Pieces of news so small that I'm practically embarrassed to be posting them: Landscape work is being done at DOT, with a whole slew of trees and shrubs having been installed in the past few days along M and 3rd. The digging of what will be a very big hole for 70/100 I has begun, along I Street and now moving north into the property. And steel beams have started to be installed at the stadium site. Tomorrow's update: 15 leaves fall from a tree at 1st and K.

From Thursday's Post: "Six months after the D.C. Council voted to cap the rising costs of the Washington Nationals baseball stadium at $611 million, Mayor Anthony A. Williams now says the city needs an additional $75 million in public funds to finish the job. The extra money, which would require approval from the council, would be used to help pay for parking garages on city land just north of the ballpark[.]" The response from council members? "[S]everal other members objected vehemently yesterday when informed of the plan by a reporter. [...] Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), an ardent stadium booster, said he did not think the council would approve any proposal to alter the cap and allow more public spending. 'There is no legislative remedy for the parking,' Evans said. 'Under no scenario will the council raise the cap, in my view.' " And what's the new proposal for the garages? "[T]he sports commission would build two levels of parking underground and one level aboveground on the north parcel and another garage on the south side at a cost of $100 million. Those garages would be engineered so that further development could be added in the future, officials said. Since the city has $25 million for parking in the current budget, it would need an additional $75 million. Of that, $17 million would come from excess from a special tax on businesses and utilities that the city has collected during the two seasons the Nationals have played at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium. The remaining $58 million would come from either a private developer, who would pay the city for the right to build above the garages, or from publicly financed bonds, city financial officials said. Either option is considered public funding and is barred by the council's cost cap." I know we're all stunned that this is taking yet another turn....

The very active new residents of Capitol Hill Tower have organized a meeting at 5 pm on Oct. 7 (Saturday) with officers from PSA 105 and also the three Ward 6 council candidates - Tommy Wells (D), Tony Williams (R) and Will Cobb (I) - to discuss security issues in the neighborhood as well as the plans for growth in Near Southeast. This meeting is open to the public.

Got behind schedule on this, and am only now adding the Naval Historical Center's October slate of offerings to my Neighborhood Calendar. Make sure to check them out, there's some pretty neat ones, including a candlelight tour of the Navy Yard (space is limited, RSVP ASAP) and a baseball-related "Hip History" event on Oct. 7 (all gift shop visitors wearing Washington Nationals apparel will receive 10% off!), as well as a Halloween-themed "spooktacular" tour of the "Ghost Ship" Barry on Oct. 28. Because of the high level of security, all events require an RSVP in advance.

Today's WashTimes reports: "The D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission yesterday said it has authorized changes to the design of the Washington Nationals ballpark that will make it the first-ever "green" stadium in Major League Baseball. The commission yesterday said it will submit an application to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program from the U.S. Green Building Council, which grades construction projects for their sensitivity to the environment. To achieve certification, the project must earn a certain number of "points" for environmentally and energy efficient design. The sports commission has always intended to seek the LEED Certification, though it is not required." UPDATE: Here's the DCSEC press release.

A briefing in Wednesday's Post: "D.C. Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) withdrew yesterday his proposal to revive a plan to build condominiums and parking garages near a new baseball stadium in Southeast Washington. There was little discussion about the bill during yesterday's council meeting. The city's chief financial officer, Natwar M. Gandhi, had sent the council a letter saying that the bill would "jeopardize the on-time and on-budget completion of the stadium facility." Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) told the council in a letter that he supported Barry's bill with several amendments that addressed Gandhi's concerns. The proposal could be placed on the agenda again this month." UPDATE: Here's a more detailed piece, from the Examiner: "Council Chairman Linda Cropp ruled the measure out of order - she opposed it anyway - because it was not accompanied by a fiscal impact statement. 'I agree wholeheartedly that there is an emergency we need to work out,' Cropp said. 'I don't think at this point this is the resolution to do it.' [...] Cropp agreed to work on a compromise with Barry in the coming weeks."

I've been remiss in not doing this sooner, but at the bottom of the right-hand column on this page you'll see a new list of links to Other DC Neighborhood Blogs. Go visit, and find out what else is happening around town....

A bombshell from Tuesday's Post: "Several D.C. Council members were negotiating late yesterday to introduce emergency legislation today that would revive a plan to build condominiums and parking garages near a new baseball stadium in Southeast Washington. Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) was leading the effort and had distributed a bill that seeks to alter the $611 million stadium cost cap approved by the council in March. The legislation would allow the city to spend money from the sale of development rights on stadium land to pay for the parking garages." As an emergency bill it would require 9 of 13 council votes, and CFO Gandhi has already said he has "grave concerns". And the DC Sports and Entertainment Commission would be stripped of control of the garages land, handing them over to the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation and allowing them to negotiate with the Lerners. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride continues....

From CrimeInDC.org (saw this a few days ago, sorry for being slow in posting), report of a carjacking on Sept. 19 at 6:16 pm at the Exxon at 1000 M Street: "c1 reports as she was putting air in her front left tire s1 approached her from the rear then pushed her. s1 entered her vehicle at which time s1 and c2 began to struggle with the door. as s1 drove off c1 was hanging onto the driver door."

Speaking of taking pictures, I've added some ones to my 100 M Street, 1100 First Street, Capper Seniors #2, and M Street photo galleries. 1100 First in particular has some striking before-and-afters now that trees have been removed along 1st and L streets. I also did some creative cropping of a Sept. 2000 photo of M Street to document (barely!) a solitary rowhouse that used to stand on the 100 M Street lot (where those steps-to-nowhere just west of the alley had been for the past few years, until meeting the wrecking ball over the past few weeks).

A portion of today's Dana Hedgpeth column in the Post describes "observations offered last week by developers and leasing and sales brokers to about 100 real estate professionals in an annual conference." The one comment about Near Southeast: "The area around the planned baseball stadium in Southeast, many agreed, will eventually develop into shops, restaurants, housing and more offices. But some differed on how long it would take. The area, which is now mostly boarded-up storefronts, empty lots and car repair garages, would look very different by 2008, some said. Others said it would take until 2010 or beyond. 'You'll go down there and forget what it looked like before,' [emphasis mine] said Daniel P. Dooley, managing director at Tishman Speyer Properties". Gosh, if only someone had thought to take pictures of the neighborhood to capture what it looked like before all the development arrived! :-)

From the Post, the end of the article first: "Mark H. Tuohey, chairman of the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission, said ballpark construction is proceeding on schedule. Workers have erected hundreds of concrete pilings and are shaping the clubhouses and seating bowls, with a major delivery of steel to the site -- a critical step -- set for Friday." The story itself is about how "[t]he Washington Nationals' disappointing on-field performance this season, coupled with a drop in ticket sales at 45-year-old RFK Stadium, has underscored the importance of finishing a new $611 million ballpark in time for the 2008 season." Fun quote: " 'RFK will never be more than good old RFK,' [Nationals President Stan] Kasten said. 'By the time we get the new park open in '08, it's going to [provide] the best experience you can possibly have.' "

Thanks to the kind folks at Gustafson Guthrie Nichol, I've now posted an image of the latest design of Washington Canal Park, which was presented at the stakeholders meeting a few days back.

With thanks to loyal reader Eric for providing the needed push, I've added another detail map, this time for New Jersey Avenue, giving the scoop on what's planned along what could eventually be quite the grand boulevard. And I added a few new photos, too, including finally officially documenting the horse stables tucked under the Southeast Freeway just east of NJ Ave. (I guess I didn't want everyone running over there and bothering them :-). ) The other maps, for your perusing pleasure, are of the Stadium Corridor, M Street, and Capper/Carrollsburg (and I've tweaked the main map at left to highlight these additional offerings).

I've gotten my hands on a rendering of 909 New Jersey Avenue, the 238-unit residential tower being developed by JPI on the block currently occupied by the Nexus Gold Club. No official word yet on when construction will begin, I've heard mentions in the past of early 2007, and I've also heard rumors that Nexus will close by the end of 2006. This is also a good time to mention that in late July JPI paid $1.989 million to the William C. Smith Co. for two lots on this block, totalling a mere 2,873 sq ft of land. (It should also be noted that the official sale of the Nexus land to JPI from current owner Marty Chernoff has not yet happened; in 2005 JPI paid Chernoff $1 million for two lots on the block, and the Post reported in January that the total sale price for all four of Chernoff's lots [incuding Nexus] will be $8.9 million.)

Fox 5 did a segment on Tuesday about how the stadium is progressing, and the video is available online. (I think I might have driven past the reporter taping a standup along 1st Street on Sunday--I should have stopped and offered myself as a neighborhood observer!) (UPDATED 10/2 to change the link to one that works.)

I've posted some new renderings and the revised site map for the Florida Rock project, with many thanks as always to the generous folks at Davis Buckley Architects for passing them along. The two new images of the east office building at 1st and Potomac highlight the three floors of glass-enclosed retail that has now been added to this location; you can also see on the site map the proposed 39,000-sq-ft public plaza at the foot of First Street. This east building would be the first phase of Florida Rock's development, with construction beginning if all goes well in early 2008. The project has another hearing in front of the Zoning Commission on Nov. 27 (here's my entry on how the first one on Sept. 18 went).

There are projects immediately adjacent to Near Southeast that I won't be tracking with my usual level of obsessive-compulsiveness (no photos, dedicated pages, etc.), but I will mention big milestones if I hear about them. And so first is the announcement of a pending public meeting by the AWC on October 10 on the Poplar Point Site Development Plan process--this is the 70-acre on the Anacostia on the east side of the South Capitol Street Bridge, just across the river from Florida Rock, where possibly a new DC United stadium may be built. (Note that the transfer of this land from Federal to District control is still pending in Congress.) The other project is 1325 South Capitol Street SW, on the western side of the street between N and O (in other words, directly across from the stadium). GlobeSt.com reports (hat tip to reader RR) that Camden Property Trust is planning a 244-unit 210,000-sq-ft building on the site, with construction to start in Q2 2007. (I know, it's just across the dang street from Near Southeast, and maybe by the time the project starts I'll cave and decide to track anything that actually fronts South Capitol. Because there aren't enough projects for me to track :-).)

I've been meaning to post this for weeks, during a "lull", but since there hasn't been a Near Southeast lull since about August 2004.... If you've noticed over the past months the construction activity around the WASA site (that's "Water and Sewer Authority"), it's because they're in the midst of a $45-million-plus rehab of the Main/O Street pumping stations located there. And, for those baseball fans who've been a bit concerned about having to spend your time sitting a little closer to a sewage plant than perhaps you'd like, I hope that it eases your mind to see that the two bid solicitations for the project both mention "odor control" as part of the projects....

Today's Examiner has "Mayor Williams says parking deal not dead", with not much that's new, but these lines advance the story a tad: " 'We've got to show that development's under way very, very quickly, but at the same time we have to satisfy the need for parking,' Williams said. Williams said talks were ongoing Monday between multiple parties. If the deal does ultimately collapse, the mayor said, the city might have no choice but to build the standalone parking garages sought by Nationals owners, but vehemently opposed by the D.C. Zoning Commission." And the WashPost editorializes about the brouhaha in "Mayor Williams's Dead Deal."