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Near Southeast DC Past News Items: Nationals Park
See JDLand's Nationals Park Project Page
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In the Pipeline
25 M
Yards/Parcel I
Chiller Site Condos
Yards/Parcel A
1333 M St.
More Capper Apts.
Yards/DC Water site
New Marine Barracks
Nat'l Community Church
Factory 202/Yards
SC1100
Completed
Thompson Hotel ('20)
West Half ('19)
Novel South Capitol ('19)
Yards/Guild Apts. ('19)
Capper/The Harlow ('19)
New DC Water HQ ('19)
Yards/Bower Condos ('19)
Virginia Ave. Tunnel ('19)
99 M ('18)
Agora ('18)
1221 Van ('18)
District Winery ('17)
Insignia on M ('17)
F1rst/Residence Inn ('17)
One Hill South ('17)
Homewood Suites ('16)
ORE 82 ('16)
The Bixby ('16)
Dock 79 ('16)
Community Center ('16)
The Brig ('16)
Park Chelsea ('16)
Yards/Arris ('16)
Hampton Inn ('15)
Southeast Blvd. ('15)
11th St. Bridges ('15)
Parc Riverside ('14)
Twelve12/Yards ('14)
Lumber Shed ('13)
Boilermaker Shops ('13)
Camden South Cap. ('13)
Canal Park ('12)
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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A Smattering of Ballpark and Soccer Links
* The Post's DC Wire blog is reporting that at 5 pm today DCRA will be having a lottery for the 28 street vending spots near Nationals Park. "Winners will enjoy their spots for one month, starting on June 1. Then the process starts all over again with a lottery on the last Tuesday of each month until the baseball season ends." (Vendors grumbling about neon-green On the Fly's vending on Half Street have found out that the eco-vendor is actually on private property.)
* From the Examiner: David Catania gets back into the baseball carping business, saying the city should get its money back from the consultants who predicted in 2005 that the Nats would average 39,000 fans in the first year at Nationals Park, since there's only been an average of 29,000 fans during the first third of the season. Catania says "that ERA may have seriously overestimated ticket sales, which represents a major portion of stadium-related revenues." However, DC CEO Natwar Gandhi has replied that "the ballpark bonds are structured in such a way "that a significant drop in attendance would not hinder our ability to pay debt service" and that "in a worst-case scenario, total attendance at the new stadium could drop to approximately 10,000 people per game without affecting debt-service payments." The Examiner also says: "Ticket prices at the new ballpark are 20 percent higher than the consultant predicted, Gandhi said, which will drastically reduce the effect of reduced attendance." I wonder if the consultants factored in cold and miserable April weather? The Post's DC Wire has more on this.
* The Nats announced earlier this year that tours of the ballpark are available on non-gamedays; yesterday they sent out word that proceeds from those tours will benefit the team's Dream Foundation, which currently has a number of initiatives underway, including the Neighborhood Initiative that's providing three years of funding to the Earth Conservation Corps. Info about the tours is available here.
* My Ballpark and Beyond column in today's District Extra is short and sweet, with blurbs on the RiverFront/Florida Rock zoning approval and the almost-arrival of 700 new residential units at 70 and 100 I Street.
* Also in the District Extra is a big piece on whether the diversity of the Nats' roster, "combined with their state-of-the-art stadium, will be enough to attract young blacks and Latinos to the game in the District."
* DC United wants the city to pay $225 million for its Poplar Point stadium, which the Post says is "far more than some city leaders say they would support" and that "even the amount officials have considered, $150 million, has raised some concern with D.C. Chief Financial Officer Natwar M. Gandhi, whose analysis has concluded such a deal could push the government above a Wall Street debt ceiling that he recommended last year." In the meantime, Marc Fisher thinks it's all a bad idea.
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City May Pay $150 Million for Soccer Stadium
Across the mighty Anacostia, plans are apparently coming together for the proposed soccer stadium at Poplar Point, says the Post: "A coalition of D.C. Council members is drafting legislation that would authorize Mayor Adrian M. Fenty to spend $150 million in public money to subsidize construction of a soccer stadium for D.C. United in Southeast Washington, city government sources said. [...] The city would finance construction bonds with excess tax revenue being collected by the District to pay for the baseball stadium. D.C. United would be responsible for paying for any costs above $150 million[.]" (See, it mentions Nationals Park, so I'm allowing myself to link to it.) Read the article for more on the possibilities, and whether there's enough support from the council and the community, and how the ballpark tax revenue could be used.
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More posts: Nationals Park
 

Last Scheduled Weekday Afternoon Game in 2008; Big Pile of Neglected Recent Items
* The Post has an article on how today's Nationals game against the Brewers is the second of only two weekday afternoon games at Nationals Park this season. " 'We love afternoon weekday games but had to hold off this year due to the uncertainty about daytime parking availability,' Nationals President Stan Kasten said. 'We'd certainly like to have more next season, but no decisions have been made about '09.' " The article also talks to hookey-playing grownups who miss these games. Given that it's a holiday, and the gorgeous weather, and Sunday's second-highest-of-the-season attendance (35,567), this final weekday game might see a pretty big pile of people.
And, catching up on a recent few links that I've been slow to post:
* Columnist George Solomon Saturday's Post has a brief preview of the upcoming Congressional Bank Baseball Classic, which will showcase the the first-ever, city-wide high school baseball championship game, at Nationals Park on May 31. Games begin at 9:30 a.m., with private schools St. Albans and Maret meeting, followed by the DCIAA's Wilson High facing McKinley. Tickets are $5, and kids get in free--read more here.
* Dr. Gridlock hears that using the Capitol South station on the Orange and Blue lines and then walking down New Jersey Avenue to go to games is a great idea. Yes, it certainly is, even if it isn't exactly a news flash. (But use the JDLand Recommended Route instead!)
In non-ballpark news:
* Metro Weekly looks at the planned reopening of Ziegfield's and Secrets on Half Street SW in Buzzards Point, a few blocks away from their original homes at Half and O SE (now shallow left field).
* The Naval Historical Center at the Navy Yard takes a bit of a beating in a piece from Saturday's Post, comparing it with the shiny new Marine Corps museum at Quantico.
* For those of you counting the moments until the armed encampment at First and M departs, here's a May 14 story from the Mount Vernon Gazette on the progressing construction at Ft. Belvoir of the new home for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. It's expected to be completed by August 2011, with NGA employees from Reston, Bethesda, and the windowless white box on the old Southeast Federal Center footprint starting to move in early in 2011. Eventually that First-and-M site will be redeveloped as office space as part of The Yards.
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More posts: Restaurants/Nightlife, Navy Yard, Nationals Park, Parcel A/Yards
 

$100k/Day Question: Was the Ballpark Finished On Time?
The Post's Marc Fisher writes for Thursday's paper about the behind the scenes battle between the city and the Lerners about whether Nationals Park was completed on schedule, with the owners pointing to the $100,000-per-day damages owed to them according to the stadium lease agreement if construction was not finished on time. Quoting: "But nearly three weeks after the stadium played host to its first game, the Nationals were still demanding $100,000 a day because, among other items, the team offices at the new ballpark were not yet completely ready. The city conceded that the offices weren't done as soon as the ballpark itself, but sports commission chief executive Gregory O'Dell reminded the Nationals that the offices make up less than 3 percent of the stadium project. He called that delay a "minor inconvenience" and noted that the District allowed the team to stay at its old RFK Stadium offices rent-free."
In other ballpark-related news, reader D. reports that the valet parking that was launched a few weeks ago at the Southeastern Bus Garage at Half and M has gotten cheaper, now down to $40 from $50.
UPDATE: Tim Lemke has more on the $100k/day issue, saying that it does appear to revolve around the admin building. He also has a bit about the upgrading of some of the stadium bonds from BBB+ to AA, which I'm sure is faaaabulous!
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Charity Bachelor/Bachelorette Auction at the Ballpark; Zimmerman, Milledge, Hanrahan on the Block
If you've ever said, "I'd PAY to get a date with Ryan Zimmerman," this is for you. On Thursday (May 22) from 7 to 10 pm there's a charity date auction being held in the Stars & Stripes Club at Nationals Park, to help Nationals communications guru Chartese Burnett raise $170,000 in her quest to become the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Woman of the Year. Bachelors on the auction block in addition to Mr. Zimmerman are Nats Lastings Milledge and Joel Hanrahan, former DC United player Shawn Kuykendall, and former Secret Service Special Agent Shawn Holtzclaw (if G-Men are your thing). The Bachelorettes will be Miss DC of USA Chelsea Rogers, Cherry Blossom Princess Jen Corey, Former Woman of The Year Candidate Colleen Sasser, and Becky Lee of Survivor: Cook Islands. You can also bid on spending an afternoon with Many Acta and Chartese.
Tickets to the auction are $40 in advance and $50 at the door. More information here.
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Baseball Ticket Tiff Between Mayor and Council Resolved
From both the Post and Bruce Johnson of Channel 9 (using my pictures again), news that the standoff about tickets to the two luxury boxes at Nationals Park for baseball games has been resolved. Attorney General Peter Nickles personally delivered the 19 tickets per game for Suite 61 to council chair Vincent Gray this morning. Says the Post: "The suite has 19 seats. With 13 council members, the chairman will create a "fair rotation," said Dawn Slonneger, Gray's chief of staff. The chairman would like to have nine more seats in the lower section so that the council has 28 tickets, the number it had to RFK stadium where the Washington Nationals played before the new stadium opened this spring, she said. Under the old system, Gray received four tickets to each game while the other 12 members got two each."
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More posts: politics, Nationals Park
 

Post Column; Smattering of Recent Ballpark Links
* My Ballpark and Beyond column in today's District Extra of the Post includes a series of items I've posted here over the past few weeks, including the signing of sales contracts at Capitol Quarter, the return of the DOT Farmers Market, work starting/not starting on the Pattern Shop Lofts at the Yards and 1345 South Capitol, and the plans Monument Realty has for 50 M Street. (The column's just going to run every other week from now on, which will be festive given that the amount of news out of the neighborhood has dropped by about 70 percent since the ballpark opened; so my desperation for content will be even greater than before).
* Tim Lemke reports that the D.C. Building Industry Association is presenting today "a 2008 Building Achievement Award to the ballpark project team, in recognition of the accomplishment of building the stadium in under two years while facing significant budget pressure."
* A native of Chicagoland has good things to say about the ballpark, especially its "green" aspects.
* It took a while, but here's some press coverage of the May 6 high school baseball game at the ballpark between B-CC and Whitman.
* Keith Olbermann's video tours broadcast during the past two weeks of the under-construction Yankees and Mets ballparks have made me wistful.
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More posts: Nationals Park
 

What Parking Crisis? Sayeth City Paper
City Paper's latest issue brings us "What Parking Crisis?", detailing how hard the city and the Nationals worked to plan for the expected parking catastrophe when the ballpark opened, and then surveys the nearly empty the parking lots during the recent homestand, along with the decline in use of the Nats Express and the lack of much problem with on-street parking by fans in Southwest and on Capitol Hill. (It also mentions the $550,000 a year the DC Housing Authority is getting from the Nats to lease the T, U, and W lots in the old Capper footprint, whether all the spaces are used or not.) Gregory McCarthy of the Nats is quoted as saying that it's still early in the season: "Summer is not here. The inventory of lots was based on the experience we think will unfold. The parking situation is still evolving." It also mentions last week's community meeting on the on-street parking restrictions, which I summarized here.
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More posts: parking, Nationals Park
 

Eagles Concert at Ballpark Off Tour Date List
Hmmm, perhaps it's not a go yet after all--the July 26 date for the Eagles to be in concert at Nationals Park is now removed from their July tour date list, after popping up there last week. The WashTimes had reported last week that the concert was under negotiation, but then a few days later one of JDLand's commenters noted that the date was on the band's web site. And now it's not. We shall see.
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More posts: Nationals Park, Stadium Events
 

May 9, 2008 2:01 PM
New Photos from On Top of 20 M
Since it's such a rotten day, I'll go back to when the sun was shining (Tuesday), and give you my first-ever photos from the roof of 20 M Street. (I've taken a few photos from inside the 10th floor going back to April of last year, but from the roof I don't have deal with the pesky glass reflections.) Here are these new photos matched with the oldest ones from the same angle, so you can compare 13 months' worth of changes easily; you can also look at all the photos if you want to watch the progression of changes. There's views to the north (above), showing the digging now underway at 1015 Half Street along with the construction progress at 70/100 I, 909 New Jersey, and Velocity (plus the site-clearing at 23 I). To the south is the increasingly-shiny 55 M, as well as the ballpark, of course. I also tossed in some photos toward the west, showing the skyline of Southwest.
 
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