This Monday (June 26) is the all-important Zoning Commission hearing on the baseball stadium. They appear to have gotten their live webcasts back up, so you can watch it in your fuzzy slippers at home (with the alcoholic drink of your choice close at hand, to ease the pain) via their webcast page, starting at 6:30 pm. Note that the webcasts are not archived, you can only watch it live.

In less fractious stadium news, F&L Construction and the Wrecking Corporation of America, the two companies who created a joint venture to get the stadium site demolition contract, have sent out a press release announcing that they have "neared completion of the complex project."

The Post's Day 2 story on the stadium parking garages, "City Urged to Support 2 Proposals," says that team owner Ted Lerner "wants city officials to adopt his proposal for aboveground-only parking as a backup if the mayor's plan for parking aboveground and below falls through. [...] The Lerner group stressed that it will agree [to the city's plan for both underground and aboveground parking with surrounding development] but asks that the city consider the group's plan for aboveground parking with no other development as a Plan B." As for logistics: "The city's chief financial officer, Natwar M. Gandhi, is analyzing whether he can certify the money is available for the city's parking plan. D.C. Council member Sharon Ambrose (D-Ward 6) has scheduled a hearing on the stadium July 6. And the council will vote July 11 on a resolution to transfer development rights on the stadium site near South Capitol Street and the Navy Yard in Southeast Washington to private developers." In a classic chicken-and-egg scenario, CFO Gandhi wants a letter from Herb Miller's financial backers before he certifies the plan, but the backers want to see that the plan is supported by the Zoning Commission at the June 26 hearing before proceeding. The WashTimes story from today has similar comments, saying that approval of the plan by the Council is likely as long as Miller can show "how the project can be paid for without threatening the city's $611 million spending cap for the stadium." This story says that approval of the aboveground structures by the Zoning Commission is less certain.

From the Post: "D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams announced plans today to build a mix of underground and above-ground parking adjacent to a new baseball stadium in Southeast Washington as part of a complex that will include shops, restaurants, 660 condominiums and a swanky New York City-based hotel. [...] [T]he compromise plan would call for 900 parking spaces on one level below ground to serve the condo owners, hotel and retailers. Above ground, there would be two different structures. The first two levels of both structures would be restaurants and shops and on top of those would be four levels of parking -- totaling 925 spots -- wrapped by condominiums. Another eight levels on top of that would be more condos, including 140 units priced below market value for lower-income residents. A 180-room hotel also is planned for the corner of First and N Streets SE." Developer Herbert Miller is going to pay the city $70 million for the property, and his investors will finance the additional $300 million needed for the project. He says that the parking will be completed by April 2008, but the rest will take an additional year. And for the ugly foreboding part of the story: "The city still faces a few hurdles. It must win approval for the project from both the D.C. Council, which must authorize the transfer of land rights to Miller, and the D.C. Zoning Commission, which will hear the plans Monday." And we know how much the council likes passing stadium-related legislation!

More posts: parking, Retail, Nationals Park, zoning