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Near Southeast DC Past News Items
In the Pipeline
25 M
Yards/Parcel I
Chiller Site Condos
Yards/Parcel A
1333 M St.
More Capper Apts.
Yards/DC Water site
New Marine Barracks
Nat'l Community Church
Factory 202/Yards
SC1100
Completed
Thompson Hotel ('20)
West Half ('19)
Novel South Capitol ('19)
Yards/Guild Apts. ('19)
Capper/The Harlow ('19)
New DC Water HQ ('19)
Yards/Bower Condos ('19)
Virginia Ave. Tunnel ('19)
99 M ('18)
Agora ('18)
1221 Van ('18)
District Winery ('17)
Insignia on M ('17)
F1rst/Residence Inn ('17)
One Hill South ('17)
Homewood Suites ('16)
ORE 82 ('16)
The Bixby ('16)
Dock 79 ('16)
Community Center ('16)
The Brig ('16)
Park Chelsea ('16)
Yards/Arris ('16)
Hampton Inn ('15)
Southeast Blvd. ('15)
11th St. Bridges ('15)
Parc Riverside ('14)
Twelve12/Yards ('14)
Lumber Shed ('13)
Boilermaker Shops ('13)
Camden South Cap. ('13)
Canal Park ('12)
Capitol Quarter ('12)
225 Virginia/200 I ('12)
Foundry Lofts ('12)
1015 Half Street ('10)
Yards Park ('10)
Velocity Condos ('09)
Teague Park ('09)
909 New Jersey Ave. ('09)
55 M ('09)
100 M ('08)
Onyx ('08)
70/100 I ('08)
Nationals Park ('08)
Seniors Bldg Demo ('07)
400 M ('07)
Douglass Bridge Fix ('07)
US DOT HQ ('07)
20 M ('07)
Capper Seniors 1 ('06)
Capitol Hill Tower ('06)
Courtyard/Marriott ('06)
Marine Barracks ('04)
 
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Geospatial Agency's New Home
It was reported in Wednesday's Post that a contract has been awarded to build at Ft. Belvoir the new home of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the super-secret, don't-even-think-of-pointing-that-camera-at-this-building agency that currently occupies the windowless white box at First and M. As part of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) plan, NGA must be moved to Ft. Belvoir by Sept. 15, 2011; and they actually have pretty detailed page about the move on their web site, if you want to know more. It estimates that workers at what's known as Building 213 at The Yards/Southeast Federal Center would be moving in late 2010 and 2011. Once they're gone, that very valuable lot at First and M would be redeveloped as office space as part of the later phases of construction at The Yards, presumably without the high fences and gun-toting guards.

 

Douglass Bridge Visit - Photos Now Posted
The folks at DDOT were nice enough to let me tag along today on a visit to the Douglass Bridge Extreme Makeover, and of course I took a whole pile of photos. Check back later today to see them--I need time to plow through the hundreds I took to find the one or two that are actually any good.
UPDATE: I've now added photos from today to the Makeover page (look for the icon). I might keep tinkering, though.
 

Web Site for 801 Virginia Ave.
It must be admitted that lately I've spent most of my Near Southeast on-the-ground time west of New Jersey Avenue, given that all of the active projects are in that area. So I'm embarrassed to see that there's now fence drapes around the lot at 801 Virginia Avenue, advertising a new web site for this condo-and-retail project, at admiralcondo.com. There's not really much more there than a somewhat balky Flash video and a preview list registration form, but if you're interested in this 40,000-sq-ft project that is slated to have 17 residential units (with parking) on top of ground-floor retail and some office space, take a look. There's also the web site of the realtor selling the commercial space, for additional detail. I've updated my own 801 Virginia page with a few new photos as well.
More posts: 801va, 8th Street
 

Latest on WMATA Bus Garage Move
Yesterday Metro posted an update on its Southeastern Bus Garage Replacement page, announcing that "WMATA staff will be recommending to its Board of Directors that, rather implementing the [construction of a new bus garage at DC Village] through three phases, WMATA should design and construct the ultimate 250-bus facility at the outset with an opening in late 2010." Because Metro and the city both very strongly feel that WMATA should be out of the current Southeastern Bus Garage at Half and M before the opening of the baseball stadium in April 2008, Metro is now starting an analysis of four alternative plans to make this happen: leasing/upgrading an existing crane rental facility on W Street, NE; upgrading the Carmen Turner Facility and using the Landover Bus Garage in Landover, MD; leasing and developing land on Howard Road, SE; or reassigning the 114 buses currently at the garage to other facilities. (Option #5 is staying at Half and M.) They've posted an Alternatives Analysis presentation, and will be having public meetings and briefings as they work through the options to make a decision. If you're interested in the plans for the new garage at DC Village, the project overview slides on the project page might be of interest.
In the meantime, Aug. 28 is the scheduled date for Metro to pick the developer with the winning bid to purchase the Half and M site.
 

New Photos, Again
The new buildings now coming out of the ground, adding one floor a week, are keeping me busy, so there are updated photos again on the Onyx on First, 100 M, and 70/100 I project pages. I also took some new photos of the 909 New Jersey site, as the hole being dug there gets deeper. And I ventured across to Poplar Point for the first time in a while and got a long-range photo comparing the northern end of the Douglass Bridge after the lowering/demolition of the northern part of the approach, which are now on my Douglass Bridge Extreme Makeover page. You can also browse all the new photos on a single page.
 

JPI Acquires Land for Project #4
According to GlobeSt.com (story free for seven days), JPI as expected has completed acquisition of the eastern two-thirds of the block bounded by I, K, Half, and South Capitol, comprising the Wendy's lot and the lot to its east, with plans to build what is being called "Jefferson at the Ballpark," a 416-unit residential building at 23 I Street. This will be JPI's fourth building on I Street, joining 70/100 I and 909 New Jersey, which are all already under construction. Construction on 23 I is expected to begin in August 2008, and will raise JPI's total number of units in Near Southeast to 1,350. According to the article, this building will be "green," and will have a dog run and large open courtyard. For what the block currently looks like, check my not-terribly-exciting 23 I page. When the DC Property Sales database ends its summer vacation (apparently even web sites get to take August off in Washington), I'll tell you how much JPI paid for the 43,313-sq-ft lot, last assessed at $21.7 million.
 

More Photos of Stadium Topping Out, Fenty Visit
The official web site for the new Nationals ballpark has posted some photos from the July 11 Topping Out ceremony (and the actual lifting of the beam the next day) as well as from a visit by Mayor Fenty a few weeks earlier. Their Stadium Construction Cam, of course, never sleeps--check out the continuing progress on the parking garages and outfield restaurant on Camera #1 and the admin building on Camera #2. And if you can't get enough pictures of the stadium, you can always browse my unofficial web site, including the photos I took from the topping out.
More posts: Nationals Park
 

Roll Call on the MPD Move
Those of you who have a subscription to Roll Call might be interested in "Speaking Up Pays Off on Capitol Hill," which discusses how public input from Capitol Hill residents can alter the city's development plans, with much of the piece centering around how citizen feedback seems to have helped scuttle the planned move of the police department to 225 Virginia Ave. The July 18 public meeting--which I summarized here--did get many issues about the move raised to the Office of Property Management, even though director Lars Etzkorn probably needed a few stiff drinks when he got home that night after the pummeling the plan took. But is the move truly off? There's been no news one way or the other since the Post wrote the not-so-fast piece (which no other news outlets have followed up on), so at this point we're probably going to have to wait until the DC government starts back up again, after Labor Day. (h/t to reader B for the link)
 

Citizens Call for Closure of Trash Transfer Station
To those who ask me from time to time when the Department of Public Works' operations at the old trash transfer station at New Jersey Avenue and K Street might be closed down, I offer this quote from the Post: "As a result of a hearing granted representatives of the East Washington Citizens' Association, the Commissioners yesterday announced that they would endeavor to change the location of the present garbage transfer station, and K Street and New Jersey avenue southeast, provided the arrangement does not call for the expenditure of too large a sum of money." Said M.I. Weller, vice president of the association, " '[O]ne or two improvements of large dimensions are in progress in our section of the city, and really we can spare the garbage transfer station.' "
Oh, wait. This report is from April 7, 1905.
Neighbors protested about the "noxious fumes" for many years, and finally an "odorless, dust-free" station was built, opening in July 1949. That building still stands on the site today, though it hasn't been used as a trash transfer operation for some years.
(Plans from the current century call for a mixed-income 322-unit apartment building to be built on the site as part of the Capper/Carrollsburg Hope VI public housing redevelopment, but construction probably won't start before 2010. This site has also been eyed as a possible location for parking as part of the shoe-horning of MPD into the Post Plant, which may or may not still be happening in some fashion.)
 

Art Back on at the Stadium
From Monday's Examiner: ""District government leaders are now in general agreement that commissioning and purchasing artwork for the Washington Nationals' new ballpark will not violate the $611 million stadium construction cap. Mayor Adrian Fenty has moved to shift $770,000 from the city's equipment leasing fund and into the budget of the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, which will use it to purchase artwork, including sculptures, for the 41,000-seat stadium. [...] The arts commission has issued three "calls for artists" this year for projects tied to the stadium -- for bronze figures, for "garage enhancements" and for a "suspended installation" in the main concourse. The art will be temporary and eventually moved to another location[.]"

More posts: Nationals Park
 

New Web Site for The Yards
After months of a placeholder site, a new information-filled web site for The Yards was launched today (maybe they don't want the world to know, but I happened to stumble across it, so I'm spilling the beans). The biggest news I unearthed while browsing around is that they're saying that the 5.5-acre waterfront park (or at least some portion of it) is scheduled to be open in summer 2009, a year earlier than some previous dates I had heard. There's also a nice map showing the three phases of the project, with the initial projects I've described on my Yards page coming online in 2009 and 2010--the retail renovation of the Boilermarker Shop and 170 apartments at the Pattern Joiner Shop [and the park] scheduled to be completed in 2009, and the office building at 401 M Street (with a grocery store), 271 condos at Building 202, and 180 apartments in a new building at 4th and Tingey all expected in 2010. Phase two would be more residential and retail buildings opening between 2011 and 2013. Phase three would be the portions of the site along First Street and west of New Jersey.
If you want to know what it all looks like now, of course, my Yards pages can help you with that.

More posts: Retail, The Yards, Yards Park
 

New Page: Historic Photos of Near Southeast
Having watched the JDLand spouse go bonkers lately pouring through old photos of Washington DC that are available on the web (mainly at the Library of Congress web site), I decided to hop on the bandwagon and pull together what photos I could find online of Near Southeast through the years onto a new Historic Photos page. They're mostly overhead shots, though there are some street level ones (especially of streetcars near what is now the "Blue Castle" at 8th and M). I posted just a few representative shots, so follow the links beneath the photos if you're interested in seeing more images, especially of the Navy Yard (on the Naval Historical Center web site) and of DC's streetcars (at Dave's Rail Pix site). I also was recently sent a few photos from the archive of the old Alley Dwelling Authority (the precursor to the DC Housing Authority); hopefully the rest of those 1930s photos (showing slums in the old Ellen Wilson area and Southwest) can eventually be posted where folks can get to them.
And soon I'll start posting on the blog from time to time short excerpts of old Washington Post news items from the neighborhood to continue the walk down memory lane. (My degree is in history, so it's rather amazing it's taken me this long to do this. I guess all the current events have kept me plenty busy.)
UPDATE: One item of interest I've uncovered today: In the overhead shot from 1939 on the Historic Photos page, you can see a big building at 4th and M streets; I've determined that this is the original John P. Van Ness School, which was opened in 1909. The current Van Ness school, at 5th and M, replaced the old one in 1956.

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Extra Stadium Money Not Flowing from Nationals
From Friday's Washington Times: "The Washington Nationals have contributed less than $8 million toward the construction of their new ballpark in the District, though club officials publicly said the team would spend as much as $50 million on stadium improvements. The $611 million, city-funded ballpark along South Capitol Street is on schedule to be completed by March of next year, and it appears likely the stadium will be built with just a handful of upgrades and enhancements from the Nationals. The team's contributions include between $2.5 million and $3 million for an expansion of the ballpark's center-field restaurant, about $2 million to improve the stadium suites and about $3 million to upgrade the scoreboard and video display." The article goes on to highlight the various statements from team officials over the past few months about the size of possible contributions, but also lists the type of outlays the team may be making that will contribute to the ballpark-going experience.
More posts: Nationals Park
 

Fenty Backpedaling on Canceling the MPD Move
If Wednesday's news that the city had decided against the planned move of many functions of the Metropolitan Police Department to the old Post Plant Department at 225 Virginia Ave. was a shocker, then tonight's headline is doubly so: "Police Move is Not Off After All," says Friday's Post. "Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's office said yesterday that the city has not abandoned plans to move police headquarters into an industrial building the city is leasing in Southeast Washington -- contradicting statements made by the District's top property official. [...] [A Fenty spokeswoman] said that the mayor had made no decision and that statements to the contrary were premature and made without his knowledge or approval."
City council member Phil Mendelson, quoted yesterday as saying that calling off the move was a bad idea, is quoted as saying that he thinks that OPM director Lars Etzkorn would not have made Wednesday's announcement without getting approval from the mayor's office, and that he believes "maybe the administration is changing their mind, and that's good." The article does quote the mayor's spokeswoman as saying that the deal to lease the building still "could make sense for the city but not necessarily the police department. We're figuring out what our best option is."
In other words, this news doesn't appear to mean that the MPD move is back on. But we'll wait and see what the principals say next. And then wait a few days to see what they then say after that. And then perhaps wait a few more days to see if it changes again.
 

This Week's Ballpark and Beyond Column
Oops, totally forgot to link to today's Ballpark and Beyond column in the Post's District Extra, which covered the concerns about getting the school buses off of Canal Park, and the news item about the Ride the Ducks company looking to build a boat ramp down at Buzzards Point. (What can I say--I got a year older today, so clearly in my advanced years I'm getting forgetful.)
More posts: Canal Park
 

MPD Not Moving to 225 Virginia Ave
A press release from the DC Office of Property Management (h/t to reader C and the City Paper):
"Lars Etzkorn, Director of the DC Office of Property Management (OPM), today announced that OPM has canceled the move of major elements of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) to the former Washington Star/Post printing facility at 225 Virginia Avenue, SE. 'We have found this deal to be too expensive for the District,' Etzkorn said. 'Fortunately we realized before it was too late that forcing three dissimilar police functions in this building (a local police station and its cell-block, a warehouse for secure evidence storage along with regular office space) is not cost-effective. In addition, we have found the facility to be inconsistent with the adjacent neighborhood. OPM is now studying the future of the building.' When the lease was signed in December 2006, the following MPD elements were planned to move to 225 Virginia Avenue, SE: evidence storage, violent crimes, narcotics and special investigation, special operations, the superintendent of detectives, MPD Headquarters and the First District Station now in Southwest." (emphases mine)
Wow. More to come, I'm sure.
UPDATE: Here's the Post's piece on the decision (there will probably be a more complete one later today/in tomorrow's paper).
UPDATE II: The Washington Business Journal ads a bit of info. (Though it's also a good exercise in journalism literacy for lay folks of how news items get written off of a press release in such a way that it appears the writer interviewed someone when they actually didn't.) Meanwhile, the Voice of the Hill does it right (and adds still more detail). And, for the heck of it, here's my summary of the July community meeting that let OPM and MPD know in no uncertain terms how strongly residents were against the plan.
UPDATE III: The Post's expanded piece for Thursday's paper is now up, noting that the city is on the hook for $542,000 a month in rent for 225 Virginia, but that while there's a cost for holding the building and not moving the police into it, "That cost is not going to drive bad decision-making. It is more important to protect long-term interests of the District of Columbia," according to Lars Etzkorn. And apparently council member Phil Mendelson (who chairs the Public Safety Committee) was not consulted on this decision. The priority now is to find a new home for the 1D station, so that the new Consolidated Crime Lab can be built at 4th and School SW as planned.

 

Capitol Riverfront BID Web Site Launched
The Capitol Riverfront Business Improvement District has launched its "real" web site today, at capitolriverfront.org. The BID covers all of Near Southeast, plus Buzzards Point, and the web site contains information about the neighborhood, renderings of upcoming projects, maps of development plans, and links to news stories. In other words, just like my site! So perhaps I'm now on the road to being muscled out of business.....
UPDATE: I should note, after hearing a few questions, that the "Berdor's" rendering on the site's homepage is from renderings for The Yards's Building 167 (the old Boiler Maker's Shop), showing what the exterior of the building might look like after its renovation into a retail space. It doesn't mean (necessarily) that a certain national bookstore chain is coming to that spot, at least not that's been announced. And, if it were, it probably would fix the typo in its sign. :-)
 

More on the Sale of the Former KFC/Taco Bell Site
About a month ago I posted about the closure of the combo Kentucky Fried Chicken/Taco Bell at 1101 South Capitol Street, SW, noting that the site had been purchased in late May for $5.5 million by "URA Ventures", another name for Urban Realty Advisors. So, when I saw a couple days ago the signs that have now gone up at the site (on the corner of South Capitol and L) touting leasing opportunities, with "Ruben Companies" in big letters at the top, I was a little a'skeered I had screwed up. But with some e-mail inquiries and some digging in the DC Land Records (you all owe me $8), I've determined that URA borrowed the bucks from Ruben Capital Holdings to buy the site. So they're one big happy co-venture. According to the folks at Ruben, long-term plans for the site call for an office building.
This deal helps the Ruben folks to corner the market on properties on the southern two corners of South Capitol and L, since they are also developing a 350,000-sq-ft office building across the street at 1100 South Capitol. (Ruben also owns two-thirds of Square 648, bounded by South Capitol, L, Half, and K streets SW, but since neither of those two lots touch South Capitol Street, I'm blissfully ignoring them.)
While reading the deed from the KFC sale, I came across one paragraph that I'm sure is no surprise to folks in the biz but struck me as pretty funny. In completing the deal, the buyer agreed agree that, for the next 20 years, "no portion of the property shall be used for the operation of any facility deriving 25 percent or more of its gross sales of prepared food from the sale of (i) Mexican food; (ii) chicken or chicken products, including without limitation chicken wings; or (iii) pizza, pasta, Italian sandwiches, or other Italian food products; or (iv) hamburgers or (v) seafood. The foregoing food use restrictions shall not apply to: a) full-service, sit-down, dine-in restaurants, which offer alcoholic beverages and do not offer fast food over the counter or by means of a drive-through service or b) food service facilities which are intended for the use or convenience of tenants or occupants of improvements constructed on the property, or their guests or invitees, provided the food service provider shall not be a national or regional (i.e., more than 10 outlets) quick service restaurant concept." So, if you were hoping for a new fast-food joint in that spot, you're going to be disappointed.
 

Community Events This Week
Better late than never, here's two events this week that might be of interest:
Tuesday, Aug. 7 is "National Night Out", which promotes police-community partnerships. Police Service Area (PSA) 105, which covers southern Capitol Hill and Near Southeast, is having a baby parade at 6 pm at the 1D1 substation at 5th and E, SE, followed by a flashlight walk around the neighborhood at 7 pm.
On Wednesday (Aug. 8) Tommy Wells and DC schools chancellor Michelle Rhee are having a town hall on education, at 8 pm at Maury Elementary School (1250 Constitution Ave. NE). The goal of the meeting is to provide an opportunity to meet the new Chancellor and get information on her plans for the future of D.C. Public schools.

More posts:
 

Canal Park Project Manager Not Part of AWC Shift
The word is now out that Carol Anderson-Austra, the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation's project director for Canal Park, is not among those AWC staffers moving over to the office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development. As I mentioned in my "Whither Canal Park?" entry of a few days ago, the park itself appears to be at an impasse thanks to the issue of moving the school buses, so I'm sure residents and interested observers will be looking forward to word from the DMPED folks as to how they're planning to move the park forward.
Speaking of the move of AWC to DMPED, DC Cable Channel 16 is replaying the ceremony from a few weeks ago when Mayor Fenty signed the bill transferring AWC and the NCRC to city control. It's on this week on Tuesday and Thursday at 1:30 pm (also available via streaming video if you don't have DC cable).
More posts: Canal Park
 
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