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400 M ('07)
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20 M ('07)
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'Build it Bigger' to Profile Ballpark (Repeat on 10/30)
UPDATE, 10/29: Very last-minute alert that this show will be on tomorrow (Tuesday, Oct. 30) morning at 10 am on the Discovery Channel. In case you missed it.
UPDATE: Sorry, guess I should have bumped this up on Wednesday before air time. (What, everyone didn't mark their calendar and set their Tivo as soon as they read this last week?) The show was really well done (I must admit I wasn't expecting it to be very good), so try to catch it again when it re-airs on Oct. 30 at 10 am. There's also behind-the-scenes clips available now on Discovery's web site.
Original Entry: Next Wednesday night (Oct. 17), the Discovery Channel's Build it Bigger series will profile the construction of the new Nationals ballpark. The official blurb for the episode is: "In Washington, DC, 800 workers attempt to design and build a $650 million baseball stadium in less than two years. Danny Forster finds out if they can finish the 41,000-seat Nationals stadium, complete with the largest scoreboard in the US, on schedule." (Although the Royals have now pushed ahead in the Scoreboard Size Race, apparently.) It's scheduled to be on at 8 pm and 12 am; check local listings, as they say, for the bat time and bat channel in your area. There's also a preview podcast available. (h/t to 08Cubs)
More posts: Nationals Park
 

Ballpark and Beyond This Week -- Bridge EIS, Capper Lots
With DDOT having put out a press release in the past few hours alerting the media to the release of the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the 11th Street Bridges, I can breathe a sigh of relief that I didn't screw up by having it be the focal point of my Ballpark and Beyond column in today's District Extra. (It's easy to worry that you've done something wrong when news of a $465 million reconfiguration of one of the region's most important commuter routes hasn't been picked up by anyone else. Nice scoop for me, though!) No graphic went along with the column, though, so look at the images I posted here on Monday to understand the design alternative that's been chosen. Next steps would apparently be the actual design, although the EIS process took care of a lot of that, followed by construction.
My column also included the quick blurb about the bids being solicited to build the three temporary surface parking lots at Capper/Carrollsburg.
UPDATED to include link to press release.
 

Monument Files Suit Against WMATA
The Post is reporting that Monument Realty filed a lawsuit today against WMATA, asking that the planned sale of the Southeastern Bus Garage at Half and M to Akridge be invalidated, arguing that "it deserves the property because it has been working with Metro and the District government for three years as 'master developer' of the area, with the implicit understanding that Metro would sell Monument the land." If the court were to not invalidate the sale, Monument wants $100 million in damages. I haven't seen the documents myself (though I hear one of my JDLand maps is used as an illustration), so I don't know whether the previously implied threats to slow down the Navy Yard station renovation are addressed anywhere.
UPDATE: Here's the Washington Business Journal piece on the suit, and the Associated Press's.
UPDATE II: And the Examiner's.
UPDATE, 10/12: Here's the link to the basic information on the lawsuit, though you'll need a subscription to PACER if you want to read the lawsuit documents themselves.
 

Outbound Douglass Bridge Closure This Weekend
Another few days' worth of lane closures on the Douglass Bridge this weekend, this time the outbound/southbound lanes, according to a DDOT press release. The outbound lanes of the bridge will be closed beginning on Friday, October 12 at 9 p.m. until as late as Monday, October 15 at 4 a.m. They're working on the swing span area in the middle of the bridge, repairing the steel framing. And apparently they're expecting the work on the bridge and the accompanying streetscape improvements to South Capitol Street to continue through February.
UPDATED to add link to press release.
 

ANC Commissioner Warns Monument on Navy Yard Metro Renovation Threats
When word broke a few days back that Monument Realty had lost the bidding for the WMATA Southeastern Bus Garage site at Half and M, the Post described a letter from Monument principal partner Jeffrey T. Neal to WMATA that threatened a slow-down in Monument's work on the renovation and expansion of the Navy Yard Metro station if the company was not awarded the garage site as it felt it had been promised. (It has also been reported that Monument is already seven weeks behind schedule on the project.) This station is of course the lynchpin of the city's plans to get stadium-goers to and from Nationals Park, particularly in the near-term before the parking situation is sorted out.
Now, with Monument's plans for developing the old Randall School site on I Street in Southwest about to come up before the Zoning Commission, ANC6D vice chairman Andy Litsky has written a sternly worded letter to representatives of Monument and its Randall partner the Corcoran Gallery of Art, cc'ed to Tommy Wells and WMATA board members Jim Graham and Marion Barry, that boils down to this: "[U]nless Mr. Neal and Monument Realty withdraw this threat -- in writing and in advance of our vote on Monday night -- I will oppose this PUD at the ANC and in testimony before the Zoning Commission." He goes on to say: "The time has finally come for District residents and policy makers to stand up to developers who use threats and lawsuits as leverage in one part of the city and yet expect -- and often receive -- support for their special projects, PUDs and city tax incentives in another. Enough is enough."
You can read the entire letter here (I PDF'ed the e-mail without the headers so as not to blab a bunch of e-mail addresses to the world). The ANC meets on October 15; the Zoning Commission hearing is Nov. 8.
 

District Resident Participation Goals at the Stadium
One more item on the issue from recent posts about the hiring of DC residents for construction jobs at the ballpark, mentioned in posts yesterday and last week. Council Member Kwame Brown's office has sent out a press release that details the exact numbers for resident participation, in terms of both the goals created for the stadium project and the actual participation percentages as of now. The journeyman hours have been discussed in the media (goal of 50 percent resident hiring, versus an actual percentage right now of just under 29 percent), but there's also the goal of 50 percent of all apprentice hours for DC residents, with an actual percentage of 78 percent; 91 percent of all apprentices hired are supposed to be DC residents, missing the goal of 100 percent. And overall DC hires for all jobs stand at 50 percent, just below the goal of 51 percent. And, in terms of local business participation, the requirement was that 50 percent of all contracts awarded for stadium construction work go to local, small, disadvantaged companies (LSDBEs), and as of now LSDBEs make up just under 54 percent of committed subcontracts, worth $203 million.
UPDATE: Here's The Post's take on this press release, from their District Notebook column in today's District Extra (hence the slightly snarky tone). It also says that Brown's stadium tour was at 7 am on Tuesday, so now I'm not so sad I missed it.
More posts: Nationals Park
 

Oct 10, 2007 1:18 PM
Waterside Mall Demolition Party on Nov. 1
Via the Developments in Southwest DC blog, word is out that there's going to be a Waterside Mall Demolition Party on November 1 from 4 to 6 pm, with "local fare, music and entertainment." I post this mainly because I'm terribly jealous that, given all the demolition that's happened in Near Southeast in the past few years, there's not been a SINGLE party! But Southwest deserves a bit of letting loose after all the trials and tribulations of getting Waterside Mall redeveloped....
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Oct 10, 2007 8:38 AM
Changing the Navy Yard Station Name - Followup
WTOP follows up their no-one's-thought-about-renaming-the-Navy Yard-station story yesterday with a story this morning saying, basically, people are now thinking about renaming the Navy Yard station: "A name change for the Metro station near the new Nationals stadium could be on the way. The move for the change comes after after a WTOP report. 'It is something we ought to do," Metro Board member and D.C. City Council member Jim Graham tells WTOP. "It is just a matter of changing all the maps. We have the money to do it.' " The last station name changes cost almost $211,000.
 

Oct 9, 2007 2:43 PM
More on Jobs at the Ballpark, And a Construction Update
The Washington City Paper is reporting that there was a press conference and tour at the ballpark today (my invitation must have gotten lost in the mail), given by Council Member Kwame Brown and the DC Sports and Entertainment Commission, with a smidgen of news about the construction itself (sod expected to be laid down the first week in November), but mainly to address the recent stories about the amount of high-level "journeyman" work being given to DC residents. The project labor agreement specified that 51 percent of these jobs should go to DC residents; speakers at today's event put the number at 28 or 29 percent. As mentioned in previous stories, "The essential problem is that there aren't enough skilled D.C. resident workers available to fill the jobs. If a subcontractor doesn't have a D.C. resident to do a job, it can contact the city's Department of Employment Services. If DOES has no workers, then the subcontractor can hire whoever." They did say that DC residents have worked 78 percent of all of the available apprentice hours, which could mean more experienced workers down the road for other city projects.
UPDATE: Tim Lemke of the WashTimes was on the same tour, and gives an update on the construction progress, beyond just the grass: "The bulk of the structure, including two parking garages on site, is nearly fully erected. Stadium workers have been installing seats in the ballpark at a rate of 1,800 to 2,000 a week, with all expected to be in place by the end of the month. Much work remains on the inside portions of the ballpark, though the clubhouses are nearly complete and the concession stand and restaurant areas are taking shape. The biggest remaining challenges, Haas said, will be completing site work on the outer edge of the stadium, such as sidewalks and plazas. Installing the electrical system for the ballpark's massive scoreboard also will pose a challenge because of the complexity of the job."
More posts: Nationals Park
 

Oct 9, 2007 11:45 AM
14th Street Bridge Corridor EIS Meeting on Oct. 10
(Boy, I really want to ignore this, since 99 percent of it falls outside my cast-in-stone boundaries, but it's a slow day, so....) Tomorrow (Oct. 10) there's a Public Information Meeting about the 14th Street Bridge Corridor Environmental Impact Statement Study. Quoting: "The purpose of this study is to identify actions that can reduce congestion, enhance safety, and improve traffic operations in the 14th Street Bridge corridor." They're looking for congestion and safety solutions and ideas, and also are looking for ways to make the "existing corridor work more efficiently." The scope of the study area runs along I-395 from just east of South Capitol Street all the way to Glebe Road, and east to Route 1 in Virginia and south to M Street in Southwest. See the flyer for additional details. It's from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at Amidon Elementary School, 401 I Street, SW.
UPDATED because I can't read a calendar. Tomorrow is the 10th.
More posts: South Capitol St.
 

Oct 9, 2007 9:06 AM
Oops - No One's Thought About Renaming the Navy Yard Station
From WTOP: "In the sprint to get the new ballpark for the Nationals up and running next year, an important element may have been overlooked, and it could cause big confusion. The name on the closest Metro station to the stadium is Navy Yard, but it doesn't say anything about a stadium being there. Right now, the only Metro station with the word stadium in it, is the Stadium-Armory stop. That name isn't changing and the Nats aren't playing there next year. D.C. leaders tell WTOP this is the first time the issue has been raised. They say they do understand there could be confusion." And: "A request for a name change at the Navy Yard stop would have to come from the District and would have to be paid in full by the District. A name change on a Metro stop isn't exactly an easy procedure. The last time there was a change was at the 'Rhode Island Avenue-Brentwood Station' as well as the 'Archives-Navy Memorial-Penn Quarter' stop. Both of those changes cost almost $211,000 and took months because maps and signs had to be replaced." Maybe the people who go to the wrong station can catch the RFK parking shuttle.
 

Oct 8, 2007 12:34 PM
More on the 11th Street Bridges Changes
With no "real" news outlets yet uttering a peep about the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the 11th Street Bridges, I've had to continue to do my own analysis of what the chosen design alternative will look like. Friday's bleary-eyed discussion was a decent start, but I've looked at it a bit more closely today and have seen that there really will be a pretty large-scale change in how the Southeast Freeway works with the new plans.
If you look at this spiffy side-by-side graphic I've tossed together, showing the current freeway ramps and flyovers at 11th Street versus what the EIS depicts, you'll see that the bulk of the SE Freeway's lanes will turn toward the bridges at 11th Street, instead of just two smaller flyovers that currently exist. This is because the many lanes that now run from the freeway under 11th Street and over to Pennsylvania Avenue at Barney Circle will be taken out of the SE Freeway flow altogether. Instead, drivers on the SE Freeeway wishing to get to Barney Circle (and vice versa) will access the freeway and the new "Southeast Freeway Boulevard" (kind of a "Virginia Avenue Extended") via ramps at 11th Street, which appear to be able to be carved out of the existing smaller flyovers west of 11th. (And so the two flyovers coming from east of 11th to the sunken Pennsylvania Avenue access could be demolished altogether.) This means that the area north of M along 11th Street will be much more of a street grid rather than a series of flyovers and tunnels. Eventually.
And, for Navy Yard workers who use the 11th Street Bridges, note that you would no longer get to take that little turn onto N Street as you come off the bridge; you would arrive at M Street, turn right, turn right again on a newly two-way 12th Street, and then turn right at N. For other people, you'd be able to either turn left at M once you exit the upstream span of the bridge, or continue north on a new street and access the new Southeast Freeway Boulevard to continue either to Pennsylvania Avenue or 11th Street closer to I.
But it's really hard to clearly explain it all, so put on your concentration caps and spend some time comparing the befores-and-afters to see for yourself.

More posts: 11th Street Bridges
 

Oct 7, 2007 6:06 PM
Bids Being Solicited for Capper Surface Lots
Tucked deep in the classifieds of Thursday's and Friday's Washington Post were solicitations to build three temporary surface parking lots in the footprint of the old Capper/Carrollsburg public housing complex. The invitations for bids (here and here) are for 1) site grading/storm water systems/paving, and 2) lighting installation; proposals are due on Oct. 26 to DC Housing Enterprises (a subsidiary of the DC Housing Authority). The lots total nearly 234,000 square feet, and are located in two locations: the blocks bounded by 2nd, I, 3rd, and L, east of Canal Park, and the site of the old Capper Seniors building at Sixth and L, SE, which is scheduled to be torn down by the end of this year.
There will be somewhere between 670 and 720 spaces created in these three lots, which are being built to help ease the expected ballpark parking crunch. They were approved earlier this year under a zoning ruling that states the lots can last no more than five years; they will also be open for non-baseball use. The seniors building site is eventually going to be home to a 500,000-sq-ft office building by Forest City Enterprises, and the blocks lining Canal Park are destined to become mixed-income residential buildings as part of Capper/Carrollsburg's redevelopment.
UPDATED because I found the correct space count for the lots.
 

Design for 11th Street Bridges Reconfiguration Chosen
Here's some late Friday news for you: the 11th Street Bridges Environmental Impact Statement has been completed, and a preferred plan for the reconfiguration of the bridges has been chosen, at an estimated price of $465 million, taking an estimated five years to complete. No start date has been announced.
You can read the summary, check out the Preferred Alternative and the other alternatives, plow through the entire thing at once (36 MB), or pick and choose the sections you want to read. When even the summary is 24 pages long, it's hard to give a quick description of what is being recommended, but here's my best shot:
* There will be two new bridges built on exactly the alignments of the existing two bridges, allowing the use of the existing piers but requiring their widening to allow for wider bridges. Two new ramps will be built on the east side of the Anacostia River, providing access at last to the northbound Anacostia Freeway from the Southeast/Southwest Freeway and to the freeway from the southbound Anacostia Freeway. One of the two bridges would be dedicated to freeway traffic, and the other to local traffic, with the total number of **freeway*** lanes unchanged, but with four new local lanes and with added paths for bicyclists and pedestrians, as well as "accommodations for transit," such as the proposed light rail system.
As for what would happen to the interchange with the bridge in Near Southeast, it's hard to digest, but this is what I'm seeing by looking at the diagrams in the Alternatives section (here's a Google Maps satellite view of the current bridges, which you might need):
* The current on/off ramps at N Street would be moved to M Street (see page 15), with local traffic and paths to and from Anacostia being routed on the western of the two bridge spans (officially known as the Officer Welsh Bridge), and traffic bound for the Anacostia Freeway routed onto the 8-lane eastern span. This also means that the local traffic coming north from Anacostia would be routed along a newly two-way portion of 11th Street up to M.
* The exit ramp now between Ninth and 10th streets would be moved to Ninth Street.
* There would also be a new entrance to the westbound freeway from 11th Street (perhaps taking some of the pressure off the Third Street ramp?).
(In a separate project, the existing Southeast/Southwest freeway between 11th Street and Barney Circle is apparently going to be downgraded to a new Southeast Freeway Boulevard, which would be accessed by exiting the freeway and going across 11th Street at-grade. As part of this, the sneaky little route to Pennsylvania Avenue from 9th Street and Virginia Avenue would be removed, too.)
As for the impact of the reconfigured bridges on the boathouses nestled between them on the west side of the river, the EIS says that "it has been determined that construction of any of the build alternatives, including the Preferred Alternative, will not require the whole or partial demolition of either of the two ACBA buildings." Boathouse operations would have to be relocated during construction, but the documents state that DDOT is committed to maintaining the operations during this time, having agreed to provide temporary structures on a Washington Gas-owned space a few hundred yards to the north. (See Section 7.3 for more about the boathouse impact.)
Finally, the document states that the bridges project will not impact the Virginia Avenue Park at 9th and Virginia.
I doubt anyone is still reading at this point, so I'm going to quit while behind and hope that all sorts of media outlets give some real coverage, and take me off the hook. If you're at all interested in this, especially in the impacts east of the river that I haven't addressed, I suggest browsing the entire document. You'd be amazed how much detail is in there.
There's now a public comments period, through November 20. See the EIS web site for more about the entire study process.
If you're not real familiar with this area of Near Southeast, visit my East M Street page for photos and links.
UPDATE, 10/11: I erred in this above item when stating that the total number of lanes would be unchanged from the current configuration; having misread the EIS wording that referred to the number of freeway lanes being unchanged. The two spans currently have eight freeway lanes, which will be the case with the new bridge; but those eight lanes will be carried on a widened version of the upstream span, and the downstream span will carry four local lanes.
 

Fox 5 and WAMU Cover Spay/Neuter Clinic
Here's a Fox 5 video from Thursday morning about the new National Capital Area Spay and Neuter Clinic at 1001 L Street, with interviews with some of the staff and lots of views of the interior. (And even a shot out the window at the park across the street.) UPDATE: Oops, missed this. Local radio station WAMU did a report on the center this morning.
 

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
 
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