If all goes to plan, Therme Group will construct and operate a multimillion-dollar health oasis that’s promised to revitalize the stretch of land along the Anacostia River known as Poplar Point.
While the D.C. government awaits the findings of an environmental assessment, Ward 8 resident and Therme representative Wanda Lockridge continues to promote what she predicts will be an engine of economic development in Ward 8.
“For over 30 years, this place has just been deserted, contaminated and nothing’s been done with that,” Lockridge, a lifelong Ward 8 resident and Therme’s director of community engagement, said about Poplar Point.
Earlier this year, the Bowser administration announced Therme as the sole respondent to an RFEI (request for expression of interest) for Poplar Point’s redevelopment. Once completed, the proposed $500 million indoor-outdoor facility will span 15 acres and nearly 500,000 square feet, which includes thermal baths, saunas, mineral pools, waterslides, botanical spaces, art and dining.
Per the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED), Therme will share space at Poplar Point with two mixed-use residential buildings with ground-floor retail — all of which is intended to complement construction of the Bridge District.
Lockridge, a self-described “Ward 8-atonian,” joined Therme in the spring, shortly after DMPED’s 11th annual March Madness business showcase, where D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Nina Albert, deputy mayor for planning and economic development, revealed the urban wellness entity as a partner.
Since stepping into her role, Lockridge has engaged a bevy of Ward 8-based organizations and programs, including: the United Planning Organization, HOPE Project, Washington Area Community Investment Fund, Ballou Senior High School’s hospitality program, and University of the District of Columbia. She said she’s also engaged a bevy of Ward 8-based advisory neighborhood commissions.
“It is really an opportunity for me to share with my neighbors and the community that raised me that this is for us, and we need to take advantage of it,” said Lockridge, who was former chief of staff for Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White (D), before his February expulsion and recent reelection and reinstatement to the legislative body. “There’s going to be pushback because it is very new and people don’t know what it’s about [but] my job is to help them to understand.”
Meanwhile, the D.C. and federal governments await the milestone that will allow Therme to establish roots in the nation’s capital.
As outlined in 2006 congressional legislation, Poplar Point’s transfer from the National Park Service (NPS) to the D.C. government relies not only on the completion and certification of the environmental assessment, but the relocation and development of the new NPS and U.S. Park Police facilities — a process estimated to take several months.
In Ward 8, Lockridge is taking the time to allay residents’ concerns about inaccessibility and displacement. She said she’s done so by speaking about the wellness benefits for residents, and the potential for employment, local business enterprises, and collaboration with local career and technical education programs, and expressed no plans to stop.
Lockridge went as far as taking a delegation of Ward 8 residents and community leaders — including Guleford Bobo, Lamont B. Mitchell, and Troy Donte Prestwood — to a Therme facility in Europe.
“Therme is being very intentional about making sure that the community engagement is a part of the plan and that we’re hearing and listening to everyone,” Lockridge said. “We’re meeting with those who support us, those who are on the edge, those who don’t know much about us and those who, quite frankly, [are] pushing back so we can say [we] hear [their] concerns. Let’s see how we can work through them.”
Poplar Point: Unlocked Potential, a Question of Equity
Therme’s proposed move to Poplar Point comes amid lower revenue projections earlier this year that prompted the Bowser administration to prioritize sports, entertainment and technological innovation as engines of economic growth.
By September, when the Office of the Chief Financial Officer’s projections showed “an improved economic outlook for corporate earnings and capital gains from financial markets,” Mayor Bowser was promoting her “Growth Agenda.”
Albert, in her third year as deputy mayor for planning and economic development, stands alongside Bowser in actualizing a vision centered on business attraction, job growth, and new tax revenue. She counts Therme DC as a piece of that puzzle, telling The Informer that the urban spa’s launch will make Poplar Point the latest D.C. waterfront with its economic potential unlocked.
“Poplar Point is the true access to a new waterfront community for Ward 8,” Albert said. “Being anchored by Therme is, thematically, a really important notion that you’re connecting to the water, you’re creating recreation, and creative opportunities that are integrated into this community.”
A development plan, compiled by the D.C. government and NPS, includes the preservation of parkland, mixed-use development near Anacostia Metro Station, better connectivity for those in nearby neighborhoods, and a bevy of community benefits, including: workforce training, partnerships, and discounted rates for residents accessing Therme.
Well before Therme’s $500 million proposal, the D.C. government and community members weighed in on other proposals that came and went, including that for Audi Field, which would ultimately be constructed in Buzzard Point. Albert told The Informer that the focus on Ward 8 residents’ health and wellness didn’t happen by chance, but in collaboration with community members. She noted that Therme DC’s development, once completed, will follow that of: Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center GW Health on St. Elizabeths Campus in Congress Heights and DC Health headquarters in Downtown Anacostia.
It would also complement the Bowser administration’s Fiscal Year 2026 investments in the modernization of recreation centers and pools located in Ward 8 — including Douglass Community Center and the pool at Anacostia Recreation Center.
“If you read through [the community input], the various plans will cite the disparity in health outcomes,” Albert said. “That wellness component, all with driving better health outcomes for residents of Ward 8 was one theme, [along with] access to economic opportunity and growth, whether it’s in the form of jobs for the individual job seeker or new businesses.”
In regard to entrepreneurship opportunities, Albert said Poplar Point will continue in the tradition of Downtown Anacostia and Sycamore & Oak retail village, where Ward 8 residents have launched business ventures.
“When we’re talking about Poplar Point, we would want to infuse that access to capital, that technical assistance that allows entrepreneurs that want to have a business at Poplar Point to have one,” Albert told The Informer. “We know that local businesses employ local residents, and again, that lift in opportunity is what really allows everybody to participate and be a part of our future.”
Earlier this year, a New York Times investigation alleged what reporters described as Therme’s misrepresentation of its experience and financial status. It also uncovered an “opaque” selection process that resulted in Ontario’s government commissioning the corporation to develop a stretch of land. Therme has since been revising blueprints with Ontario residents, who are reportedly pushing back against infringement on green space.
In the District, Mustafa Abdul-Salaam, a former Ward 8 advisory neighborhood commissioner and facilitator of the Ward 8 Community Economic Development Think Tank, had a chance to meet representatives of Therme. In addition, Abdul-Salaam had a chance to conduct a presentation about the Ward 8 Community Economic Development Plan.
Though he commends, in the selection of Therme, DMPED’s focus on health and wellness, Abdul-Salaam questions the degree to which Ward 8 residents will economically benefit as a collective from Therme’s presence at Poplar Point.
“The community may get some jobs out of it, but if it’s not equity connected, then there’s no wealth building opportunity,” he told The Informer. “We have to be clear as a community that, just like everybody else in this society, we want to build wealth, too. We want ownership, and with the ownership comes equity and a chance to build wealth.”
During the earlier part of 2023, the Ward 8 Community Economic Development Think Tank released a report culminating more than a decade of meetings between Ward 8 residents, organizers, business leaders and elected officials.
Abdul-Salaam has since been focused on collecting endorsements from several entities, including: advisory neighborhood commissions, Ward 8 Clergy Association and, and Ward 8 AARP. He said his ultimate goal lies in ensuring that Ward 8 residents are organized and prepared to stand on one accord to advance an economic development plan that benefits them.
“We’ve got to do everything we can to make sure that the current residents are able to stay,” Abdul-Salaam told The Informer. “Gentrification eliminates people who don’t have the economic means. So, as these projects come in, if we’re not making sure as a community, we’re protecting everybody’s interest to stay here, then five to 10 years from now, it’s going to be a whole different community.”
Other Ward 8 Residents Weigh In
Mitchell, chair of the Anacostia Coordinating Council, said he welcomes Therme DC.
He told The Informer that the spacious urban spa will spur economic development, producing results similar to what has happened along a body of water located near Route 210 in Maryland.
“There’s about 7 million people within 50 miles of D.C., so this would be an opportunity to draw people to come— like what happened with the National Harbor,” Mitchell said. “It drew a lot of people but it didn’t draw outside people until the casino came. So it would be a draw, but it would also be used for the local people, which I think is very important.”
Mitchell’s involvement with Poplar Point started during his stint in former Mayor Anthony Williams’ administration. As he recounted, developers often came knocking on Williams’ door as he mulled how best to use Poplar Point and other underutilized plots of land during that time. Nearly two decades and more than 30 imaginary renderings later, Mitchell said some themes remain the same.
“It’s been a thousand plans,” Mitchell told The Informer. “The deal was to get the property and make sure it gets the best and highest use so that everybody can share in it, and not just a few people where you put million-dollar townhouses.”
When it comes to D.C. residents, Bobo, chair of the D.C. Commission on Aging, said that he envisions Therme DC bolstering inclusivity of seniors — a population that experienced isolation during and after the pandemic. He told The Informer that Therme’s pledge of affordable spa membership for elder patrons piqued his interest.
“When I first became a commissioner, about 100,000 seniors in D.C., classified as seniors, and the D.C. government was serving about less than 20,000,” Bobo said. “So it adds up to about 35,000 seniors that get served, but I see Therme increasing the number of seniors that can be active in the community.”
In speaking about Therme DC, Ward 8 politico Prestwood expressed his appreciation for what he described as its environmental benefits.
“I love the fact that what they’re proposing to do is raise the land a bit there, because it’s under threat,” Prestwood said. “It’s in a flood plain, and we know what’s just happening with our world with the water levels rising. So how do you protect that space? Not just Poplar Point, but the rest of Anacostia Park.”
Prestwood, president of the Ward 8 Democrats, served as an advisory neighborhood commissioner in the 2010s when District officials mulled the placement of a soccer stadium on Poplar Point. He admitted that, up until that point, he and other residents focused their attention on Reunion Square, Howard Road, and the Anacostia Gateway.
When it came to Poplar Point, however, Prestwood said Ward 8 residents didn’t mince their words in explaining how they saw the plot of land best serving the community.
“We had to make sure that there was some housing component and that it would create jobs and careers,” Prestwood told The Washington Informer.
With Therme, Prestwood said that conversation can take on a new life.
“I love the fact that there is increased access to the river,” Prestwood continued. “And then the fact that there’s job opportunities for our city. Our economy is shifting, so this would bring hundreds of jobs, if not thousands.”
Lifelong D.C. resident Absolom Jordan said his ties to the portion of the Anacostia River near Poplar Point are a bit more spiritual than that of other Ward 8 residents.
“There’ve been many ways that churches have baptized people in the city,” Jordan said, paying homage to his home church, Bethlehem Baptist Church on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. “But this was the way that Bethlehem [did it] because the river is there. If you think about it, when you were in the country, where did you go to get baptized? You went in a creek, river or somewhere.”
Jordan explained the Southeast, D.C. church had to deviate from the Poplar Point baptismal tradition in later years out of concern about water pollution. As remnants of that former custom are preserved in a church painting, Jordan expresses hope for the type of revitalization that he thinks Therme can bring to Poplar Point.
“From Therme’s point of view, it’s preserving green space,” he told The Informer. “When I grew up [in 1950], there were 802,000 people in Washington, D.C. Today there are only 702,000, and yet we’re losing more green space every day. So this, in some ways, is a way of enhancing green space, and at the same time that you enhance it, you’re preserving it.”
