the museum district proper, and for restaurants that are not on a pier, Penn Quarter is a short Metro ride away. The rest of the city is covered on the Washington, D.C. page, including Georgetown and Dupont Circle.

What to do at the Wharf

The evening schedule is built around music. The Anthem is a concert hall of about 6,000 seats, Union Stage and Pearl Street Warehouse are club rooms, and Transit Pier has a floating stage for free concerts in season and an ice rink in winter. District Pier runs 425 feet into the channel, the longest in the city. Recreation Pier rents kayaks and stand-up paddleboards, and a free jitney runs from there to East Potomac Park.

District Square, a pedestrian mall with a wood-burning fire pit, is where most of the shops and restaurants cluster. Rooftop drinking is a local sport: Tiki TNT and 12 Stories, atop the InterContinental, are the two that come up most.

Where to stay

On the water

The Pendry Washington DC, The Wharf opened on October 26, 2022, the seventh hotel in the Pendry collection and its first in the capital. It has 131 rooms, was designed by ODA with interiors by Toronto's DesignAgency, and stands at 760 Maine Avenue SW. Pendry Washington DC, The Wharf has an outdoor pool with cabanas and a rooftop terrace with a fire pit; its restaurant is Moonraker. Rates start around $495 a night.

The Wharf has two other branded hotels that we do not track as new openings. The InterContinental, 278 rooms, opened with the first phase in 2017. The Canopy by Hilton, 175 rooms, is at 975 7th Street SW.

Inland, toward the Mall

A different building altogether: The Potomac Hotel, Autograph Collection at 1330 Maryland Avenue SW. It has 373 rooms and opened under that name in August 2026, which is a reflag, not a new building. It was the Mandarin Oriental Washington in 2004, then Salamander Washington DC under Henderson Park, and Marriott's Autograph Collection brand took it over with Pyramid Global Hospitality as manager. Sheila Johnson, who founded Salamander, stayed on as a minority partner, and the interiors were redone by Brennan Beer Gorman Monk. The restaurant is Dōgon, from chef Kwame Onwuachi, which opened in 2024 in the Salamander era and is still there. The spa has two levels. The walk to L'Enfant Plaza is about 730 meters, the Wharf is a few minutes further. Rates start around $210.

Near L'Enfant Plaza

Despite the name, citizenM Washington DC Capitol Hill is not on Capitol Hill. It stands at 550 School Street SW, with L'Enfant Plaza about three minutes on foot, and has 252 rooms in a 12-story ground-up tower that opened in October 2020. It was the brand's fifth U.S. hotel. The rooms are compact and the ground-floor lobby does the work of a living room; there is a rooftop bar on the 12th floor. The neighborhood around it is government offices and transit, quiet after six.

Which one for your trip

For a concert at The Anthem or dinner on the pier, Pendry is the only one of the three where you can walk back to your room in two minutes. It is also the most expensive by a wide margin.

The Potomac suits a stay split between the Wharf and the Mall: it is on neither, but walkable to both, and has the meeting space (roughly 38,000 square feet, indoor and outdoor) for anyone coming for a conference.

citizenM is the one for a short work trip or a night before a flight, when location on the Metro matters more than the view. Reagan National is about 15 minutes away by car.

Frequently asked questions

What is the newest hotel at The Wharf?

The Potomac Hotel, Autograph Collection, relaunched in August 2026, but the building dates from 2004. The newest ground-up hotel in the Wharf complex we track is Pendry Washington DC, The Wharf, which opened in October 2022.

Is citizenM Washington DC Capitol Hill actually on Capitol Hill?

No. It is at 550 School Street SW, in Southwest, about three minutes from L'Enfant Plaza Metro and roughly ten minutes on foot from the National Mall. The Capitol Hill rowhouse district is on the other side of the Mall.

How do I get to The Wharf by Metro?

Take the Green Line to Waterfront, at 4th and M Streets SW, about 600 yards from the promenade. L'Enfant Plaza, which has five lines, is also under ten minutes away on foot, or a free shuttle ride.

How old is the fish market at The Wharf?

It opened in 1805. The Wharf describes it as the oldest continuously operating open-air fish market in the United States.