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This week's Washington Business Journal has an article on a proposal for a $230 million bond package to help prod along development at the Southeast Federal Center. The mayor and the two developers of the 55-acre site--Forest City Washington and JBG (which is building the new US Department of Transportation HQ on 11 acres of the SEFC)--are proposing two "payment in lieu of taxes" (aka Pilot) financing plans "for the roads, parks, and sewers." Because the Southeast Federal Center is currently federal property, the developers are not paying property taxes to the city--so the city would sell the $230 million in bonds and then "use a portion of the future payments in lieu of property taxes to cover the debt service for up to 15 years." The Pilot programs would then generate about $88 million, which would be used to cover the costs of roads and sidewalks and the 5.5-acre waterfront park that Forest City envisions. Forest City is saying that this infrastructure deal must be in place by June 15 to honor their agreement with GSA, and that city subsidies are "absolutely necessary" to ensure that the SFC is developed as a mixed-use project, according to the Office of Planning. The Pilot packages also include about $75 million for the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation's infrastructure projects--the AWC says specific projects "are not really well defined at this point" (but gee, aren't folks looking for a couple million to pay for those underground stadium parking garages? Just a thought.) WBJ says that the DC Council is expected to vote on the legislation (PR 16-796) on June 6 (although this is not yet on the Council calendar). (UPDATED to add link to article, now online.)
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More posts: The Yards
 

From the Associated Press, news that the National Capital Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve the first phase of the new baseball stadium. From the story: "Still, some board members remain concerned the project could obstruct views of the Capitol. The board voted to approve a measure calling for further review of any future changes to the stadium's design. The planning commission wasn't asked to approve a second phase plan for retail and entertainment facilities, which are still being worked on. The panel also reserves the right to review plans for lighting, scoreboards and other signage as they become available."
UPDATE: Link added for story, and text changed because AP edited their wording of the quoted section.
UPDATE II: Here's WTOP's version of the story, with a bit of extra information. (But somehow I don't think the news that Ted Lerner is the developer of a building near the stadium was exactly broken by WTOP....) And once again the stadium is incorrectly referred to as a "waterfront" project, when it's actually one block north of the Anacostia River.

More posts: Nationals Park
 

A new DC Wire blog post gives more detail on the Office of Baseball, to be chaired by Stephen Goldsmith (who is also chair of the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation). The money to fund the office, and the consultants (!), would still have to be approved by the DC Council. I do note that the statement from Stephen Goldsmith ("The Office of Baseball will serve as a single, coordinating point of contact for development on the ballpark site and in the surrounding district") is a bit odd, since I always thought that was what the AWC was going to be doing, given its work on the Ballpark District (the AWC Master Plan for the ballpark environs was supposed to be unveiled in mid-April, now they're talking late summer). And to have the AWC chairman also chair this new office.... I imagine the back-and-forth on this is not done yet.
More posts: Nationals Park
 

Grrr, I hate when I don't know about a meeting until a few hours beforehand! (Didn't get the normal notification e-mail.) Anyway, the National Capital Planning Commission has its June meeting today, which includes a request for "approval of preliminary and final site and building plans" for the baseball stadium; the meeting will be at 401 9th Street, NW at 12:30 pm.
More posts: Nationals Park
 

Because I've been writing about Near Southeast for 3 1/2 years now, I admit to not always explaining every item in minute detail--I work under the assumption that everyone's been reading along from the beginning and has committed every iota of my prose to memory. (It's not at all a wise strategy, but you have to admit it saves space.) Anyway, I made mentions over the past few weeks of the demolition of the one nice structure on the ballpark site, which I referred to as the Ken Wyban house (after it's last owner). I didn't give much additional background, but you can go to Douglas Willinger's South Capitol Street Frederick Douglass Mall blog to get a bit more detail--it was actually the Alfred Richards House, built in the 1840s and named after it's original owner. (You'll recognize a lot of familiar verbage and photos in the entry, as Willinger quotes from my site--thanks for the hat tip.) The blog itself discusses the fate of South Capitol Street, which in 1990s planning documents was going to be transformed into a grand boulevard/promenade--the stadium has changed those plans, and Willinger is not happy...

 

the Post's DC Wire blog reports today that Mayor Williams has proposed an Office of Baseball, at a cost of $750,000. Why? As DCist succinctly puts it, "Essentially, this new Office of Baseball will serve to mediate conflicts between the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission, the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation, and the Lerner family." (The brewing battle over the stadium's parking garages shows that the three groups aren't exactly on the same page.) But, in a stunner, the DC Council appears uninterested in shelling out another batch of dough having to do with the stadium.
UPDATE: Speaking of the stadium, Clark/Hunt/Smoot has now posted the final version of the Project Labor Agreement, signed back in late March.
UPDATE II: Here's the Post's piece on the Office of Baseball, and the WashTimes piece, which seems to have the most information (including that Williams has already signed an executive order creating the office). It also includes some info on the parking garages debate: "City Administrator Robert Bobb said District officials planned to meet with the Lerners and officials from the Anacostia Waterfront Corp. yesterday and today to discuss possible solutions to the parking question. He said the groups would reach an agreement about the placement of the parking structure by this afternoon and that the plans would be complete when submitted to the National Capitol Planning Commission tomorrow." (Which tells me that NCPC didn't remind me to look at their agenda for today's meeting! Waah! There's a request for "approval of preliminary and final site and building plans" for the stadium.)
More posts: parking, Nationals Park
 

Both the office building at 20 M Street and the wraparound construction at Capper Seniors #2 are starting to become much more visible, so I've added new pictures to each of their pages.

 

The Naval Historical Center at the Navy Yard has released its list of June events, which I've added to my Neighborhood Calendar.
More posts: Navy Yard
 

The one structure on the stadium site that maybe should have been saved--the Victorian rowhouse at Van and N--was demolished late this week, leaving now just the buildings on the east side of Half Street between N and O as the only ones left to take down. I added a couple of new shots to the stadium construction gallery, although not a full complement (I'm being lazy this holiday weekend). I'll also note that the WashTimes ran its own piece on Saturday on the looming battle between the city and the Lerners over the parking garages....
More posts: Nationals Park
 

Without a shovel in the ground, EYA has raised the prices on the upcoming Capitol Quarter townhome development at Capper/Carrollsburg--their page now says "Townhomes from $500s" (up from $400s). Cha-ching! They still appear to be targeting Fall 2006 for the start of sales.
More posts: Capper, Capitol Quarter
 

In news from last night's Zoning Commission meeting (and thank the heavens that DCOZ has gotten its live webcast up and running again), the commission gave final approval to the office building proposed for 100 M Street, a 263,000-sq-ft tower being developed by Opus East. Opus is planning to do its construction contemporaneously with the Faison residential project just to its north, and indications are that they plan to start work by the end of this year. A side note--Opus was unable to procure lot 0800, a 1,485-sq-ft empty triangular lot that runs along the southeast portion of Opus's land, abutting the north-south alley at New Jersey Avenue. It makes no real difference in Opus's plans, but is another interesting example of people not selling to developers, which is a fine-enough stand except for when you have a lot that will then be unable to ever have anything built on it....

More posts: 100 M, Square 743N, zoning
 

Also from last night, the Zoning Commission worked on two Office of Planning proposed amendments to the Capitol Gateway Overlay, Case 05-10 (which was given first approval and will now enter a 30-day comment period), and Case 06-25, which was approved for setdown. Case 05-10 had its hearing in January (here's the transcript, as well as the draft of the changes requested), but has had a few deferrments. Case 06-25 is a proposed CG Overlay amendment to extend the CG boundaries to include properties on the west side of South Capitol Street from M Street south, so that the character of both sides of South Capitol Street matches.
Finally, they discussed Case 06-22, which is the baseball stadium--the hearing itself will be on June 26, this was just a session to allow the commissioners to make comments that the petitioners can then be ready to address at the hearing. Many concerns were expressed about the parking structures, and also about the South Plaza (why it's in a spot where there won't be many people), and about the "knife-edge" administration building. They are interested in finding out "best practices" from other stadiums in urban settings, how parking is handled in those situations. The June hearing should be interesting....
 

"Owners Want City to Shift Gears on Parking," from today's Post, tells that the Lerners want the parking structures that are part of the stadium site to be built aboveground, while city planners have been pushing to have the garages moved underground so as not to take up precious space with the boxy structures. The stadium's budget calls for two aboveground parking lots, along the north side of the stadium site on N Street, and the Lerners seem concerned that the parking be done in time for the stadium opening, which would be harder to do if the parking garages were belowground (not to mention the extra millions of dollars it would cost--out of the Lerners's pockets--to move them underground). The city is trying to negotiate a compromise. We shall see.... (It should be noted that, despite how the article reads, these structures would not replace the "Ballpark District"--there are still the blocks north of M Street between South Capitol and 1st that are part of the Ballpark District planning of the AWC--this would just mean that the very northern part of the stadium site, along N Street, wouldn't have additional entertainment offerings.)

More posts: parking, Nationals Park
 

Pile driving has begun at the ballpark site, at a spot just northwest of Ist and (formerly) O streets. And the red-brick car repair building on the west side of Half Street has now been demolished, leaving only the industrial buildings on the east side of Half and south side of N, plus Ken Wyban's house on N Street.
More posts: Nationals Park
 

Short notice, but on May 25, the DC Historic Preservation Review Board will be doing a "Section 106 Review/Master Plan Review" of the Southeast Federal Center/Washington Navy Yard Annex, as part of the HPRB's May meeting. The meeting notice lists this as "General Services Administration and Forest City Washington, Programmatic Agreement, Master Plan, and Historic Preservation Design Guidelines." I can't tell you much more--after perusing the "Citizen's Guide to Section 106 Review"; I imagine this review is to make some determination about the five old buildings remaining on the SFC site, and how they will be handled during the redevelopment of the Federal Center (which should be getting underway later this year, according to various published accounts).
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More posts: The Yards
 

With the new US DOT HQ getting close to completion, it's time to start wondering when staff will actually start moving in. An internal Q&A recently said that the official move-in date for now remains September, but may be moved to early 2007 because of a change order for construction that GSA is negotiating. It also says that the move will take place over an 11-week period. And clearly some staff are not looking forward to the new digs, as evidenced by dotmove.blogspot.com.

 

A teensy bit slow on this, I apologize, but I did want to note that the second of JPI's two residential projects in Near Southeast, at 901 New Jersey Avenue (sometimes better known as the "Nexus Site") received approval last Tuesday from the Board of Zoning Adjustment for its variance and special exception applications. There was one condition put on the application--that any antennas on the roof be hidden from view--and JPI agreed to that. Construction will probably begin on this site late in 2006 (ditto for JPI's other site, on I Street).
 

The last building along O Street between South Capitol and Half streets (the "Heat" building at the corner) is now a pile of rubble, completing the demolition of the gay clubs. I took a boatload of photos today, from all angles around the stadium site, and have added them to the stadium construction gallery. Let the icon be your guide.
More posts: Nationals Park
 

I've been remiss in not posting this piece from May's Hill Rag: "Navy Yard or Capitol Quarter?" which talks about what to call the neighborhood I've devoted this web site to. The article says: "City planning maps say 'Near Southeast' but nobody uses that name." I'd argue with that (after all, this site has been called "Near Southeast DC Redevelopment" for 3 1/2 years now), and I would also note that, even as far back as the 1930s, the Washington Post was referring to the area as "Near Southeast." I know that some people want to call the neighborhood "Navy Yard," but I find that a little hard to work with, given that the Navy Yard itself is as large as some neighborhoods in the city--if a few years from now someone says, "Hey, this great restaurant opened in Navy Yard," isn't the response always going to be, "Do you mean the Navy Yard neighborhood, or within the Navy Yard itself?" I would imagine that eventually the neighborhood's image will be very much tied to the stadium, and also to the waterfront, and a name will assert itself from there, and not from attempts by developers and consultants to name the entire area based on their own projects...
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Two more buildings have come down in the ballpark footprint in the last 24 hours: the blue Follies building on O Street, and the AAMCO car repair shop on South Capitol between N and O. And the white garage at 1st and N continues to be demolished, the brick parts of the structure near N Place were torn down yesterday.
FRIDAY UPDATE: The trash garage at 1st and O is now completely gone; so is the third of the four buildings on the north side of O (leaving only the four-story building that was home to Heat). The buildings along Half between O and N remain, however--they're probably on next week's agenda. (No new pictures, I'm trying to pace myself a bit.) Even better news--during the 30 minutes I spent walking around the ballpark site, the prices at the Half and M Sunoco dropped from $3.19 to $3.11. (No, I'm not taking credit.)
 
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