JD's State of the Hood, January 2009
2008: Projects Delivered | Projects Started | Blogging 2008
2009: Overview | Expected Deliveries | Getting Started | Other Possibilities
Summary | Development Since 1999, By the Numbers
![]() 70 and 100 I Street These siblings known officially as the Axiom and the Jefferson brought nearly 700 new rental units to Near Southeast when they began move-ins in late summer 2008. But residents weren't quite flocking in--by December, both buildings were each under 20 percent leased. |
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Capitol Quarter -- Buildings that bear a striking resemblance to townhouses have at last begun to sprout on the site of the old Capper/Carrollsburg public housing complex, with many of the first-phase units scheduled to be delivered in 2009. But this long-awaited mixed-income development took a bit of a hit when foundation problems forced the demolition of the initial construction in fall 2008 and a restart at the end of the year. The DC Housing Authority will also be working in 2009 to fund the second phase of the townhouse project, along with the planned mixed-income apartment buildings along Canal Park.
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2010 is looking pretty good, with the opening of the first phases at The Yards and perhaps the start of Akridge's 700,000-sq-ft mixed use project on Half Street just north of the ballpark. And maybe the opening of Canal Park {chuckle}.
But that's skipping ahead a bit. Let's look at this year.
55 M Street -- Monument Realty's 275,000-sq-ft office building on top of the Navy Yard Metro station is getting its finishing touches now, and is expected to be open by spring. However, no tenants have been announced, and ballpark visitors exiting the subway may be less interested in the building above them than the large hole in the ground just to its south, where Monument Half Street's hotel and residential shows no sign of getting underway, leaving fans with potentially another season of no sit-down food offerings along the walk to the Center Field Gate.
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Okay, it's not really that bad. But, as of this writing in January, the projects with announced 2009 start dates are pretty small in number, and are mostly at The Yards:
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11th Street Bridges Reconstruction -- The city appears poised to begin late in 2009 a five-year project to reconstruct and reconfigure the Anacostia River crossing at 11th Street, with eight lanes of freeway traffic and four "local" lanes connecting old town Anacostia to Near Southeast (with designs engineered to allow for light rail, when the time comes). Flyovers to and from RFK should be demolished early in the year.
First, there's the perennial:
Canal Park -- One of the oldest "new" projects in Near Southeast continues to be stalled, frustrating residents who still see school buses where they had long since hoped to see green space. With the city having handed off control of the project to the Canal Park Development Association, and with rumors of a redesign, it's possible that the park will see some movement in 2009, but is currently not projected to be completed until late 2010.
If longtime commercial real estate professionals are having a hard time forecasting the state of their business as 2009 progresses, then neighborhood bloggers with no experience at all shouldn't be looked to for wisdom or take-it-to-the-bank predictions. But while Near Southeast has so far escaped the worst outcomes already apparent in the current economy (such as unfinished buildings left to languish or developers shutting down condo developments and hanging on to purchasers' deposits), the expectations of the neighborhood being built-out to resemble a mid-sized American city's downtown will be shifted a few years down the road, on a timeline closer to what was originally expected for this 100-block area before a certain baseball stadium rewrote the script and started a gold rush.
To see the latest on these projects and others in the months and years to come,
visit my Project Directory for quick info on what's coming and what's here.
Also, for figures on what's been built and started in Near Southeast since 1999,
see Development Since 1999, By the Numbers.