NBC 4 reports: "The District's new baseball stadium is beginning to take shape along the Anacostia River in Southeast. Construction on the site began last May, but the ballpark is already changing the city's skyline, News4's Tom Sherwood reported Monday." To which readers of JDLand say, "Tell us something we don't already know." (hee hee)

Sunday's Post has a short update on the battle between former landowners at the Nationals ballpark site and the city over the value of the land that was taken via eminent domain. What's new? Mainly that nothing's new, it's all still wound up in court. But one interesting item I hadn't heard before: "Aside from the price of the land, also being contested is how much money the government is seeking to recoup from the business owners to pay for environmental rehabilitation. Although they were forced to vacate, the business owners are still legally responsible for paying for the work, legal analysts have said." With the latest DCSEC report saying that more than $12 million has been spent on environmental remediation at the site so far, this could be a big hit on the pockets of the old property owners if this actually pans out.

Today's Washington Business Journal has a cover story ("Agencies at Risk", available online) on the hazy future of the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation and the National Capital Revitalization Corporation, which have come under fire by members of the city council for being "barriers" to getting things done in the city. The AWC's coverage area includes all of Near Southeast, so what becomes of it will have an impact on much of what I'm tracking here, including the Nationals ballpark, Canal Park, Diamond Teague Park, and the Anacostia Riverwalk. There are two city council hearings on the fate of these two quasi-government corporations, the first on March 7 at 10 am, when the Committee on Economic Development holds Agency Oversight Hearings on FY06-07 Budgets, covering not only AWC and NCRC but also the Office of Planning and the DC Sports and Entertainment Commission (so it's quite the Near Southeast Oversight Bonanza). Then, on March 13 at 10 am, the same subcommittee will be holding the first hearings on the "NCRC and AWC Reorganization Act of 2007"; I imagine both of these will be available via streaming video and on DC Cable 13. As an aside, the Examiner reports that Mayor Fenty's office has said that an anticipated report on the AWC and NCRC was in fact not supposed to be ready in 60 days, but 100 days (oops).

Councilmember David Catania's office has posted the DC Sports and Entertainment Commission's January report on the new Nationals ballpark; it's a pretty detailed and wide-ranging document on where all aspects of the stadium project stand, I definitely recommend taking a peek. I have been so very remiss in not pointing to these in the past, but Catania's office has done a good job of archiving these reports and other ballpark-related documents, and I promise to keep up with them in the future. Bottom line? On time and on budget. (Though it's possible Mr. Catania may draw a different conclusion.)

Another gorgeous Saturday, so I've posted an updated batch of photos in the Nats Ballpark Construction Gallery, including shots of the new roof canopy now starting to be installed.

Wasting no time after the permits were approved last week, JPI has within the past few days put up a construction crane now towering over the Southeast Freeway at 70 I Street, where the digging down for the company's 448-unit residential project must be pretty close to done. I imagine there will eventually be another crane for 100 I Street (the companion 246-unit building) within a few months.

More posts: 70/100 I, jpi, Nationals Park