In order to start construction ASAP on both the expansion of the Navy Yard Metro entrance at Half and M and mixed-use offerings along Half Street, Monument Realty and WMATA are asking the DC Zoning Commission for an emergency text amendment to the Capitol Gateway Overlay to allow a temporary parking lot for WMATA employees to be built, replacing the one currently atop the Navy Yard station. This new lot would be on South Capitol Street between M and N, on the lot just south of the Public Storage building and just north of the Amoco station (lot 0700 0046 for those of you with parcel maps), and would be accessed from Van Street. The text amendment would restrict the parking lot's life to three years--by that point, Monument's construction along Half Street should completed and WMATA employees would then be able to park in those underground lots. This will come before the Zoning Commission for setdown on Nov. 13; because it is being requested on an emergency basis, the Office of Planning is recommending that the text amendment take effect immediately upon setdown, and is requesting that it be set down for a hearing at the earliest possible date. Good to see that Monument and WMATA are moving fast. UPDATE, 11/16: This text amendment was approved on an emergency basis, which means that it goes into effect immediately and for 120 days, but Monument still has to go to the ZC during that time for a hearing to get permanent approval of the amendment plus approval of the parking lot itself because it lies in a CG Overlay mandatory review area. (See the above entry for more on THAT!)

The shareholders at Capitol Hill Tower invited me over last night to bore them with descriptions of arcane zoning regulations and pending parking garages, and their CHT Shareholder Community Blog includes a nice roundup of some of the Near Southeast development plans people had questions about, edited into handy bullet-point fashion for those of you just too darn lazy to bother committing to memory thousands of blog entries and hundreds of pages of photos and content. :-)

The two- and three-story brick buildings on the southeast corner of 3rd and L, and the one old townhouse on 4th between L and M, have been demolished within the past few days. These are on the northern part of Square 800, which is home to the 300 M Street office building and also the last tall Capper/Carrollsburg buildings. This land will be the southwestern edge of the Capitol Quarter townhome development. Hopefully this means that the long-vacant Capper buildings on that block will soon be demolished, but I don't know anything for sure. I also haven't heard any timeline for the demolition of the two-story Capper buildings on 2nd between I and L--mixed-income apartment buildings will eventually be built on those blocks, but there's no start date that I've heard for those projects. I will post demolition pictures soon--I've been quite remiss in my picture taking duties lately, but guilt is reaching crisis levels, and I promise to go on a photo excursion this weekend.

Lerner Enterprises within the past few days launched a very nice (and very much needed) redesign of their web site. The 20 M Street page (which isn't really the official project web site, that's 20MStreetSE.com) says that the building will be available in Spring 2007 (an earlier date than the Fall 2007 originally given), and gives much detail about the project's "green" features. It also lists Cushman & Wakefield as the commercial leasing agents, which I believe is a new development. There's also a page for 1000 South Capitol Street, a proposed 320,000-sq-ft office building on South Capitol between K and L (the parking lot next to Nation). No start date, but there's a rendering, the first I've seen for this project (and you know how excited I get when I unearth renderings). 1000 South Cap has been on the boards for years, but other than a request for an alley closing at an ANC6D meeting earlier this year (which was referred to the development committee), there's been no evidence of movement. See my own 20 M and North of M pages for photos, etc.

Today was the hearing on the application by "The Wine Cellar and Spirits" for a Class A (beer, wine, and liquor) license to open what the owners call a "tastefully designed wine and spirits" store in the Little Red Building at 156 L Street (next to the Courtyard by Marriott). ANC 6D has been officially designated as a protestant in opposition to the application, and presumably the owner will be in contact with the ANC to resolve any issues (most likely revolving around the sales of singles). There will be a status hearing on the application on Jan. 17, 2007, at 10 am.

It's now almost a cliche for oh-so-civic-minded bloggers to post "Vote!" messages on Election Day, but far be it from me to buck the trend. So get out there and vote in today's DC General Election, most especially the Ward 6 city council race between Tommy Wells (D), Will Cobb (I), and Tony Williams (R). UPDATE: Results are in, and congratulations to Tommy Wells on his Ward 6 victory. And Robert Siegel has been reelected as ANC 6D07 commissioner. UPDATE II: Here's a good Voice of the Hill piece on the Ward 6 and ANC elections.

Today is the "on or about day" that the flashing signs on South Capitol Street said would mark the beginning of work on the South Capitol Street Bridge--however, the start has been delayed while DDOT makes changes to its plans. Will alert you to anything I hear.

The Post editorial page weighs in again on the council standoff on the baseball stadium parking garages, laying out specifically the arguments being brought to table by CEO Gandhi and by council member David Catania about the city's liability should there not be 1,225 parking spaces on the stadium site by Opening Day 2008.

Today's Post has a piece on the "spirited" Ward 6 council race between Tommy Wells, Will Cobb and "I'm Not Mayor" Tony Williams. One of these three men will be representing Near Southeast on the city council, so if you're a resident, get familiar with them (the article has links to the info on each candidate from the Post's Voters Guide, and you can also visit the Wells, Cobb, and Williams web sites) and then VOTE.

Forest City Washington has issued a press release finally giving us confirmation that "The Yards" is the new name for the Southeast Federal Center. (The press release is dated Oct. 24, but just appeared on their web site in the past day or so, and is nowhere to be found in Nexis.) The release says that construction will begin in early 2007 on infrastructure improvements; and that Forest City has "several buildings currently under design, including three of the historic buildings which will involve residential and retail uses." There are more than 30 buildings planned overall totalling 5.5 million square feet of development on the 44-acre site made of up "including approximately 2,800 residential units (both rental and for sale), 1.8 million SF of office space, up to 400,000 SF of retail/dining space a public park, riverfront esplanade and trail that will connect with the Navy Yard's riverfront walk to the east and a similar feature to the west of the site that will connect with the Ballpark District development." The press release also explains how they came up with "The Yards" and its logo. A bit more interesting is this tidbit, that "Master Lease Agreement [between Forest City and the GSA] is expected to be signed in a few weeks and other supporting documents that will enable the start of construction are in final stages of negotiation." They also freshened up the project page on the FCWashington site, which says the first phase of buildings are expected to open in 2009.

The schedule of public programs at the US Navy Museum in November has been released, and I've added them to my Events Calendar. Note that they've scheduled a second Candlelight Tour of the Navy Yard (the first one is tonight) on Nov. 11.

On Nov. 2, the National Capital Planning Commission will consider approval of the design of Washington Canal Park, and someone was nice enough to pass along to me the Canal Park Concept Submission document that was prepared for the NCPC (and also the US Commission of Fine Arts's meeting on Oct. 19)--40 pages of incredible detail, with a long design narrative and many many drawings. UPDATE, 11/2: At today's NCPC meeting, the commission "commented favorably" on the design concept. The next stage will be the preliminary design stage, and the NCPC has requested that AWC provide "More fully developed streetscape designs at street edges and crosswalks; Simplified overall design with consideration of durable materials and elements that require less routine maintenance; Lighting design that has minimal visual impact on adjacent streets and mixed-use development; Details of water elements that demonstrates their character when water is turned off; and Design details indicating accommodations for the physically disabled, including persons with visual or hearing impairments." Finally, the commission "commended the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation and its design team for integrating low-impact development strategies that will minimize the effects of storm water runoff from the site."

If you are a resident of Capitol Hill Tower, you're invited to their next Shareholder Community Meet and Greet, on Nov. 9 (note changed date) from 6:30 - 9:00 pm, where the special guest of honor will be, um, me. Yes, I've agreed to unshackle myself from my computer and exit my dungeon temporarily to come chat with CHT residents about the goings-on in Near Southeast. So come on by and spend some time getting to know your neighbors, I'll be the one standing in the corner shaking uncontrollably from all the unfamiliar contact with actual live humans.

From the Examiner: "The District is in the last stages of developing a handbook for moving tens of thousands of people in and out of the Washington Nationals new ballpark on game days. The handbook 'will define exactly how everything is going to be done on game days,' one planner said, including traffic and pedestrian movement, police presence, ambulance staging and fan parking. It will put in place specific mechanisms for movement, from when to restrict on-street parking to which roads to close for pedestrians. [...] Under the draft plan, on-street parking would be restricted to residents, while fans would be urged to take Metro or park at one of multiple off-site lots and garages. Season ticket holders could even be assigned a specific lot based on the direction from which they arrive. Variable message signs would be installed to direct traffic to or away from the stadium; sidewalks would be widened to handle the mass of pedestrians; and traffic signals would be adjusted based on vehicle volume and movement." Also, the restaurant in center field, originally a one-story circular structure (visible on many of the renderings), is now a two-story rectangular building, with the Lerners having expressed the desire for the change and then (believe it or not) footing the $2.8 million bill for the cost difference.

Expanding a bit on recent posts about the liquor license application by the owners of the former Star Market (aka the "Little Red Building" at 2nd and L, next to the Courtyard by Marriott) to open what the owner has recently described to me as a "tastefully designed Wine and Spirit store." As I reported (and as now confirmed in the November Hill Rag's ANC 6D report, since I bailed on the meeting before this came up), the ANC voted to protest the application, but apparently this was as much about timing issues as anything else, and at the same time the application was referred to the ANC's ABC subcommittee to work on a voluntary agreement to ban the sale of "singles." The owner tells me that in fact they are working on plans to redevelop the property, possibly demolishing the little red building (sniff!) and replacing it with a new building that in addition to upscale liquor sales on the first and second floors could also accommodate a "small sushi saki bar in the 2nd and 3rd floor." He guarantees that the new building "will not be your conventional 'mom and pop' liquor store.' (It should be noted that the Star Market's Class B [beer and wine/convenience store] liquor license conveyed to the current owners, so this application is for a Class A license [beer, wine. and spirits/liquor store].) The ABC application hearing is Nov. 8; the owner hopes to have the plans for the renovation ready by spring. (Hat tip to the CHT Shareholder Community blog.) UPDATE: I also wanted to note that the Capitol Hill Tower developer is opposing this application.

The was a ceremonial groundbreaking today at Onyx on First, the 266-unit residential tower at 1st and L streets scheduled for delivery in 2008. Just-Minutes-Away-From-Being-Mayor Fenty was in attendance, as were representatives of Faison Enterprises and Canyon-Johnson Urban Funds (I had thought that maybe Magic himself might be in attendance, but we had to settle for Screech, the Nats mascot). A few photos of the ceremony are at the bottom of my Onyx on First page. UPDATE: Here's the WashTimes piece on the groundbreaking and the project.

Today was a bonanza of Near Southeast alley closing requests, as four pending bills received their public hearings in front of the city council "Committee of the Whole" (i.e., Chairman Cropp, the only council member in attendance).

Today's Examiner reports: "Senior officials with the District and the Washington Nationals reached an understanding Monday to construct three aboveground parking garages adjacent to the new Southeast ballpark, The Examiner has learned. The informal pact between Nationals owner Ted Lerner, Democratic mayoral nominee Adrian Fenty and others would result in two garages on the north side of the stadium site, totaling 925 spaces and one 300-space garage on the south end, according to officials familiar with the morning meeting. [...] But Lerner, who has long sought freestanding garages, agreed to reconsider his opposition to retail and residential development a couple years down the road, sources said, which would likely require razing any existing structures." Despite trumpeting this as a deal, I'm not really sure what it's done--the article is vague on the details, saying that the project would cost $36 million, "within reach of the $611 million cost cap", but I'm guessing someone like Mr. Catania might have an opposing viewpoint on whether $36 million can be spent and still stay under the cap. And "Any aboveground parking will require nine of 13 council members to back a zoning exemption. And legislators have so far been unwilling to support freestanding garages."

Alas, the new DCStats Building Permits RSS Feed is still undergoing some birthing pains (updates daily around 10 pm instead of 9 am, leaving it well behind the other feeds, and seeming to miss some day's permit issuings), so I have to go back to the old-fashioned report to learn that last week the JPI's 100 I Street residential project received its building permit, so work can begin on its section of the lot, next to the already under construction 70 I Street. Together, the two towers will have nearly 700 units when they are delivered in mid-2008. Also, permits have been issued for six soil borings (4" wide and 30' deep) in two locations (200 L and 200 M streets) in the Canal Park footprint.