With a court order now in place requiring the six gay clubs to leave their stadium-footprint properties by April 4, this will be their last weekend of operation on O Street, says The Washington Blade. The article also chronicles the continuing difficulties for the clubs in finding new homes, and also gives some history of their 30-year run in Near Southeast.

(A little slow with this one, apologies.) On April 3 at 10 am, the DC Council will hold hearings on B16-0628, "Closing of Public Alleys In Square 702, 703, 704, 705, and 706 Act of 2006." This covers the closing of streets and alleys in the footprint of the new baseball stadium, including portions of Half Street, O Street, P Street, and Potomac Avenue (?). See Page 5 of this PDF for more information.

The Post reports on a study prepared for CFO Gandhi: Last year the Nationals generated about $100 million at RFK; would they really be able to double that? I guess we shall see....

Both the Post and the Blade report that Judge Zeldon has ordered the eviction of the last remaining stadium landowner holdouts, including the gay bars on O Street owned by Robert Siegel. Siegel, plus the trash transfer station at 1st and N also covered under yesterday's order, have until April 4 to vacate. The Blade says that Siegel's clubs are planning special large-scale celebrations for the final weekend they are open.

The National Capital Planning Commission has posted the agenda for its April 6 meeting, whichs includes an informational presentation on the new Nationals baseball stadium; the meeting will be at 401 9th Street, NW at 12:30 pm.

The Post does a man-on-the-street-reaction piece, "For Some Fans, Stadium Designers Whiffed Big-Time" (a pretty negative headline not particularly backed up by the story, although I guess the "some" is the hedge).

Some more ground-level views of how the stadium is envisioned have trickled out, and I've added them to my stadium page, paired with photos of what those locations currently look like. It's a bit different :-).

With the stadium now moving forward, attention will turn to the areas immediately surrounding it and the mixed-use developments the city wants to see in order to make the Ballpark District a year-round destination. In Friday's Post article "D.C. Stadium Likely to Open Without Entertainment Area," developers are quoted as saying that first phases probably won't be done before 2009. The four developers chosen by the AWC have hired urban planning firm Cooper, Robertson & Partners to create the master plan for the 40 acres of mixed-use development. In the meantime, Monument Realty says it expects to begin construction in early 2007 on the land it owns in the blocks just north of the stadium footprint. So, be prepared to walk through a lot of construction to get to the stadium in the early days. (On the other hand, the delays that everyone seems to anticipate will occur with the stadium could help get the ballpark district further along before the ballpark debuts.) Also, the article mentions that the plans for the stadium itself incorporates retail space within the park's facade along 1st Street, and also manages to sneak in another mention that the parking garages raising eyebrows in the stadium renderings will most likely disappear.

For those of you filled with breathless anticipation.... I just called the DC Office of Zoning, and they say that as of yet a zoning application as not been filed for the stadium. Back in Fall 2005 an amendment to the Capitol Gateway Overlay (which covers the South Capitol Street Corridor and environs) was passed, which changed the zoning laws to allow for a baseball stadium to be built and set forth general requirements and regulations for the stadium, but the stadium itself is required to get Zoning Commission approval as well. Tick tick tick!

Other Day Two stories on the new baseball stadium, these from the WashTimes: "Ballpark's Look Could Be a Hit," "As Long as It's Here, The Ballpark's Grand," and the inevitable "Nats' New Stadium Among Most Costly."