Today there was a media tour of the ballpark construction site hosted by the DC Sports and Entertainment Commission and Clark/Hunt/Smoot, and they were nice enough to invite me. I'll have photos and details of what was said later this evening, but in the meantime here's the first JDLand Near Southeast multimedia offering, four minutes of video from within the construction site. It's not earthshatteringly exciting, but it is from down within the bowl of the stadium instead of from the usual vantage points along the perimeter. UPDATE: I've now posted my photos from today's tour, and also a bit of audio with the opening remarks from the DCSEC and construction folks. UPDATE II: And now the stories from news outlets on the tour: here's NBC4's brief. And MLB.com's (with lots of good details). And the Post's, which sneaks in a bunch of parking garage-related items into the story. UPDATE III: And the WashTimes story, and Marc Fisher's Post column talking about the garages (and how Mayor Baseball has already "checked out").

The Post's front page this morning has a big profile of the Lerner family, which starts right off with the friction that has become standard between the Lerners and city officials over almost every aspect of the new baseball stadium: "To District officials, the concrete columns rising along South Capitol Street represent the beginning of a sweeping renewal of the Anacostia River waterfront, not just the foundation of a new $611 million stadium for the Washington Nationals. For the team's owner, the family of 80-year-old billionaire shopping mall developer Theodore N. Lerner, there are more immediate goals. Every few days, the Lerners call or visit city officials with their latest desire: an executive dining room, and in the luxury suites, individual bathrooms and a special window glaze. They want close-in parking for the best-paying fans and have turned down several ideas for how to build it. They don't want to pay for cost overruns. Recently, Lerner himself wanted to know precisely where the team's souvenir store would be. When a city official described it, Lerner said he needed to see actual plans. [...] City officials hoped the family's development experience would bring high-quality services to the stadium and propel a waterfront revitalization, a major justification for building the ballpark with city money. But the Lerners also came with something else: an all-business approach that helps explain the friction with the city over the stadium."

From Friday's Post: "The debate over parking for the new $611 million Washington Nationals baseball stadium has dragged on for months, and council Chairman Linda W. Cropp called on the mayor and council yesterday to make a decision." The story details a council breakfast meeting (now being held "in the sunshine"), with Cropp telling members "All you're doing is wasting time and shooting yourself in the foot," Mayor-to-Most-Likely-Be Adrian Fenty saying nothing, Marion Barry trying to give his bud Herb Miller another chance (and Herb getting dissed by Linda), and Jack Evans having the most reasonable comment: "[Evans] said the ballpark should be viewed as a long-term investment whose full development would appreciate in value. He compared it to the 1997 completion of MCI Center, now Verizon Center, where shops and restaurants were developed along with Gallery Place over a decade. 'I think we're about to make a decision that we will regret later on' if the underground parking is rejected, he said." And one more indication of the [non-]relationship between Mayor Baseball and the Lerners: "Williams laughed when Catania and council member Kathy Patterson (D-Ward 3) suggested a new meeting with the Lerner group to discuss the project. 'Dealing with the Lerners is a problem for the new administration,' Williams said." Look for the Mayor's latest plan to possibly come before the council on Oct. 18.

Pieces of news so small that I'm practically embarrassed to be posting them: Landscape work is being done at DOT, with a whole slew of trees and shrubs having been installed in the past few days along M and 3rd. The digging of what will be a very big hole for 70/100 I has begun, along I Street and now moving north into the property. And steel beams have started to be installed at the stadium site. Tomorrow's update: 15 leaves fall from a tree at 1st and K.

From Thursday's Post: "Six months after the D.C. Council voted to cap the rising costs of the Washington Nationals baseball stadium at $611 million, Mayor Anthony A. Williams now says the city needs an additional $75 million in public funds to finish the job. The extra money, which would require approval from the council, would be used to help pay for parking garages on city land just north of the ballpark[.]" The response from council members? "[S]everal other members objected vehemently yesterday when informed of the plan by a reporter. [...] Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), an ardent stadium booster, said he did not think the council would approve any proposal to alter the cap and allow more public spending. 'There is no legislative remedy for the parking,' Evans said. 'Under no scenario will the council raise the cap, in my view.' " And what's the new proposal for the garages? "[T]he sports commission would build two levels of parking underground and one level aboveground on the north parcel and another garage on the south side at a cost of $100 million. Those garages would be engineered so that further development could be added in the future, officials said. Since the city has $25 million for parking in the current budget, it would need an additional $75 million. Of that, $17 million would come from excess from a special tax on businesses and utilities that the city has collected during the two seasons the Nationals have played at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium. The remaining $58 million would come from either a private developer, who would pay the city for the right to build above the garages, or from publicly financed bonds, city financial officials said. Either option is considered public funding and is barred by the council's cost cap." I know we're all stunned that this is taking yet another turn....

Today's WashTimes reports: "The D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission yesterday said it has authorized changes to the design of the Washington Nationals ballpark that will make it the first-ever "green" stadium in Major League Baseball. The commission yesterday said it will submit an application to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program from the U.S. Green Building Council, which grades construction projects for their sensitivity to the environment. To achieve certification, the project must earn a certain number of "points" for environmentally and energy efficient design. The sports commission has always intended to seek the LEED Certification, though it is not required." UPDATE: Here's the DCSEC press release.

A briefing in Wednesday's Post: "D.C. Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) withdrew yesterday his proposal to revive a plan to build condominiums and parking garages near a new baseball stadium in Southeast Washington. There was little discussion about the bill during yesterday's council meeting. The city's chief financial officer, Natwar M. Gandhi, had sent the council a letter saying that the bill would "jeopardize the on-time and on-budget completion of the stadium facility." Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) told the council in a letter that he supported Barry's bill with several amendments that addressed Gandhi's concerns. The proposal could be placed on the agenda again this month." UPDATE: Here's a more detailed piece, from the Examiner: "Council Chairman Linda Cropp ruled the measure out of order - she opposed it anyway - because it was not accompanied by a fiscal impact statement. 'I agree wholeheartedly that there is an emergency we need to work out,' Cropp said. 'I don't think at this point this is the resolution to do it.' [...] Cropp agreed to work on a compromise with Barry in the coming weeks."

A bombshell from Tuesday's Post: "Several D.C. Council members were negotiating late yesterday to introduce emergency legislation today that would revive a plan to build condominiums and parking garages near a new baseball stadium in Southeast Washington. Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) was leading the effort and had distributed a bill that seeks to alter the $611 million stadium cost cap approved by the council in March. The legislation would allow the city to spend money from the sale of development rights on stadium land to pay for the parking garages." As an emergency bill it would require 9 of 13 council votes, and CFO Gandhi has already said he has "grave concerns". And the DC Sports and Entertainment Commission would be stripped of control of the garages land, handing them over to the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation and allowing them to negotiate with the Lerners. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride continues....

A portion of today's Dana Hedgpeth column in the Post describes "observations offered last week by developers and leasing and sales brokers to about 100 real estate professionals in an annual conference." The one comment about Near Southeast: "The area around the planned baseball stadium in Southeast, many agreed, will eventually develop into shops, restaurants, housing and more offices. But some differed on how long it would take. The area, which is now mostly boarded-up storefronts, empty lots and car repair garages, would look very different by 2008, some said. Others said it would take until 2010 or beyond. 'You'll go down there and forget what it looked like before,' [emphasis mine] said Daniel P. Dooley, managing director at Tishman Speyer Properties". Gosh, if only someone had thought to take pictures of the neighborhood to capture what it looked like before all the development arrived! :-)

From the Post, the end of the article first: "Mark H. Tuohey, chairman of the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission, said ballpark construction is proceeding on schedule. Workers have erected hundreds of concrete pilings and are shaping the clubhouses and seating bowls, with a major delivery of steel to the site -- a critical step -- set for Friday." The story itself is about how "[t]he Washington Nationals' disappointing on-field performance this season, coupled with a drop in ticket sales at 45-year-old RFK Stadium, has underscored the importance of finishing a new $611 million ballpark in time for the 2008 season." Fun quote: " 'RFK will never be more than good old RFK,' [Nationals President Stan] Kasten said. 'By the time we get the new park open in '08, it's going to [provide] the best experience you can possibly have.' "