Last Thursday, crews from Clark Construction began laying white slabs of sub-flooring over the Washington Harbor Fountain to begin its transition to an ice-skating rink for the winter months. In September of last year, Georgetown Waterfront Park was officially completed after two decades of work and with a price tag of more than $24 million.

The rink will be 11,800 square feet, the largest outdoor rink in the D.C. metro area and larger than the rink at Rockefeller Center in New York as well as the one at the National Gallery of Art. The rink will be open for parties and events and will host a skate with Santa Claus before Christmas. In addition to the rink, the two restaurants on the waterfront, Tony and Joe’s and the Riverfront Grill, will have heated bars. The hope is that the rink will bring more life to the area during the winter months.

The current plan is to have the rink opening sometime in November, probably “on or around the weekend before Thanksgiving,” said Joshua Lynsen, a Washington Harbor spokesman, to the Georgetown Patch.

Rink admission will be $9 for adults and $7 for children, seniors, and members of the military. On certain days college students will receive a  $2 discount by showing their university ID. Skate rental will be $5 and there will be skating lessons available.

Photo Nico Dodd

According to the Washington Post, President Barack Obama is expected to visit the newly-completed Georgetown Waterfront Park tomorrow, as part of his promotion of the American Jobs Act.

The purpose of the visit will be to discuss the Key Bridge, which was recently reported as “structurally deficient” and in need of immediate repair. Under the jobs plan, about $387 million would be available to D.C., some of which would go to repairing the Key Bridge. According to DCist, the District Department of Transportation reports that the Key Bridge would be the first to undergo repairs if this money became available.

Last night, the National Park Service, Friends of Georgetown Waterfront Park, District of Columbia officials, and about 100 others gathered to celebrate the completion of Georgetown Waterfront Park. The newly completed park, which took $24 million and a couple decades to complete, includes a pergola and a river stair, which allows people to view the river and regattas from the shoreline. And there’s a giant fountain (which children were already playing in).

The first part of the park was completed in 2008, but debris and tons of concrete, which were once the floor of the Capital Traction Co. powerhouse, had to be trucked off the land before construction could continue in 2010.

The ceremony, emceed by Rock Creek Park superintendent Tara Morrision, featured President of Friends of Georgetown Waterfront Park Bob vom Eigen, Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans, and NPS Regional Director National Capital Region Peggy O’Dell as speakers.

“Look at this place,” said CM Evans. “This is a beautiful place for people from all over the city to enjoy.”

Additionally, Sharon Percy Rockefeller, President and CEO of WETA, wife of Senator John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia and daughter of former Senator Charles H. Percy of Illinois, spoke on her father’s behalf. (Sen. Percy is gravely ill at Sibley Hospital and could not attend the event.) Sen. Percy chaired the Georgetown Waterfront Park Commission in the 1990s, which worked alongside the Citizens Association of Georgetown and the National Park Service. A plaque commemorating his service was unveiled by the water’s edge.

ANC Commissioners Ron Lewis, Bill Starrels and Ed Solomon, as well as Georgetown Men’s Head Crew Coach Tony Johnson were in also attendance.

Starrels commented that the new park was “the crowning jewel to the waterfront.”

For more pictures, check out William Newton’s twitter and Patch’s account.

photo: Nico Dodd

This week’s frequent, heavy rainfall and short but powerful thunderstorms have done more than frustrate the move-out process and put a damper on usually fun, outdoor senior week events—today, for the second time in two months, the Georgetown Harbour complex has flooded.

According to Georgetown Patch, the Harbour’s flood gates were raised last night due to predictions of increasingly high tides, coupled with threats of rainfall last night and today. These walls were not used in the previous flood, which occurred on April 18, 2011, and led to store closings for a number of days and significant damage.

Photo: TBD

The romcom staring Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd and Owen Wilson that’s been shooting in D.C. for the past couple weeks will be filming in Georgetown tomorrow afternoon and evening.

From 3 pm tomorrow to 3 am Thursday, filming will take place at the Georgetown Waterfront Park and the stretch of 33 Street between Grace and Water Streets, according to emails sent out on the GeorgetownForum and the Metropolitan Police Department’s 2nd District listservs.  According to the GeorgetownForum messages, production vehicles will also be at those locations on Friday, although it’s unclear if they’ll also be filming then.

Not that filming is the only time you can spot the headliners in Georgetown.  Owen Wilson was spotted biking on N Street towards campus yesterday and has already developed a Georgetown Cupcake habit and Reese and boyfriend Jake Gyllenhaal were seen jogging through Georgetown and lunching at Le Pain Quotidien (while doing the NYT crossword—in pen!).  As we saw earlier this morning, Paul Rudd hasn’t had quite as much luck in the neighborhood, but he’s been around, too!

The movie they’re working on is written and directed by James L. Brooks of Terms of Endearment fame and the working title is How Do You Know? According to Variety, the film is a love triangle, with Rudd playing a white-collar executive and Wilson a professional baseball pitcher.