With the "crime emergency" that's been announced in DC over the past few days, I did want to mention that crime in Near Southeast is certainly down from a few years ago, which isn't a surprise given that it's got about 1,000 fewer residents now (because of the closure of Capper/Carrollsburg). But what's become apparent over the past few months is that some bad guys have figured out that the on-street parking spaces of Near Southeast are now filled with the cars of construction and office workers, who are parking on empty streets that then are all but devoid of human beings for hours and hours while everyone is working. So that makes these cars very easy pickings. Thefts from autos are also very big at nighttime on the streets near the Half and K nightclubs. So, if you park in Near Southeast (or anywhere in the city!), be street-smart and don't leave any valuables (or even anything unvaluable) in sight in your vehicle. Just common sense.... If you want to browse through the most recent crime reports filed with the city, visit crimeports.com (Near Southeast west of 6th Street is in PSA 105, in the First District). (PS, very soon the city is going to be offering RSS feeds of crime incident data, and once they do, I'll be making Near Southeast crime incident reports available here.)

Big surprise this morning--a correspondent reported that the Sunoco at 50 M Street (Half and M) is being dismantled as we speak. (Waah, where will I track gas prices now?) There's been no record of a land sale in the DC Property Sales database (although that currently runs about 6 weeks behind and is only updated right now through late May). However, a call to the station's phone number revealed a change to a new number with a 703 area code, and the person who answered said that Sunoco had sold the land "to a hotel or something." So do we have yet another new development arriving on M Street? More as I get it.

The Post's Thomas Boswell writes today ("Look No Farther Than Pittsburgh") on the stadium, the Lerners' concerns about dealing with the DC government ("Where's their sense of urgency?" is the quote from one Nationals source), and the worrisome drop in Nationals attendance.

More to come when news stories are posted, but I can report that the city council today passed without debate PR 16-852, the resolution to sell some of the stadium property right along N Street to developer Herb Miller, so that he can build not only the 925 parking spaces required by MLB but also a mix of residential, retail, and hotel offerings. (Without debate! Will wonders never cease!) Now the real fun begins, seeing whether he can actually pull this off on schedule and on budget. While it's quite a gamble, I don't think there's many residents who would have preferred two aboveground parking garage-boxes rather than mixed-use offerings in this location. Now we'll just see whether the gamble pays off. Batter up, Herb. UPDATE: here's the Post story, including that news that Miller "intends to produce the first $5 million or $6 million [of financing] in September to start excavation of the land, and the bulk of the financing would come by Dec. 1." UPDATE, 9:48 am: And here's the WashTimes story. UPDATE, 7:39 pm: And a late addition, this Examiner story says what I've suspected all along: "In its unanimous support of developer Herb Miller's project, to be built on two city-owned parcels adjacent to the ballpark's north end, the council sent a message, members said: Major League Baseball has long had the city over a barrel, but not in this case. " 'It's the first time the council has stood up and said, "This is ours," said Ward 5 Council Member Vincent Orange. "These are our development rights." ' "

Do not adjust your monitor, the Near Southeast home page has indeed grown wider. Blame it on the developers--I ran out of ways to keep adding all these projects to the neighborhood map in its old incarnation, and finally had to increase its size. For those of you running resolutions like 800 x 600, I apologize, but my options were limited. If it makes you feel any better, the news items column is now slightly wider, too. But I do think the revamped map now also conveys a bit more information at first glance, which should be helpful.

WTOP has a short piece about the Navy Yard Metro station, talking about what needs to be done to get it ready for the onslaught of Nats fans in 2008. They say it can currently handle 15,000 people an hour (the same as Stadium-Armory), but that they'd like to add "Another elevator ... an additional set of stairs, and another escalator from the mezzanine down to the platform" (quoting Dan Tangherlini). But so far, no funding.

Donohoe appears to be continuing to move forward with its office project on New Jersey Ave., now christened 1111 New Jersey (just north of the Navy Yard Metro station at New Jersey and M). A page on the Donohoe Real Estate Services web site describes the project: 146,000 sq ft, 12 floors, designed by WDG (who've also designed a pile of other buildings in Near Southeast), and delivery in 2008 (which would mean that construction would need to start by early 2007). At this time, the project doesn't include the land still occupied by St. Matthew's Baptist Church at New Jersey & L--I've heard through the grapevine about negotiations over the past year or so, but apparently no deal has been reached. (I haven't yet created a page for this project, I'm waiting a bit to see if anything changes with the church.)

Another item to add to your busy Zoning Commission calendar: The Zoning Commission has placed on its July 10 agenda the new office building project at 250 M Street--it is actually part of the Capper/Carrollsburg planned unit development, so this is coming before the Zoning Commission as a second-stage PUD. UPDATE, 7/11: The second-stage PUD was approved for setdown; a hearing date should be set before too long.

The second-stage PUD hearing for Florida Rock has now been scheduled for Sept. 18, having been originally slated for December 2005 but then postponed. Reading the two announcements (Dec. and Sept.), it doesn't look like there's been any significant changes to the application (though it might be hard to tell from these documents). My Florida Rock page has renderings of the plans for the development, taken from the documentation provided to the Zoning Commission last year. Note that this PUD was supported by ANC 6D 7-0 at it's November 2005 meeting--at this meeting, it was predicted that construction would begin in 2007 (moving east-to-west), but I don't know if that's still operative.

From the Post: "The D.C. Council's Economic Development Committee voted unanimously yesterday to transfer to developer Herb Miller development rights to two parcels of public land next to the Nationals stadium site in Southeast Washington." The full council will vote on the measure today, PR 16-852.

It's been a while (I've been out of town), so I'm now catching up and giving you updated construction photos of 20 M Street and Capper Seniors #2, which are both making good progress. I also added two new shots to my Stadium Construction Gallery, but I didn't visit my perch on the South Capitol Street Bridge today, and until the stadium skeleton actually starts to appear, I probably won't have too many new photos, and it might be just as interesting to visit the Clark/Hunt/Smoot Stadium Construction Cam every so often. Holes in the ground are tough to make exciting from street level :-). As always, let the icon be your guide. (I'd post updated photos of the continuing Capper demolition, but for crying out loud they're STILL not finished with the tiny block bounded by Virginia, I, 3rd, and 4th, which they started eight weeks ago. I think I could have done it faster with a hammer and shovel.)

These are a little bit old at this point, but I'd still like to point people toward these two pieces in the July Hill Rag: ANC 6D chair Andy Litsky spells out the commission's reasons for opposing the baseball stadium, and the report on the June ANC 6D meeting includes the many concerns about the stadium, the parking, the lighting, and the traffic, expressed by the ANC commissioners.

The Nats owners have finally broken their silence on Mayor Baseball's plan to wrap the required stadium parking with mixed-use offerings, according to "Nats Owners Attack DC Parking Plan" in Saturday's Post: "Incoming team president Stan Kasten released a written statement yesterday discrediting the plan that the D.C. Council appears poised to approve next week. Kasten said the plan is shaky and threatens to blow the construction deadline and budget for the project, which could delay completion of the stadium and cost the team and the city "tremendous losses" in the tens of millions. He urged its rejection." The council's Economic DevelopmentGovernment Operations subcommittee approved the plan today 5-0, and Jack Evans is quoted as predicting the council will approve the plan on Tuesday if CEO Gandhi certifies it. If it doesn't happen, or if the project goes south, the city will be in for millions in penalties if there's no parking ready on-site when the stadium opens. So let's close with an optimistic it'll-all-work-out quote from Stan Kasten: " 'The proposal will not work for many reasons,' Kasten said. 'But most important, it has the potential to cause considerable damage. Our efforts to create a strong fan base will also be harmed for years to come.' " UPDATE: Here is the short WashTimes piece on the parking ("City Can Sell Land Next to Stadium"), which corrects my mistake on which council subcommittee approved the plan on Friday. The Economic Development subcommittee will vote Monday, and the full council on Tuesday. Also, the WashPost editorial page weighed in today in support of the plan (as long as CEO Gandhi approves it).

Opus East has launched a project page (and posted a press release) for 100 M Street, its 240,000-sq-ft office building planned for the current site of the On Luck Cafeteria at 1st and M, SE. The site says that construction is expected to begin in "late summer 2006", with delivery in late 2008. 100 M's construction will run concurrently with Faison Enterprises's 254-unit residential tower at 1st and L. (Now if Faison would post information and a rendering about it's project!) You can of course see photos (and the 100 M rendering) on my 100 M/1st and L page.

From Friday's Post, "Mayor's Stadium Proposal Advances": "The D.C. Zoning Commission approved the mayor's plan for the new Nationals stadium in Southeast yesterday, including his proposal to wrap four levels of parking inside two condominium towers, a first for Washington architecture." The commission rejected the backup plan for plain boxy aboveground garages, the ones preferred by the Lerners: "'Going back to exposed garages does nothing for the revitalization of the community,' Commissioner Michael Turnbull said. 'It's not good land use, not good planning.' " This WashTimes story gives additional details. The remaining hurdles to this plan are the city council (which will vote as a whole on the plan on July 11, with a vote coming today from the Economic Development subcommittee) and whether CEO Gandhi can certify the financial aspects of the plan, which he says needs to be done by Aug. 1 in order to allow construction to proceed by Labor Day to keep the project on time. Developer Herb Miller's quote: "What Nat Gandhi wants, we want." However, NBC4's Tom Sherwood is reporting that the DC Council appears ready to reject the plan. UPDATE: Here is Mayor Baseball's statement on the Zoning vote.

There are two big hearings today on the fate of the stadium parking--at 10 am the city council's Subcommittee on Economic Development will take up PR 16-852, the "South Capitol Street Development Disposition Approval Resolution of 2006," the proposal to sell the parking lot land to Herb Miller's Western Development Corp. However, Thursday's Post is reporting that DC CFO Gandhi is raising doubts about the ability of the city to work out the financing details quickly enough to allow the stadium to go forward and stay on schedule. (But everyone will breathe a sigh of relief to hear that Marion Barry has an idea for a solution!) Then at 5:30 pm, the Zoning Commission will hold a second hearing on Case 06-22, District of Columbia Sports and Entertainment Commission - Construction of a Major League Baseball Ballpark, and take the case up for action. Fun fun fun!

A Building Permit Application has appeared on the DCRA web site for 909 New Jersey Ave., SE, which would be JPI's residential tower on the current site of the Nexus Gold Club. I've heard nothing recently about when Nexis will close, when demolition will begin, or when construction on this project will begin.

The Navy Yard's Naval Historical Center has posted its calendar of July and August events open to the public. (I'll add them to my own calendar in a few days.)

(Apologies for the posting delays, which will continue for about another week) The DC school board has approved the superintendent's plan to close Van Ness Elementary, at 5th and M SE, as part of the plan to shrink the school system's unused space (see the short Post story on the vote). You can read my previous entries on the Van Ness closure here and here.

The 11th Street Bridges Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) has been released. Two public meetings have been scheduled, on July 26 and 27; the comment period extends until August 28, 2006.

More posts: 11th Street Bridges