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This week's Washington Business Journal has "Developers, AWC Wrestle with Ballpark-Area Plans" (not yet available online). It mentions (just like someone else!) that the unveiling of the Ballpark District Master Plan is now more than two months behind schedule, and that the lack of plan is hampering what is already a pretty complicated venture, especially when you add in the new potential garages deal with Western Development and the fact that the AWC still has not finished negotiating with either WMATA or WASA to get access to their acreages that are considered part of the Ballpark District. AWC head Adrian Washington says he'll have something ready for the council to approve by fall (though it would then need approval by the Zoning Commission as well), but you wonder if Monument Realty (one of the four Master Developers, and the only one that actually owns land within the Ballpark District) is starting to get just an itsy bit antsy to start building and start recouping their $50 million investment....
 

This Monday (June 26) is the all-important Zoning Commission hearing on the baseball stadium. They appear to have gotten their live webcasts back up, so you can watch it in your fuzzy slippers at home (with the alcoholic drink of your choice close at hand, to ease the pain) via their webcast page, starting at 6:30 pm. Note that the webcasts are not archived, you can only watch it live.

More posts: Nationals Park, zoning
 

A story in Wednesday's Baltimore Examiner about the Cordish Company signing a deal with NASCAR to develop a string of racing-themed restaurants also gives a teeny tiny bit of information about Cordish's part of the Nationals stadium Ballpark District (Cordish and Monument Realty are working together to plan the northern part of the district, the "gateway" to the park from M Street to N Street and from South Capitol to 1st). According to the article, "plans for the company's Nationals stadium development are expected in the next few weeks." (Original delivery date for the AWC's Ballpark District Master Plan was April 15, but who's counting?) Also from the article: " 'The goal is to create a truly vibrant destination and gateway into the stadium,' said Jon Cordish, vice president of Cordish. 'It will be a dynamic and entertaining ground-floor experience [similar to what] we've done throughout the country on these types of developments.' Cordish is also creating entertainment districts for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers. While no concrete plans have been released yet on what the Nationals development will look like, John Cordish said the company is exploring licensing options, such as the NASCAR Sports Grille, as well as original concepts. 'Aspects of it may well feel like the Inner Harbor at Baltimore, yes,' he said. 'But will there also be things unique to the Anacostia Waterfront? Definitely.' "

 

Now that the tiff over the 1,200 on-site spots required by the Stadium Lease Agreement seems to be heading toward some sort of settlement, attention is turning to the lack of additional parking. WTOP reports ("Not Enough Parking Planned at New Stadium, Critics Say"). I've heard of plans for temporary surface parking at the Southeast Federal Center until that project gets more built out, and of course there's plenty of underused land at Buzzards Point that I might guess could be converted to temporary parking lots (which would also funnel more people toward the open South Plaza and away from the northern entrance by the garages), but people used to 10,000 surface spaces at RFK (the same people who have no interest in taking Metro) are getting antsy. Then again, how many on-site spaces are there at MCI Center (especially in comparison to the acres of parking lots at the old Capital Centre)? But, as Adrian Washington of the AWC is quoted as saying, "Almost every development that will go in there on other parcels -- that either we control or private developers control -- will have a substantial amount of underground parking." This handout from a Nov. 2005 community meeting mentions on page 15 the surface lots on undeveloped land, noting that they estimate a need for around 4,000 spaces.
More posts: parking, staddis, The Yards
 

In less fractious stadium news, F&L Construction and the Wrecking Corporation of America, the two companies who created a joint venture to get the stadium site demolition contract, have sent out a press release announcing that they have "neared completion of the complex project."
More posts: Nationals Park
 

The Post's Day 2 story on the stadium parking garages, "City Urged to Support 2 Proposals," says that team owner Ted Lerner "wants city officials to adopt his proposal for aboveground-only parking as a backup if the mayor's plan for parking aboveground and below falls through. [...] The Lerner group stressed that it will agree [to the city's plan for both underground and aboveground parking with surrounding development] but asks that the city consider the group's plan for aboveground parking with no other development as a Plan B." As for logistics: "The city's chief financial officer, Natwar M. Gandhi, is analyzing whether he can certify the money is available for the city's parking plan. D.C. Council member Sharon Ambrose (D-Ward 6) has scheduled a hearing on the stadium July 6. And the council will vote July 11 on a resolution to transfer development rights on the stadium site near South Capitol Street and the Navy Yard in Southeast Washington to private developers." In a classic chicken-and-egg scenario, CFO Gandhi wants a letter from Herb Miller's financial backers before he certifies the plan, but the backers want to see that the plan is supported by the Zoning Commission at the June 26 hearing before proceeding. The WashTimes story from today has similar comments, saying that approval of the plan by the Council is likely as long as Miller can show "how the project can be paid for without threatening the city's $611 million spending cap for the stadium." This story says that approval of the aboveground structures by the Zoning Commission is less certain.
 

From the Post: "D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams announced plans today to build a mix of underground and above-ground parking adjacent to a new baseball stadium in Southeast Washington as part of a complex that will include shops, restaurants, 660 condominiums and a swanky New York City-based hotel. [...] [T]he compromise plan would call for 900 parking spaces on one level below ground to serve the condo owners, hotel and retailers. Above ground, there would be two different structures. The first two levels of both structures would be restaurants and shops and on top of those would be four levels of parking -- totaling 925 spots -- wrapped by condominiums. Another eight levels on top of that would be more condos, including 140 units priced below market value for lower-income residents. A 180-room hotel also is planned for the corner of First and N Streets SE." Developer Herbert Miller is going to pay the city $70 million for the property, and his investors will finance the additional $300 million needed for the project. He says that the parking will be completed by April 2008, but the rest will take an additional year. And for the ugly foreboding part of the story: "The city still faces a few hurdles. It must win approval for the project from both the D.C. Council, which must authorize the transfer of land rights to Miller, and the D.C. Zoning Commission, which will hear the plans Monday." And we know how much the council likes passing stadium-related legislation!
UPDATE: Here's the WashTimes story on the deal, and the Washington Business Journal story, and says that Miller will be paying about $82 per buildable square foot, with a final price TBD after a deal is reached for the amount of affordable housing to be included.
UPDATE II: And here's the press release from the Mayor's office.
UPDATE, 10:10 pm: The print version of the Post story is now available ("Mayor Offers Compromise On Stadium Parking Plan"), and the big additional news is that the Lerners aren't on board with the new plan, but that it appears it doesn't matter (after all, the stadium is owned by the city, not the team). The important people now are the Zoning Commission (the stadium zoning hearing is Monday) and the City Council. No reaction in the Post piece from any council members.
UPDATE, 9:17 am: The WashTimes printed piece doesn't have much new (all the same quotes from Stan Kasten), but says that a vote is expected at the council's July 11 session.
UPDATE, 6/22: With not exactly lightning speed, the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation has now posted its June 20 press release about the agreement on its web site.

 

UPDATE: And just as I post this, the WTOP story appears: "A compromise on parking at the new Nationals stadium has been reached, WTOP has learned. The deal calls for above and below ground parking, according to a spokesman for Mayor Tony Williams. Western Development Co., owned by Herb Miller, would build the 1,225 parking spaces. Some of the spaces would be underground while most would be masked by retail shops and condos." If indeed a compromise "has been reached", I would hope this means that the Lerners have already agreed to it. Sounds like the press conference will be around 10:30 am--it's possible that DC Cable 16 will carry it.
Original post: The Associated Press is reporting (well, they attribute it to WTOP, but I can't find evidence of it on the WTOP site; there's also a WJLA video report) that Mayor Williams will be holding a press conference today to discuss a compromise proposal on the stadium parking garages: "WTOP Radio is reporting that Williams will propose a plan providing a combination of above and below ground parking at the site (which is also the description of the plan described by WBJ late Friday to sell the parking lot land to Herbert Miller's Western Development Corporation). Mayoral spokesman Vince Morris tells the station that the above ground parking will be hidden behind stores and condominiums." The brief doesn't say whether the Lerners are on board. I guess we shall see. In the grand scheme, this still means "boxes" just to the north of the stadium that will obscure some or all of the stadium's facade to the anticipated 70 percent of visitors who will arrive from the Metro stations on M Street, but certainly having retail and other "live" stuff is better looking than parking lots.
More posts: parking, Nationals Park
 

From the Washington Business Journal: "Mayor Tony Williams has asked the D.C. Council for permission to sell city land at the new baseball stadium site to a developer who would build more than 900 parking spaces -- both above ground and below ground, a possible solution to a controversy that has dogged the project in recent weeks. [...] The mayor wants approval to authorize the city to sell "certain real property" at the stadium site to WDC Baseball Partners, an entity headed by Herb Miller's Western Development. The resolution does not say exactly how much land would be involved in the deal or what Western would pay. But the agreement would require Western to build at least 925 parking spaces and possibly housing and retail, which would have to be delivered by March 1, 2008." The response from LernerLand? "Stan Kasten, the Nationals' president in waiting, says his staff is evaluating the proposal and reiterated that his principle concern is that stadium is 'on time, on budget and first class.' " A few days ago the Post mentioned how Forest City Washington and Western Development Corporation have supposedly pledged $70 million to the city in return for development rights on the stadium property, so this is clearly an outgrowth of that. I can only imagine the bazillion things that could prevent this from working, but perhaps this does show some movement.
UPDATE: Neither the Saturday WashTimes or WashPost has a story on the plan to sell the land to Western Development - but the WashTimes does have a piece on the Nats sale that includes some information on the garages: "The D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission [...] is prepared to direct the construction team, led by Clark Construction, to build parking above ground. But the commission received some assurances from Clark this week that at least part of the parking could be built underground and completed by March 2008, the project's deadline. The Anacostia Waterfront Corp. [...] presented a plan to pay for the construction that would involve payments from developers in exchange for the rights to build on certain parcels of ballpark land. But those plans have yet to be finalized, to the frustration of the Lerner family and members of the sports commission. Talks are ongoing, and a plan could be presented to the D.C. Zoning Commission during a hearing on the entire ballpark plan June 26." Then there's this sentence, which I've not seen elsewhere and, if true, shows why they're really working so hard to find a compromise: "Any above ground parking structures would require special approval from the zoning commission."

More posts: parking, Nationals Park
 

This week's Washington Business Journal has a cover story ("Seeing the Future") about the coming Ballpark District, and the challenge of creating from a blank slate something new and vibrant that works but isn't "Disneyfied." There's a lot of comment from architects and planners about which design cues the area should take (Navy Yard and Southeast Federal Center, not the stadium itself). A little bit of news: Monument Realty is planning its first two buildings in the Ballpark District, on the east side of Half Street between M and N, a residential project designed by Shalom Baranes (one of the firms working on the SEFC) and an office building designed by Davis Carter Scott. (UPDATED to add the link now that the story's posted.)
 

A beautiful afternoon for a photo excursion, and you can see a smattering of new shots on my pages for 20 M Street, the Ballpark District (with shots of the new bright-yellow Monument Realty signs), Capper/Carrollsburg (where in one month they've managed to demolish just two of the two-story buildings at 3rd and Virginia), Capper Seniors #2 (which is showing good progress) and of course the baseball stadium. The icon is your guide for the latest offerings.
 

The folks at Clark/Hunt/Smoot have launched a nifty webcam showing the ballpark construction site (as viewed from what looks to be the cement tower on the Florida Rock property south of Potomac Avenue). Looks like it updates around every 15 minutes. Hope this hasn't put me out of business :-).
 

Within the past few days, a series of bright yellow signs have appeared along N Street and Half Street, across from the northern edge of the ballpark site--the signs are all from Monument Realty, which has spent nearly $40 million buying property to build nearly 750,000 sq ft of mixed-use offerings as part of the Ballpark District (not the area on the stadium land that the parking garage squabble is endangering, but the two blocks between N and M and South Capitol and 1st). The signs have big baseball-related slogans on them, like "Play Ball!", "Heavy Hitter", "Home Run" and so on, and then the Monument Realty name and logo, but no information on what's coming. A Post article from March did quote Monument as saying that they plan to begin construction in early 2007, so perhaps we'll hear details before long.
 

A building permit application has been filed with the DC Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs for a project at 1100 First Street, SE--this would appear to be the 14-story, 260-unit residential tower being planned by Faison Enterprises at 1st and L. So it appears to be moving forward....
More posts: Onyx, Square 743N
 

(Still a day or so behind on news, should be back to business as usual tomorrow) Another article from the Post ("Battle Brews for Control of Stadium Project") detailing the war of wills between the city and the new Nationals ownership group over the parking garages on the ballpark site. The most interesting part of the article is toward the end, a discussion of how Forest City Washington and Western Development Corporation have supposedly pledged $70 million to the city in return for development rights on the stadium property (this had been news a long time ago), but that according to Stan Kasten the city and the developers missed a deadline to produce funding guarantees. This still might not be over.... UPDATE: Here's a press release from Mayor Baseball reiterating his support for putting the parking garages underground. Also, the Washington Times reports that the city council is probably not going to fund the Office of Baseball (but apparently the Mayor will try to find monies for it from other agencies.)
More posts: parking, Nationals Park
 

This is a couple of days old, apologies for being slow, I'm going to be a bit behind on the blog here until early next week. There were two stories from Thursday about the latest news on the new baseball stadium -- the Post's "Nationals Say No to Underground Parking," which not only gives the bad news that the Lerners have firmly said that the parking on the stadium site must be in above-ground garages in order to ensure that it is ready in time for the opening of the stadium in 2008, but also that nearly half of the construction contingencies fund has just been allocated--"The commission's board of directors voted to spend $2.9 million in contingencies to help remediate unexpected environmental problems at the site after workers found 53 unreported tanks of oil under the soil. The board also agreed to spend $6.5 million to help create retail space along First Street SE, a concept mandated by the D.C. Zoning Commission." I was glad, however, to see this emphasized in the article as well: "Bobb said that no final decision has been made and stressed that the ballpark entertainment district will extend far beyond the parking garages, so the city can benefit even if parking is built aboveground." (Some articles have left the impression that the parking garages would take up the entire "entertainment district", which isn't true.) The parking garage issue might not be 100% settled, especially with the looming June 26 Zoning Commission hearing on the stadium--although I don't know whether the ZC would have the power to scuttle the garages. As for the unexpected Hazmat expenses, see this WashTimes story for more detail.

 

A press release from the office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development celebrates the city council's passing of the two bills requesting Pilot Funding for infrastructure at the Southeast Federal Center (PR16-0795 and PR16-0796). From the release: "The Council approved two resolutions authorizing $230 million in Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) bond issuances to pay for critical infrastructure on the Anacostia River. Approval of the resolutions enables the District to issue and deliver bonds for the purpose of financing or reimbursing Forest City Washington for $88 million in infrastructure costs related to the Southeast Federal Center Development and provide infrastructure funds for Anacostia Waterfront Initiative projects."
 

ANC 6D's monthly meeting is coming up (Monday June 12), and although the agenda hasn't been posted on their web site yet, I've gotten a peek at it, and the main event is a presentation of the baseball stadium plan, in advance of it's June 26 Zoning Commission hearing. Like all ANC discussions, I'm sure this one will be calm and collegial and without incident. Speaking of which, the Hill Rag has the summary of last month's meeting, where the commission voted to oppose a both zoning special exception for the JPI residential project at 901 New Jersey Avenue as well as a public space permit application by the Courtyard by Marriott for an outdoor seating area. (Note that the JPI project received approval by the Bureau of Zoning Adjustment for its project, anyway.)
 

A lot of people have been waiting to see progress on Canal Park, the new park planned for the lots along 2nd Street between I and M now occupied by lots and lots of yellow schoolbuses. And now we have some movement forward: on Wednesday, June 7 there will be a meeting to solicit community input on the initial designs by Gustafson Guthrie Nichol, the landscape architecture firm selected in 2004 to design the park. The meeting is at Van Ness Elementary School, 1150 5th Street, NE, from 6 to 8 pm. UPDATE: Here's the flyer announcing the meeting.

More posts: Canal Park
 

The agenda for the City Council's June 6 session has been updated, and the votes are now officially scheduled for the two resolutions having to do with the Pilot Funding for infrastructure at the Southeast Federal Center (PR16-0795 and PR16-0796). And I see now that the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation voted on a resolution about this funding at its May board meeting--my eyes glazed over when I tried to digest the draft resolution, but I did pick out that as part of this resolution there is supposed to be delivery by Forest City Washington of a design for the planned 5.5-acre Waterfront Park by Jan. 1, 2007, with completion of the park required by January 1, 2010. (The park is a big part of this Pilot funding initiative.) If you're interested in this, I suggest you read all these documents more closely than I have, I'm just skimming.
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More posts: The Yards
 
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