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Thompson Hotel ('20)
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Yards/Guild Apts. ('19)
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New DC Water HQ ('19)
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Virginia Ave. Tunnel ('19)
99 M ('18)
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1221 Van ('18)
District Winery ('17)
Insignia on M ('17)
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One Hill South ('17)
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Southeast Blvd. ('15)
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Camden South Cap. ('13)
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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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'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
 

Velocity Sales Center Opening This Friday (Update)
I'm hearing that the Velocity Condos sales center at Half and K is within minutes of opening--there will be a broker/client open house probably over the weekend. More specifics when I get them. Or just wander by and see if the light's on.
UPDATE: Now official: the sales center will open to the public starting Friday, from 10 am to 5 pm. If you signed up for the contact list at VelocityCapitol.com, you should be getting an e-mail about this "Grand Opening Weekend"--"During your visit you can experience interactive video and virtual reality presentations, and tour an amazing full scale, one bedroom with den and 2 full baths Model Home right in the Sales Center!"
 

Sewage Leak from O Street Station Pipe - Stopped
From the Post: "Raw sewage is flowing into the Anacostia River from a leak in a major sewer line that carries untreated waste from a pumping station in Southeast Washington, D.C. Water and Sewer Authority officials said last night. [...] The cause of the leak was not immediately known. It was discovered when workers repairing part of the riverbank spotted water churning nearby. Tests showed that sewage probably was flowing out of a buried line somewhere between the O Street pumping station and the riverbank." They'll first try to bypass the pipe (seven feet below water), which could be done today, and then work on repairing it. As for any health concerns: "Dunn said that the leak near the O Street station does not pose a threat to public health, noting that more untreated sewage flows into the river on rainy days, when runoff overwhelms the city's sewer system and treatment capacity." Lovely. City Paper has excerpts from the WASA media advisory on the leak. And yes, this is the WASA operation just across First Street from the ballpark.
UPDATE: I should note that in 2005 and 2006 there was extensive interior and exterior rehabilitation work done to the 1905 Beaux Arts Main Pumping Station building, plans for which went through the city and federal bureaucracy before I became the source material addict that I am today. So here's the February 2005 National Capital Planning Commission executive action on the rehabilitation plans. The repointing of the exterior masonry and the repair of damaged windows, doors, and building cornice was why the building was under a white tarp in early 2006.
UPDATE II: The Associated Press is reporting: "The sewage leak into the Anacostia River has been stopped. DC's Water and Sewer Authority set up a bypass pump system to stop the sewage from reaching the river."
More posts: DC Water (WASA)
 

Demolition Next Week at 1345 South Capitol
I've confirmed that demolition is scheduled to begin on Monday (Oct. 29) on the northwest corner of South Capitol and O, where Camden Development is preparing to build the 276-unit 1345 South Capitol Street apartment building. Construction of the building itself will probably start in latelatelate2007 or 2008. (h/t to DCMud) And note that it has indeed changed its address to 1345 from 1325, because the city wouldn't give them 1325.
 

More New Photos Than Should Be Allowed by Law
For months now, I've been dreading this part of 2007, when so many projects would be underway--and it turns out I was right to be worried. Goodness gracious, tons and tons of photos were needed to keep to my perfectionist mandate, but at last I've gotten them up on the site, even though it's pretty much taken a week to get every shot I wanted. For your perusing pleasure:
*The Stadium Exterior Construction Gallery is more updated than it's been in nearly three months, though N Street was unavailable to me this weekend thanks to lots of digging going on. The photos on that page, as well as on the expanded galleries of views along Potomac Avenue, South Capitol, and from the ballpark's viewing platform at First and Potomac show not only the progress on the stadium but also on the streetscape improvements. Sidewalks, curbs, and streetlamps continue to be installed--and the stoplights along South Capitol are gearing up as well (it looks like the P Street light that's now flashing yellow is going to get turned on pretty soon).
* 70 I Street and Onyx are just about topped out, while their siblings 100 I and 100 M aren't far behind. In fact, progress at 70 I is outpacing me so much that within the five days since I took photos of its western side, the bricking of that wall has begun, and is already reaching the second floor in some spots. There's some nice long-distance shots of these projects, from the freeway and the ballpark, highlighting how much the skyline has changed in just a few short weeks.
* Velocity's three-story-deep hole is now getting a concrete floor, which means vertical construction is starting before long. (The crane arrived within the past few days.) And Monument's 55 M Street office building (where the Navy Yard Metro west entrance is being expanded) is poking up above street level, with the first concrete pillars poured along M Street. And it's been hard to get any photos of the work at The Yards, but I finally snagged a few from up on high.
* Plus there's the shots from the top of 20 M Street this morning, including a few panoramic views across Southwest.
If you don't want to plow through all those links above, you can see all the new photos on one page, though it's just a touch overwhelming. (Yes, even I know it's overwhelming.) But the project links above (and their expanded archives) are really worth it, because the scope of the changes is now so amazing. So click on a or two to watch the progression.
And now I will rest myself and my camera for a while. Hope you enjoy the photos.
 

BID Kickoff Event Today
This morning the Capitol Riverfront Business Improvement District held a kick-off celebration on the 10th floor of 20 M Street, the latest stop on the 2007 Traveling Road Show of Near Southeast groundbreakings. Mayor Fenty, DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, Council Member Tommy Wells, and others saluted the changes happening in Near Southeast--and fans of Canal Park will be happy to know that Wells took time to stress the importance of getting the park built, not just from a greenspace standpoint but also because of its stormwater management operations. Renderings of the projects underway were displayed on easels throughout the room, most of which are available as well here at JDLand. There were also diplomas presented to the first graduates of the "Clean Team" program, the blue-jumpsuited workers now starting to be visible around the neighborhood as they work to keep the streets and sidewalks clean, no mean feat when the entire area is basically one big construction zone. For more about the BID, visit their web site. I took some pictures of the proceedings, a few of which I've tossed up on a page (opting for speed rather than depth of coverage). And I also took the opportunity to get some updated overhead shots of the neighborhood from the 20 M vantage point, which I'll be posting along with the rest of the photos I took this weekend as soon as I can finally get through all of them.
UPDATE: Not sure how much coverage there will be of the event, but here's a GlobeSt.com brief on it, and on the BID itself. And here's the press release from the mayor's office.
UPDATE II: And a story from the Washington Times. Quick reminder on what the BID is here for: "Business leaders said they were willing to agree to pay thousands of dollars in taxes to fund the BID.[...] The money will fund basic cleaning and security efforts as well as marketing and coordination of transportation and parking."
UPDATE III: An audio piece on the BID from WAMU-FM.
 

Market Deli and Neighbors On the Market for $11 Million
Word has arrived that the Market Deli at First and L, the cab company at New Jersey and L, and the small empty lot between them have gone on the market as a joint sale, with an asking price of $11 million for the 9,000-plus square feet of land. It's one of the last spots in Near Southeast west of Eighth Street where the land is still owned by individuals and not developers, and anyone watching the corner shouldn't be surprised that this is finally happening--and given that behemoth Akridge owns most of the rest of that block's land along First Street, maybe they might be watching this offering with interest. The deal is being spearheaded by the Resnick family, which over the past few years has sold family land on both sides of the 1100 block of New Jersey, and on L Street where Onyx is now going up. (And their father once operated a 5&10 where the Courtyard by Marriott now stands.) In the meantime, they're talking with restaurants about perhaps renting some of the existing space to sell "quick food" for ballpark goers.
 

New Stadium Interior Photos
I've posted a new batch of photos from inside the stadium, where the main item of interest is the dirt being spread out on the field in preparation for the planting of the grass, which is not far off ("Turf or Treat!"). Check back tomorrow for additional photos from along South Capitol Street and other locations that need updating...
More posts: Nationals Park
 

Oct 20, 2007 10:23 AM
Capper Apartments: Out with the Old, In With the New
After being vacant since the beginning of the year, the old Capper Seniors building at 601 L Street is in its final days, with demolition scheduled to begin the first week in November. Once the hazmat cleanup that's been going on is finished, the building, which opened in the late 1950s, will be brought down floor-by-floor (no Vegas-style implosion). I was inside the fences yesterday and between the raindrops got a few pictures of this building, though I hope to get some more before the final curtain.
At the same time the old building is coming down, the 139-unit new Capper Building #2 at 400 M Street is going to be opening its doors to residents. Originally designed as a building for low-income seniors, its profile has been expanded to also include renters who earn up to 60 percent of the area median income (from $38,000 for one person to $54,000 for a family of four). I was given a tour yesterday and got photos of the inside; the first floor has a community room with kitchenette, and laundry, computer, fitness, and conference rooms, and the landscaped interior courtyard also serves as a stormwater management system. The two-bedroom corner units at Fourth and M have some pretty nice views of The Yards and DOT (but I think they're all already spoken for). Twenty of the one-bedrooms and one of the two-bedrooms are for the mobility-impaired. A web site for the building will be launched soon, and there will be a rental office on-site. With Building 2's opening, there are 300 new affordable housing units now available in the Capper Hope VI redevelopment (with Capper Seniors #1 having opened late in 2006), with another 400 to come as mixed-income Capitol Quarter gets underway early next year, and the other mixed-income Capper apartment buildings planned for Second Street loom farther at some unannounced date in the future.
 

Oct 19, 2007 5:29 PM
BID Signing Ceremony on Monday
On Monday (Oct. 22), there's going to be a "signing ceremony" to officially enact the law creating the Capitol Riverfront Business Improvement District (Near Southeast and Buzzards Point). Mayor Fenty will wield the pen, and the Usual Suspects are expected to be in attendance (Eleanor Holmes Norton, Tommy Wells, other council members, developers, nosy bloggers, etc.). It's at 20 M Street at 10 am.
 

Oct 19, 2007 3:19 PM
Work Continuing on Douglass Bridge
The Post's Dr. Gridlock has a blog entry today about the work that continues on the Douglass Bridge: "Out of sight below the deck, in a big box-like area of pale gray steel, workers are riveting new bolts into place while either refurbishing or replacing aging parts of the structure across the Anacostia River. Aside from making the whole thing look better as a southern gateway to central Washington, the work will extend the life of the bridge until it can be replaced by a new structure the city plans to build right nearby." DDOT hopes to wrap up the work on the bridge, and on the streetscape improvements to South Capitol, Potomac, First, and I, by February.
 

Oct 19, 2007 2:23 PM
Buzzard Point Junk Yard to Get Cleaned Up
It's a slow Friday afternoon, so I'll sneak across South Capitol Street for this tidbit from the Post: "D.C. Attorney General Linda Singer won a court order yesterday requiring the owners of a property near the new baseball stadium to clear it of abandoned cars and trucks, construction debris and hazardous materials. Singer filed suit last week in D.C. Superior Court against John Henry Davis and John Reginald Davis, who she claimed have been using a vacant lot as an illegal dumping ground. The court order calls for the site, at 1800 Half Street SW, to be cleared within 21 days. The lawsuit was filed after citations calling for a cleanup were ignored, D.C. officials said. 'The area surrounding the stadium and the nearby neighborhood is expected to be a new and exciting entertainment destination, not a junkyard,' Singer said in a statement." If it's really 1800 Half Street, they must be talking about the cars and junk on the north end of the site, judging by this Google Maps satellite view (though it's from 2005).
More posts:
 

Oct 19, 2007 8:12 AM
Expanding the Mall - to Include South Capitol Street?
Thursday's Washington Times has a piece on the continuing push to expand the boundaries of the Mall, and mentions legislation that Eleanor Holmes Norton introduced yesterday, describing it as envisioning "redrawing East Potomac Park, Banneker Overlook, the grounds of RFK Stadium, the Kennedy Center Plaza and the new South Capitol gateway as sites that would be defined as part of the Mall. All of them could host monuments and museums that various groups ask to be put on the Mall." The bill, H.R. 3880 (text not yet available) would "authorize the National Capital Planning Commission to designate and modify the boundaries of the National Mall area in the District of Columbia reserved for the location of commemorative works of preeminent historical and lasting significance".
This appears to be an outgrowth of the soon-to-be-released National Capital Framework Plan, a joint effort between NCPC and the Commission on Fine Arts, described thusly: "By showing how to create new destinations for cultural attractions throughout the city and improve the connections among them, the Framework Plan will provide a comprehensive approach to easing demand for construction on the National Mall while creating lively urban spaces throughout the city." (The Framework Plan itself is an outgrowth of the 1997 Extending the Legacy framework plan, which also begat the 2001 Memorials and Museums Master Plan.) But, as the Times says, "Local support is building to expand the Mall but the federal legislation it would require is more elusive." So don't look for new memorials popping up at the foot of South Capitol Street next week.
More posts: South Capitol St.
 

Oct 18, 2007 4:17 PM
Stadium Web Cam Press Box View Now Launched
One of two new Stadium Web Cam views has gone on line this afternoon, showing the view of the ballpark from the press box, high above home plate. As I mentioned last week, soon the other camera (currently looking down Half Street from atop 20 M) will move as well, to a position on top of the north/west parking garage along N Street (north of left field). These new angles will give great views of the turf being installed, which should start happening within the next few weeks. Then we can all sit at our desks and watch grass grow!
More posts: Nationals Park
 

Oct 18, 2007 1:31 PM
Reminder on Garfield Park-Canal Park Connector Meeting
I posted about this a few weeks ago, but I'll pass along this DDOT press release from today as a reminder that on October 24 there is a public meeting on the project to create a more appealing connection between Garfield Park north of the Southeast Freeway and the to-be-built-hopefully-eventually Canal Park, one block to the freeway's south. The meeting is from 6 to 9 pm at St. Peter's Catholic Church at 2nd and C streets, SE. Here's the project web site, for more information.
More posts: Canal Park
 

Oct 18, 2007 9:42 AM
Ballpark and Beyond This Week
My Ballpark and Beyond column in today's District Extra in the Post covers the new zoning amendment for additional temporary surface parking lots (here's the Office of Planning report with all the details), and a little blurb about three of the historic call boxes along First Street disappearing recently, which you might have missed when I posted it here on Tuesday because it was at the end of two veeeeery long entries.
 

Oct 17, 2007 2:46 PM
Nats Consider Paying for Metro Name Change
From WTOP, a story about someone thinking about maybe doing something sometime: "It looks like the Metro station nearest to the Washington Nationals new stadium will be renamed, but who will pay for it? WTOP has learned the Nats may intend to pick up the tab. Nationals President Stan Kasten says discussion of what the Metro station might be called has been delayed because stadium naming rights have yet to be determined. But as far as paying for the new signage, Kasten says it is something the organization is 'talking about' and one of the things it is 'considering.' "
 

Oct 17, 2007 8:40 AM
For Sale Signs at 8th and Virginia and 9th and M
Recently a sign has gone up on the old Miles Glass building at 8th and Virginia advertising an "assembled lot sale" for eight lots along Virginia and along L, totally nearly 27,000 square feet and having a combined assessed value in 2007 of $6.761 million. The sign seems to indicate that the group sale does not include the Wrenn Barber Shop/Braiding Salon building at 1005 8th, nor the Miles Glass/Al's Diner lot next door at 1003 8th, which was bought on July 19 for $620,000 by "1003 8th Street LLC" (though I'm only now figuring out that the Miles Glass building is part of that 1003 8th lot). The assembled lot sale is being handled by real estate agent Barbara Miles, whose father was the founder of Miles Glass. (And she says that the family did take the cool old Miles Glass sign for themselves, which I'm glad to hear because I'm a sucker for cool old signage.)
And another new sign has popped up on the beige two-story building at 900 M Street, advertising lease or sale of this 9,624-sq-ft lot, with Lincoln Property Company, owners of Maritime Plaza at 12th and M, as the contact. Assessment records show the owner as "Paramount Investments," but I don't know if Lincoln manages the property or if they've purchased it or what (the public version of the property sales database runs about six weeks behind actual sale dates). It was assessed in 2007 at $2.651 million.
If anyone knows anything more about these sales, drop me a line.
More posts: 900m, Maritime Plaza
 

Oct 16, 2007 10:23 PM
Correction on 11th Street Bridges Entry
I need to correct an error I made in my Oct. 5 post (which carried over to my Post column on Oct. 11) about the 11th Street Bridges Final Environmental Impact Statement. I incorrectly said that the total number of lanes in the preferred alternative design chosen for the bridges (12) 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; the new configuration, quoting from the EIS (page 5-13), will be "a new eightlane freeway bridge along the alignment of the existing 11th Street Bridge as well as a new, local four-lane bridge crossing on the current alignment of the Officer Welsh bridge." (The "Officer Welsh Bridge" is the official name of the downstream span and "11th Street Bridge" the official name of the upstream span of what is commonly referred to together as the "11th Street Bridges.")
I regret the error, and have docked my pay and put a warning in my file. If I do it again, I will fire myself and look to replace myself with a new me that I can trust.
More posts: 11th Street Bridges
 

Oct 16, 2007 9:18 AM
Another Zoning Request for More Ballpark Surface Parking Lot Locations
With Opening Day 2008 inching closer, the cobbling together of parking at the new ballpark is apparently turning out to be a greater challenge than constructing an on-time on-budget stadium. So this week the city put in another zoning amendment request to allow more temporary surface parking lots, this time covering eight squares in Southwest, all between P, T, 2nd, and South Capitol streets. (See my Stadium Parking page for a map with the new lots highlighted.) You can read the Office of Planning's report on the new case (07-08A) for more detail.
On Monday night the Zoning Commission approved this request on an emergency basis, meaning that the zoning change takes effect immediately, lasting 120 days while a hearing is scheduled and a permanent amendment is voted on.
As with the original amendment approved earlier this year, the lots can last no more than five years, are required to be available for public parking during non-game times, and must have District Department of Transportation approval of their traffic routing plans to ensure that access to the lots is not directed along I, P, or Fourth streets, SW. There's also a new requirement being added with this latest request, that a minimum of five percent of the spaces in these lots be reserved for a car/ride-share program.
These new lots are still subject to the cap of 3,775 total spaces laid out in the first amendment, unless special exceptions are obtained after the cap is reached from the Board of Zoning Adjustment on a per-lot basis. As with the squares covered earlier this year, it's not expected that lots will suddenly sprout on every one of the locations covered in the request; the main goal appears to be additional flexibility in finding possible spots for the needed spaces.
A separate zoning action a few months ago approved three temporary surface lots totaling under 800 spaces at The Yards, across the street from the stadium. There are also apparently negotiations underway about using the lots at RFK and providing shuttle service to the new ballpark.
There are other locations within a few blocks of the ballpark that will no doubt become temporary parking lots as well--one example is the Lerners' recent permit applications to build a lot on land they own at 1000 South Capitol Street.
At Monday's ANC 6D meeting, when this new zoning amendment was discussed, commissioners mentioned rumors of additional lots perhaps coming to the recently closed KFC and Exxon locations on the west side of South Capitol. But these blocks are not in the Capitol Gateway Zoning Overlay, and so don't require the special approval needed for the squares in the previous amendment requests. And these additional locations still require the Nationals to contract with the landowners, which might not always be an easy negotiation.
The ANC commissioners did not bring up many concerns about this new request, other than asking for confirmation that the traffic controls in the initial amendment cover these new lots, which Judi Greenberg of the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development assured was the case.
Commissioner Ron McBee said that he hopes to organize a town hall meeting for Southwest residents about all the parking plans when they are more concrete, and vice chair Andy Litsky reminded Greenberg that the DC Sports and Entertainment Commission is supposed to be meeting with community leaders to address ballpark-related concerns, but that there hasn't been a meeting in six months.
The zoning commission's approval of the emergency action came with little discussion, perhaps reflecting that most of the potential issues with these temporary lots were hashed out in the first request.
Time should solve many of the initial parking issues around the ballpark; right now there are seven office and residential projects already under construction around Near Southeast that by 2008 and 2009 will have multiple levels of underground parking that could potentially be available for gametime, just as with the lots are in the buildings around the Verizon Center. Most of the squares in these recent zoning requests, along most every other block between South Capitol and Second, will also eventually be home to buildings with underground parking.
UPDATE: An e-mail sent out today to Nationals season ticket holders says that 2008 ticket package information will be sent out "in the next month or so", and that a "comprehensive transportation package will also be sent to all season ticket holders shortly after you have received your seat location information." Presumably the "transportation package" means parking plans for season ticket holders (and maybe a really good Metro map!).
 
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