At some point I will rebuild the site with more of an eye toward looking-back-at-change compared to watching-change-happen. But the lightbulb on how to do that hasn't turned on yet.

It was an amazing run, and thank you to everyone who read the site, commented on the site (I already miss you guys!), sent tips, and helped me learn the ropes of commercial real estate and zoning and whatnot.

I took my first pictures of the neighborhood in the fall of 1999, so 1999-2020 was a pretty good run.

I still tweet out little tidbits of neighborhood news if they strike my fancy, and am always available on Twitter for questions and general merriment.

Not a bad little hobby, as it turned out.

I can however steal a few moments at least to open up a new thread for the JDLand Commentariat to keep passing along news and tidbits while I toil away at retrieving and database-ing cases, hospitalizations, deaths, and now vaccinations, while bracing myself for what the coming weeks will bring, both in COVIDLand and in InsurrectionistLand.

Stay safe, everybody.

Two of the new offerings along Half Street just north of Nats Park are now open--Atlas Brew Works (with Andy's Pizza) and Cold Stone Creamery--even while Half Street itself is still very much not finished with its streetscape remodel. I also scoped out Toastique, which has moved into the old Juice Laundry space on 4th Street SE between Tingey and Water. (I completely forgot to get a photo of Bammy's, the "Caribbean-inspired" restaurant that replaced Whaley's in the Lumber Shed at Yards Park.)

The rest of the new-storefront news is pretty much in the Personal Care category (how apropos!), with the CVS at Half and I SE looking like it is seconds away from opening, in its spot next door to the new(ish) Medstar Primary Care office. Meanwhile, over at 4th and M, Pivot Physical Therapy has now opened. (And there are those of us who would say that the new Hill Spirits liquor store at Half and K next to BonChon also qualifies as Personal Care.)

And while there's no storefront to take a photo of yet, the news came out this week that Scissors and Scotch, the barbershop-slash-cocktail-bar "grooming experience every man deserves" is coming to the ground floor of the National Broadcasters Association headquarters at One M Street, SE.

Meanwhile, there's also a few public space updates worth including, even if the photos from late in the evening aren't really so fab. As mentioned above, the streetscape work continues on Half Street north of the ballpark, and there are indeed stringed lights being installed across it (old zoning restrictions be damned, I guess). And look, trees!

Over at the Yards, Tingey Square is finished (and you can also see the latest progress on the Chemonics HQ in the background). And the new walkway connecting the Tingey Square area to the Yards Park is now open as well, with rough/uneven stones clearly placed to discourage high-speed biking or scootering (watch your ankles, old folks). It also leads to a new plaza on the northwest corner of the Yards Park.

It should also be mentioned that the recent unpleasantness has not been without casualties, with the aforementioned Juice Laundry and also Peet's Coffee at New Jersey and M and the clothing store Willow at 4th and Water closing for good.

At some point I'll pull together a holes-and-skeletons-and-completions construction update, but not until I can do some daytime wandering with collapsing from heat stroke.

The Capitol Riverfront BID has a listing all of the open restaurants and how you can patronize them, and has a similar one for neighborhood retail outlets.

Charles Allen's Twitter feed provides Ward 6 news and guidance (and is also reminding you to return your census questionnaire and also to request your DC vote by mail ballot by May 26).

You can read the daily coronavirus updates from the DC government and look at all of their data viz on case demographics, etc.

You can also read the latest news and dig into current case and death numbers for the DMV with the Post's local tracker, (shameless plug since it's my work that gets the numbers into it)

Plus, you can read the JDLand comments threads, as readers continue on-the-ground reports while I remain deeply involved in my Numbers Racket.

And you can wear masks and avoid indoor gatherings so that we can get a smidge further down the road to whatever the next phase will be.

With that, I return you to your holiday weekend, and I will return to the numbers. Stay safe, everyone.

I'm sure a few people thought that was a little over the top, but now, nearly seven weeks later, I think the scope of not only the health impact of COVID-19 but the societal and economic impact is becoming clearer, even to those who don't own Prophet of Doom t-shirts like I do.

This site is not only a site that looks backwards, with tens of thousands of photos, but it also spends a whole lot of time looking forward, at not only renderings of new buildings but also rumors and announcements of new restaurants, new bars, and new retail. And new baseball seasons.

I think it's safe to say that anyone trying to predict what this little corner of the city is going to look like in three, six, nine, 12, or 60 months is on an ultimate fool's errand.

We've already seen Willow close at 4th and Water, and the XFL (which looked on its way to being a healthy draw to Audi Field across the way) fold up its tent. How can any of us know how many of the restaurants and bars we have watched arrive over the past 15 years will make it through not only the current #StayatHome world, but also a world that, until there is a vaccine and until that vaccine can be widely deployed, people will be weighing heavily any decision to go anywhere that might be remotely crowded? Will every restaurant or bar that announced its plans to come to the neighborhood actually end up opening? Do we really know when MLB will return, and under what strictures? How many people are going to decide that maybe having a little more personal space back out the 'burbs is a safer environment?

If you think I am too doom-filled, I might pass along this article in the Atlantic that does a very depressingly good job of imaging the sort of scenarios that are coming for American retail.

Construction still continues (essential workers?), and of course I have always been the queen of "We Shall See" when it comes to projects and plans, but I think 'the Hood, and DC, and the U.S., and the world are all one big "We Shall See" right now.

This is of course a big reason why I haven't been posting, and have been scarce around here and social media in general, but I'm also now the Keeper of the Numbers at the Post for US cases and deaths, the numbers that power the big tracking map, plus I've had to build all manner of administration tools and other stuff as part of The Cause. Plus I'm old and so am pretty well bunkered in.

Anyway, the JDLand commentariat continues with its perpetual discussions of tower cranes and movie theaters, and are also some good eyes and ears on the streets (where you'd BETTER BE WEARING MASKS), so check in on the comment threads while you wonder whether the Prophet of Doom will again return. The answer is yes, of course, but only when there starts to be some concrete sense of where this is all heading.

And even then, We Shall See.

Stay safe and well, everybody.

* HELLO, MAXWELL PARK: The wine bar sibling of Albi opened on March 2, in the ground floor of the Guild apartment building at 1346 4th Street SE. Washingtonian has the scoop.The official web site has additional deets, such as menus and current hours of operation (Monday-Thursday 4pm to midnight, Friday and Saturday 4 pm to 1 am, and 4 pm to 11 pm on Sunday).

* GOODBYE GORDON BIERSCH: It was big news when Gordon Biersch opened in the ground floor of 100 M Street SE on Opening Day 2013, when there were so few other options nearby, but time marches on--the company has been doing some downsizing, and, without warning, closed up the 1st and M SE location after service on Sunday, March 1.

* COMING SOON, 9ROUND: There's a tenant now signed for the retail space on the southwest corner of New Jersey and L in the ground floor of Insignia on M, and it is apparently 9Round, a "30 minute kickbox fitness" gym. No word on when it will open.

* G&R: I am probably the last person to inform you that this summer's big concert at Nats Park will be Guns N Roses and Smashing Pumpkins, on Thursday, July 16. Tickets are already on sale.

* SUMMER MOVIE POLL: You have until Friday, March 6 to cast your vote for which movies should be shown at Canal Park for this year's Outdoor Movie Series.

* ALBI OPENING FEB. 20: Thursday sees the opening of Albi, the new restaurant from Chef Michael Rafidi promising "a new perspective on traditional Levantine cuisine." City Paper has a preview, and the menu is online. Sibling wine bar Maxwell Park will open in March, according to a press release, and there will also be a daytime cafe space called "Yellow" (I am curious!) nestled in between the two spaces, coming later in the spring. Chef Rafidi was previously executive chef of Arroz and Requin. The address is 1346 4th Street, SE, in the ground floor of the Guild apartment building at the Yards.

* FIVE OF THE VERY BEST: Washingtonian's annual 100 Very Best Restaurants list is out, and the neighborhood clocks in with five entries: All-Purpose at #22, Chloe at #35, Osteria Morini at #59, Hatoba in a joint entry at #65, and ABC Pony at #71.

* EMMY SQUARED? The exact location of the second DC outlet of the trendy Detroit pizza shop from New York has been rumored to be at the Bower at 4th and Tingey, and while there is still no announcement, this week's DC Register includes the announcement of an alcohol beverage license application for an unnamed restaurant at 1300 4th Street SE serving pizza and sandwiches. So...?

According to a sign I saw in the window on Saturday, the cleaners known as Dryy was to be opening today (Feb. 3), in the ground floor of the 55 M office building, on top of the Half Street entrance to the Navy Yard-Ballpark Metro station. According to its web site, the store offers free pickup and delivery valet service, custom tailoring, and "Dryy drop lockers."

Meanwhile, just a few steps to the east, the Wells Fargo Express Center is now open, next to Bluestone Lane in the ground floor of 99 M. And a bit to the northwest, next to BonChon, signage has sprouted for Hill Spirits Unlimited, coming soon to 1015 Half Street SE, for all of your fine wine, spirits, and cee-gar needs. (A peek in the window leads me to believe that Hill Spirits is probably still a couple of weeks away from its debut.)

I also wandered over to 8th Street for the first time in a very long time (oops), and feel the need to officially document Ovation Eye Institute and Navy Nails and Spa, even though they've been open a while (I think the nails place actually was briefly in the space that Ovation is now in). And I admit to knowing nothing about Ti Coffee--no evidence of it anywhere on the Barracks Row or Capitol Riverfront web sites, or Google, for that matter. And I don't know about the barbershop, either--another competitor for Wrenn's and Fuller's?

Finally, in the interest of fulfilling my fiduciary duty, here are photos of Congressional Cleaners 2.0, in its spot in the ground floor of the Park Chelsea on I Street west of 2nd (no signage yet), and because I can't believe I never got a photo of it, here's Steadfast Supply in its not-really-new-anymore location in the ground floor of the Foundry Lofts on Water Street, across from Ice Cream Jubilee. And, along those lines, I'm sneaking in one food-related photo, to officially add the signage of Taco City on 8th Street to my repository.

While the "snacky, seafood-heavy menu" (which you can peruse on the web site) is separate from Maialino Mare downstairs, it does "carry over the restaurant's Italian flare and nautical theme." And, like all Danny Meyer offerings, service is included in the check.

There is indoor space with two bars (handy for a January opening), but Washingtonian says that "the main attraction will undoubtedly be its huge wraparound patio with views of the Anacostia River."

Initial hours will be from 5 to 11 pm Tuesday-Thursday and 4 pm to midnight on Friday and Saturday. It's also available for private events.

Perhaps there will be a JDLand happy hour there, once the weather becomes a bit more hospitable (and before it gets too dang hot).

* NJ & I: ANC 6D07 commissioner Edward Daniels put out the word on Facebook this week that "after numerous emails, walk-throughs, and (personal) hours spent watching the intersection from Slipstream, DDOT has finally responded and are working on a design and construction plan to install a traffic light at the intersection of New Jersey Ave & I Street SE." It's still a ways off, but there's no doubt that this intersection is a busy one and in need of some containment. (Wish I had a better picture to illustrate, but I usually try my best to let roads clear before I click the shutter. Which is not easy at New Jersey and I.)

* BID ANNUAL REPORT: It's time once again for the Capitol Riverfront BID's annual report, which has all sorts of information about the neighborhood's progress, but I think it's worth highlighting some of the numbers. The BID estimates there are now 11,200 residents in 7,100 residential units, 78 restaurants, 44 shops and services, two grocery stores, and two professional sports stadiums (alas, the BID mucks with my statistics by also having Buzzard Point in its boundaries). I'm so old I remember a brief period when the resident count was about 300, if that.

* BRIDGE LATEST: The progress on the arches keeps right on going, and if you want to know more about the new Douglass Bridge, the winter newsletter is available for your perusal.

* SLIDESHOWS: I got on a bit of a tear and finally figured out how to more easily create a "representative" photo slideshow for projects, using larger photos to illustrate a project's progress from before to after, without completely rebuilding the existing small-image'd photo archive. (Not much space in my brain for this level of creativity for, oh, the past 10 years or so.) You can see these on pages for active projects, like Capper Seniors 2.0 (which is a good example, since the slideshow captures the rise and fall and rise) and others on the homepage map. I'm going to work my way through older projects, which will take some time. This also means that it's going to be much quicker to update the project pages when I take new photos, since I've been manually adding the large photos each time I go out. Kind of wish I had figured this out a few years ago, when this crazy stretch of new construction was getting started, but, like I said, I've had a lot on my mind. You'll also note that there are mini-slideshows showing up randomly on the JDLand home page, as well as the sliders (which remain a very labor-intensive activity). I imagine some day I will redo the photo archive in larger versions, but not this week.