Via Property Group Partners.

The Capitol Crossing project lay the first steel beam on Wednesday evening, beginning a new phase in construction.

The $1.3 billion project—currently the largest private development underway in D.C.—will bridge the Capitol Hill and East End neighborhoods, creating three new city blocks when it is completed. It will transform seven acres of land above I-395 into a 2.2 million-square-foot complex of five mixed-use buildings.

Rendering of Capitol Crossing. (Courtesy of Property Group Partners)

Currently the project is employing around 4,000 people for construction jobs, and Property Group Partners estimates that 10,000 employees and residents will post up in the new buildings. Mayor Bowser says that it will generate about $40 million in property tax revenue every year upon completion.

According to Property Group Partners, the highway deck should be completed by the end of 2016 and the groundbreaking for the first building—which’ll be located at 200 Massachusetts Ave. NW—will occur in the fall of 2016.

Courtesy of Property Group Partners.