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Thompson Hotel ('20)
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99 M ('18)
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District Winery ('17)
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Southeast Blvd. ('15)
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Camden South Cap. ('13)
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225 Virginia/200 I ('12)
Foundry Lofts ('12)
1015 Half Street ('10)
Yards Park ('10)
Velocity Condos ('09)
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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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Naming Deal for Ballpark May Not Happen by Opening Day
Also from today's Washington Business Journal print edition (subscribers only) is "Nats May Open Ballpark Without Naming Deal", which says that "Club executives are anticipating a delay in the rollout of a corporate moniker until 2009. [...] But with no deal imminent, according to club officials, the new mind-set is to wait until an optimal agreement happens rather than accept a lowball offer and push out a name for the opening of the 41,500-seat ballpark near the Anacostia River in April." It says that the team is seeking $8 million to $10 million per year for a naming-rights pact, which would be the second largest in Major League Baseball. The team says there is no concern about opening the stadium without a deal in place, using the Nationals Park name in the interim. Principal owner Ted Lerner is quoted as saying, "On a practical level, we're getting awfully late in the game where we wouldn't have enough time to order and install the signage in time for opening day. We'll get there. The important thing is to have the right deal instead of the quick deal."
UPDATE: The WBJ article was originally published in the Sports Business Journal; here's the link.
More posts: Nationals Park
 

Monument and the Ballpark District - A Timeline
Today's Washington Business Journal has a long story (not just for subscribers!) about Monument Realty's miffed-ness over not being awarded the Southeastern Bus Garage site. It details the process from 2005 when the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation issued the solicitation to develop land around the new Nationals ballpark up through the surprise awarding of the bus garage site earlier this month to Akridge. As for the next steps, in light of the acrimony and Monument's recent threats of litigation, the article sheds no light on the what course of action will be taken by the city, Monument, and/or Metro.
One thing the article cleared up for me was that brief moment in late June when the city asked WMATA to sell the bus garage to the District, then pulled back: apparently Monument Realty had complained to the office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development about the open bidding for the garage, and so the city asked to buy it, until it was realized that the purchase "would require approval and tens of millions of dollars from the council, which would soon recess for the summer", and so the offer was rescinded.
If you're interested in some of the documents, here's the September 2005 Request for Expressions of Interest, the Dec. 2005 Summary of Recommendations listing the chosen Designated Developers, and the accompanying press release. (Just be nice and give proper credit to where you got them if you use them.)
 

MacFarlane Profiled
There's a profile in today's Post of Victor MacFarlane, who over the past few years has invested huge sums of money in the District, including purchasing a 25-percent stake in The Yards and coming on board as a partner in Monument Realty's Half Street project. Oh, and he bought DC United, too, and was offering to build a new soccer stadium and huge mixed-use development at Poplar Point until the Fenty Administration decided to open the land to a Request for Bids process.
 

Spay/Neuter Clinic Ribbon Cutting
Today is the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new National Capital Area Spay and Neuter Center at 10th and L Streets, SE, launched by the Washington Humane Society and Alley Cat Allies to provide high-volume, lost-cost spay/neuter services for the critters of the DC metro area. I won't be able to be there, alas, but perhaps we'll get dispatches from other media outlets that have a slightly larger staff.
 

Nats Fans to Get to Park at RFK and Shuttle?
Thursday's WashTimes: "Nationals fans likely will be able to park near RFK Stadium and take a shuttle to the team's new ballpark next year, but it's still unclear how much they will be charged. The D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission, which has oversight of the RFK lots, revealed yesterday that it will allow fans to park near RFK but has asked the team to pay as much as $5 a spot for the rights on game days. The sports commission has offered to provide 1,000 spaces for free, while charging the team $5 a space for 2,500 additional spaces. The team, however, has argued against the $5 a space charge because it likely already will incur costs by operating the shuttle service." The rest of the piece has a quick survey of the current state (or lack thereof) of the parking issue. It also mentions that the first game at the new ballpark could be on Sunday, March 30, allowing the stadium to debut on an ESPN national telecast.

More posts: parking, Nationals Park
 

Ground Indeed Broken at The Yards
The Near Southeast Groundbreaking Tour made its stop at the old Southeast Federal Center this morning, as city, federal, and corporate representatives took time out to officially mark the beginning of work at The Yards. There were speeches, there were shovels, and dirt was turned, all with the dull roar of heavy construction equipment in the background. I took some photos of the festivities and added them to the bottom of my main Yards page--and don't forget to look at the First Phase tab to get a feel for what's coming between now and 2010 (two residential buildings, one office building, a retail building, a pavilion, and a 5.5-acre park). There was a fair amount of media, so I expect to update with some story links later in the day. And since the mayor was there, the ceremony should eventually be on DC Cable 16.
UPDATE: Here's the press release from Forest City, with lots of numbers and stats on the project. And the Washington Business Journal piece, which sent me on my way to find this page on the design of the waterfront park, on the web site of M. Paul Friedberg and Partners, which includes a rendering of the floating bridge that will connect the Yards to Diamond Teague Park and the stadium.
UPDATE II: The Post story on the groundbreaking is now online. And NBC 4 has this text story (I think it's actually from the Associated Press), which doesn't have much of note, but I thought I'd correct one sentence: it says "More than 35 development companies are part of the project", but that should be 35 agencies. (I'm not sure any project could ever get finished with 35 different development companies!) Channel 4 also had a video report on its 6 pm newscast, but they haven't posted it online. (I only know about the 6 pm clip because Mom of JDLand called breathlessly to say she had seen me in one of the crowd shots.)
UPDATE III: The WashTimes offering. And one last reminder that you can find lots of details (and photos!) on The Yards on my project page.
UPDATE IV: A late addition, just now showing up: the Deputy Mayor's office press release.
More posts: The Yards
 

Florida Rock Heading Back to Zoning Commission; New Renderings
The developers of the Florida Rock site immediately to the south of the new ballpark have been spending the past few months working to flesh out the new design unveiled back in June, and apparently will be going to the Zoning Commission on Oct. 15 for setdown of their new application for a second-stage PUD. (If you understood almost nothing in that last sentence, don't worry about it.) That means a full hearing on the new design could possibly happen before the end of 2007, and if the bureaucratic gods align, perhaps work could begin on the first phase of the project in 2008. I've received a few new renderings showing a bit more detail, and have added them to my Florida Rock page (I'm not ready to start officially calling it RiverFront on the Anacostia just yet). Look for the icon to see them.
More posts: Florida Rock, zoning
 

Groundbreaking at The Yards on Wednesday
A groundbreaking ceremony is being held at The Yards (once known as the Southeast Federal Center, for you old-timers) on Wednesday morning at 10:30. Speakers on the agenda include Mayor Fenty, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Tommy Wells, and others.
More posts: The Yards
 

Finding DC Workers for the Ballpark
The Post looks into the issue of DC residents getting hired to work on the construction of the Nationals ballpark: "D.C. residents have worked about one-third of the total hours of skilled labor needed to build the Washington Nationals stadium, despite an agreement between the city government and labor unions that half of the hours would go to city workers. The data [...] show that city residents have worked 32 percent of the nearly 650,000 hours worked by journeymen, which include those in trades such as ironwork, electrical, roofing and plumbing. Although the vast majority of lower-paid apprentice work has gone to D.C. residents -- 91 percent -- the stadium contractors have not met the goal of 100 percent established in the labor agreement[....] Under the terms of the labor agreement, if a union is unable to provide D.C. workers to meet a request from a subcontractor, it can ask for assistance from the city's Department of Employment Services. If the agency cannot find a qualified applicant within 48 hours, the subcontractor is free to hire from outside the city." (There was a similar City Paper article a few weeks ago.)
More posts: Nationals Park
 

Council Oversight Hearing: I'll Get Back to You on That
DC council member Kwame Brown's Committee on Economic Development had an oversight hearing this afternoon to get information from the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development on the transition of projects on the Southwest Waterfront, Hill East, Poplar Point, Canal Park, and Kingman Island. The majority of the hearing time was spent on the three large projects, but since my hard-and-fast coverage boundaries don't include any of them, I'll just pass along what was said about the current status of Canal Park.
In her opening remarks, DMPED chief operating officer Valerie Santos Young gave a brief description of the 1.8-acre park project, in particular its sustainable design and stormwater management aspects, which will help "minimize discharge of polluted water" into the Anacostia River. She said that her office is (still) working with the DC Public Schools transit administrator to relocate the 100 buses parked on the southern two blocks of the site, and that the Deputy Mayor's office is aware of the "considerable interest" from residents in seeing the park built. "We have achieved some recent milestones to do just that," she said in closing her Canal Park remarks, without actually mentioning what the milestones were. It was later in the hearing, when asked for specifics by Tommy Wells, that Young explained the city has now negotiated the termination of the lease with the company renting the northernmost block of the site.
Otherwise, the issue with getting the park underway still boils down to the removal of the school buses, which has apparently been set back further after council chairman Vincent Gray's recent objections to a plan that would have created a citywide school bus parking lot in Prince George's County instead of in the District. Young said that they are now "scrambling" to find another permanent location, as well as an interim lot the Canal Park buses can be moved to, although DCPS does not want to relocate the buses to a temporary site until a permanent solution has been figured out. But Marion Barry made clear that Ward 8 residents oppose moving the buses to D.C. Village, which apparently had been considered as one possible interim solution.
Wells also asked if there were any progress on the creation of water taxi or ferry landings along the waterfront, but Young replied she was unable to give any answers because she was not personally aware of the specifics and that the project manager was not at the hearing, a response heard so many times that committee chairman Brown finally recessed the hearing in exasperation. (Young's "I was on vacation that week" response to a question by Barry about the specifics of a Poplar Point decision was my personal favorite.) Brown said that there will be another hearing scheduled, and admonished the Deputy Mayor's office that next time they need to be ready with facts and the appropriate staffers in attendance at oversight hearings, and not just repeat "We'll get back to you on that" over and over.
If you're interested in the other projects and want to see the hearing, check the DC Cable 13 listings for replays.
More posts: Canal Park
 

Council Hearing on Canal Park, Southwest Waterfront, and More
Just a reminder for those interested in the progress of Canal Park (as well as the Southwest Waterfront, Hill East, and other former AWC initiatives) that there's a DC council Committee on Economic Development Public oversight hearing on these projects on Monday (Oct. 1) at 12 noon in Room 500 of the Wilson Building. The DC Cable 13 schedule indicates that the hearing will be broadcast live, which means you can either watch the live webcast or dial up Channel 13 if you live in the District and have cable.
More posts: Canal Park
 

New Batch of Photos, Pt. 2 - Stadium's West Side
Now posted for your perusing pleasure, another batch of photos from around the neighborhood, taken this afternoon, with the focus being on the western side of the ballpark, along South Capitol Street. This means that the Stadium Exterior Construction Gallery is now about two-thirds updated over the past two days, and don't forget to look at the Expanded Stadium Archives for South Capitol Street and N Street if you want even more before-and-afters. (Or here's all photos from today on a single page.) Grass is now being put down in the median on South Capitol, and the new historic globe streetlights are in place, along with stoplights-to-come at the O and P intersections. The newly widened sidewalks and curbs along the west side of the street are almost complete as well.
My favorite part of the day was when I walked down the median of South Capitol from N to Potomac, snapping photos along the way. The inbound lanes coming off the Douglass Bridge were closed, so it made for some nice car-free shots, until I realized that there was a big red pickup driving the south in the northbound lanes of South Capitol, moving very slowly and always staying about 40 feet behind me. I'd walk a half-block and stop, and the truck would drive a half-block and stop. Then, when I got to South Capitol and Potomac, the truck turned around and parked. Of course, it was Hired Badge Harry, making sure that I made not the slightest attempt to get anywhere near the inside of the ballpark perimeter. When I finished my work at South Capitol and Potomac, I waved and called out, "Okay! I'm walking back north now!!!" and we resumed our shadow-dancing, even though by this point I was walking on the west side of the street and so was nowhere near the construction. While I certainly appreciate having my own escort at all times, I do think it's kind of funny that they're expending so much effort keeping an eye on the ONE person who has absolutely no interest in darting into the stadium interior uninvited. And so, if you're wondering why so many of today's photos have a big red pickup in them, that's why.
UPDATE: Oops, sorry, the all-in-one link was to yesterday's batch. Now fixed.

More posts: Nationals Park
 

New Batch of Photos, Pt. 1 - Scoreboard Stars and More
The breadth of construction around Near Southeast is now so vast that I'm forced to break my photo sojourns up into multiple sessions. Today's batch includes a few from the eastern side of the stadium, which are somewhat hard to come by these days--make sure to see the second photo down on the Stadium Exterior Construction Gallery, which shows the red stars that were added to the scoreboard in the past few days as part of the installation of the clock. (The "Nationals" lettering is cool to see as well, even if it's backwards.) The rest of the new stadium photos are more toward the bottom of the gallery (look for the icon) and on the First Street and N Street expanded galleries, but I'm planning to take a complete batch of photos of the western side of the ballpark on Sunday.
There's also the usual updates to the project pages for residential projects 70/100 I and Onyx on First and the 100 M Street office building, as well as plenty of other vantage points that can be seen on the expanded galleries or on the see-'em-all-on-one-page output. Try not to be blinded by the incredibly blue sky when looking at these shots, and cross your fingers I get that weather again on Sunday.
I've also got one not-so-good comparison showing the slow progress on the demolition of the GPO building at The Yards, though fences and construction vehicles are making it very hard to get good shots of what's going on there.
I did also notice that the DC Foreign Car garage on K west of Half is definitely now abandoned, sometime within the past month or so. No "we've moved" sign is up anywhere, and so it's possible that it's been a number of weeks since they closed, but now all the windows and doors are busted, so it was obvious even to my sometimes-distracted brain. Opus East has said they're planning to start construction on 1015 Half Street in October, which would mean this garage should be gone before much longer.
Tune in tomorrow for the next batch.

 

New Web Cam: Monument Half Street
Hot on the heels of the uber-successful Stadium Construction Web Cam, there's now a new webcam available, showing the progress of Monument Realty's Half Street project, which includes the expansion of the Navy Yard Metro station. And it shows that the vertical construction of 55 M Street (the 275,000-sq-ft office building at the corner of Half and M that will house the subway entrance) is nearly to ground level. Also, I'm psyched that I can now keep an eye on the properties along First Street without taking off my fuzzy slippers, to watch for if and when those buildings get demolished. (It also shows that the GPO building at The Yards is still partially standing.) For baseball fans, it does show a smidgen of the ballpark, mainly from the restaurant eastward and southward, as well as all of the eastern parking garage. The images go back to Aug. 28, but I guess I kept overlooking the webcam link on the official Half Street web site.
UPDATE: Alas, the web cam has spent most of the day frozen at 12:51 pm. Hopefully someone will go to the top of 20 M Street and kick the tires.
UPDATE II: And now it's back.

 

Rendering of 1100 South Capitol, and New Page
The fine folks at Ruben Companies have passed along to me a rendering of its planned 350,000-sq-ft office building at 1100 South Capitol, now dubbed "SC1100." With that in hand, I've created a page for both SC1100 and the rest of the block it will occupy, known by the cool land-record kids as Square 698, and have added it to my main map. Ruben also now has a page about the project on its redesigned web site. There's no timeline as yet for the start of construction.
 

Monument Files Protest Over Bus Garage
The Post reports on yesterday's WMATA board vote to sell the Southeastern Bus Garage to Akridge (see my post on the vote here), saying that "Monument Realty, which owns several acres nearby, filed a formal protest late Wednesday. Company officials have said that Monument was promised first dibs on the site by the D.C. government and Metro several years ago when the company was named 'master developer' of the area and given the task of building an integrated 'ballpark district.' " Also: "Monument principal partner Jeffrey T. Neal has threatened to file a lawsuit to stop the sale. In a letter to Metro last month, Neal also said Monument might slow its renovation of the Navy Yard Metro station, the closest stop to the ballpark, if the company does not win Metro's bus garage property." Metro says that Monument's protest will be reviewed before the sale to Akridge is completed. It also repeats what was mentioned in yesterday's Post article, that Monument is seven weeks behind on its renovation of the Navy Yard Metro station west entrance, and that Monument has acknowledged the delays but is spending extra money to make up the lost time. Also, here's the Washington Business Journal's piece on the bus garage sale and attendant controversy, and the Examiner's.
 

Starbucks Opening Monday? Yes. And Free Coffee on Friday
Caffeine-deprived correspondents are writing in to tell me they're hearing that the Starbucks at the corner of New Jersey and M (at the DOT HQ) is set to open on Monday (Oct. 1). The rumor mill adds that it will be open seven days a week.
UPDATE: I've now had it confirmed that Monday is indeed the opening day for Starbucks. And hours will be 6 am to 9 pm Monday through Friday, and 7 am to 7 pm Saturday and Sunday.
UPDATE II: Via the BID, there's also apparently a "Friends and Family Extravaganza" at the new Starbucks on Friday (Sept. 28) from 1:00 to 6:00 pm. "Free Food and Coffee/Community Networking Opportunities/Special Offers."
 

Metro Board Approves Bus Garage Sale to Akridge
Without too much discussion, the WMATA board of directors has just approved the sale of the Southeastern Bus Garage at Half and M streets to the John Akridge Development Company. There was a brief exchange between Jim Graham and (I believe) the corporate counsel about what was apparently an "escalator clause" in Monument Realty's bid for the garage site, stating that their $60 million bid should be raised to $250,000 above the higher bid. The counsel indicated that the sale was not being handled under a Request for Proposals, but under a sealed bid process that WMATA procedures stipulate do not allow for alternative bids. The counsel also said that Monument's bid in fact stated that if WMATA's procedures did not allow for alternative bids, to then revert to Monument's $60 million initial bid.
With that cleared up, and with a bit of discussion about how these sorts of property sales should be handled in the future, the board voted to approve the sale. However, settlement on the deal is still contingent on the board's approval of a new Southeastern Bus Garage project at DC Village in Southwest, which Graham pleaded be handled as quickly as possible to ensure that the buses are out of Half and M before Opening Day 2008, so that both pedestrian safety issues and additional ballpark parking can be addressed.
So now we'll wait and see if Monument follows through with the threats detailed in this morning's Post to possibly file suit over not being awarded the garage site, or slow down their work on the expansion of the Navy Yard Metro station across the street, which would seem to not really be a good way to endear yourself to the public, the city, or WMATA.
If you want to listen to the audio of the meeting, it will be available here once the meeting itself is finished. And I did put together a new Bus Garage section under my Ballpark District pages, with just a few photos of the site. (Finally. Guess I never thought it would turn into such a perpetual topic of conversation.)
 

A Blogger is a Person In Your Neighborhood....
Capitol Hill's Voice of the Hill newspaper has a co-profile of two local bloggers in its new issue--Elise Bernard of Frozen Tropics (covering H Street NE) and yours truly. Descriptions of me and JDLand include "fastidiously issue-neutral" and "almost aggressive in its lack of color"--but those are actually compliments. And there's a photo that perfectly captures my perpetually bemused state, but that might just be because I was suffering through the replay of the 225 Virginia hearing when the photographer arrived (those with x-ray vision can see Phil Mendelson on one of my computer screens). It's kind of a sequel to the piece they did in 2005.
So, since I'm already self-promoting, I'll mention my Ballpark and Beyond column in today's Post, which talks about the possible sale of the Southeastern Bus Garage to Akridge (we'll find out today--the WMATA board meeting is at 11), the new funding for the waterfront parks, and the Garfield Park-Canal Park connector project.
 

The Ballpark Parking Struggle; Monument Veeeery Unhappy About Bus Garage
Thursday's Post has "Struggles Cloud Stadium Progress," which details a number of issues currently causing headaches in the Ballpark District. The story reveals that the renovation of the Navy Yard Metro station's west entrance, to expand its capacity to 15,000 users an hour, is seven weeks behind schedule. Also, talks that the Nationals have been having with the US Department of Transportation about possibly using the 800 parking spaces beneath the new DOT HQ have been fruitless. And, with the WMATA board set to vote on its plan to award Akridge the sale of the Southeastern Bus Garage, Monument Realty has apparently "cried foul, arguing that it was promised first dibs on the property by District and Metro officials several years ago to build an integrated mixed-use 'ballpark district.' " Monument, which owns almost the entire rest of the Square 700 block that the bus garage sits on, is threatening lawsuits, and even is suggesting that its stewardship of Navy Yard Metro expansion as part of its mixed-use development on the east side of Half Street could be slowed down if Monument is not awarded the WMATA site--though, at the same time, they say they are addressing the current schedule slippage. Guess this might make the WMATA board meeting audiocast somewhat interesting.
On the plus side, "D.C. leaders expect whichever developer wins the Metro bus property to allow 350 cars to park on the site for the first season or two until more significant construction begins." And negotiations are continuing to allow gameday parking at RFK, with free shuttle buses to the new ballpark, although there are concerns that Hill East residents might not appreciate the traffic. (See my stadium parking page for more details on where parking lots are expected to be available.)
And, just some clarification, for those of you looking at the map that accompanied the article: the land that encompasses the bus garage sale is not all of the sites indicated as "Metro Property" on the map; it's just the bus garage itself and the parking lot to the garage's west, on the southwest corner of Half and M. The land on the east side of Half Street, at the west entrance of the Navy Yard Metro station, is no longer owned by Metro, having been sold to Monument Realty in late 2006. The east entrance of the station, at New Jersey and M, is being sold to Donohoe as part of the 1111 New Jersey office development. And the little lot at Half and L is the station's chiller plant, which at one point was appearing to be offered as a joint development opportunity, but which appears to have stalled.

 
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