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Near Southeast DC Past News Items
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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HOK to Design Square 696 Office/Retail
Today's print edition of the Washington Business Journal reports that HOK has been hired to design the new four-building 825,000-sq-ft office and retail project by DRI Development on Square 696, the block bounded by First, Half, I, and K. (Well, actually WBJ says it's Nationals ballpark architect HOK Sport that's been hired, but I might think that it's not the sports division of HOK that will be designing this office/retail development, unless there's going to be a soccer stadium on the roof.) DRI now has an information page on Square 696 (also known as "99 I Street"), which says that the project will be developed in four phases, with expected start of the first phase in 2008 and delivery in late 2009; the entire project would be completed in 2012. My Square 696 has some photos if you want to see the block's current state; and it should be noted that this is the block from which AnA Towing decamped last week.
 

Stadium Time-Lapse Video
As I've been trying to take some tiny bit of a breather during this late-August lull, I haven't checked the Stadium Web Cam for a few days (horror!), which means I'm late in reporting that there's now a fabulous Time Lapse button you can click to watch the stadium rise from either of the two camera angles available (now labeled "Press Box" and "Centerfield"). And the webcam display software itself has gotten a nice upgrade, too. If you haven't peeked in lately, you'll see that the west parking garage is pretty far along, and work is getting more visible on the east garage.
More posts: Nationals Park
 

Stadiums and Revitalization
Post columnist Marc Fisher writes today about "Ensuring the Promise of DC's New Stadium", noting that "there is nothing automatic about sparking the economic development that stadium proponents cite as the justification for public investment in a ballpark." Fisher traveled to Cleveland, Detroit, and Cincinnati and sees little going on around the new stadiums in those cities, but also cites San Francisco, Denver, and Abe Pollin's Verizon Center at Gallery Place as locations where sports facilities have "added neighborhoods to cities." As for the new Nationals ballpark? "For Washington to do better, it must make certain that developers provide amenities to make the new neighborhood worth visiting and that team owners do their part to make going to a game an experience worth repeating." He also expands on his column in an entry at his Raw Fisher blog.
More posts: Nationals Park
 

Spay and Neuter Center Ribbon-Cutting on Oct. 4
From a Washington Humane Society press release, word arrives that the National Capital Area Spay and Neuter Center currently under construction at 1001 L Street, SE, will be opening in September, and that a ribbon-cutting ceremony has been scheduled for Oct. 4 at 11 am. Quoting: "The new facility will address the desperate need for low-cost spay/neuter of domestic animals in our region with a goal of providing sterilization surgery on up to 75 animals every day, five days a week." The center will also be part of "CatNiPP, the Cat Neighborhood Partnership Program, by sterilizing stray and feral cats to humanely reduce the area's outdoor cat population through Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR)," a program which aims to "safely trap feral cats, spay or neuter, vaccinate and 'eartip' them, and return the healthy cats to their outdoor homes." Shelters from around the region will transport animals to the facility.
 

AnA Towing Trailer Gone, and Who Might Be Next
I see this morning that the green and white trailer that marked the home of AnA Towing near the corner of Half and K is now gone. You may remember my post from Saturday that the lot has closed down and is moving to 2nd Street, SW; I didn't check to see if the trailer has been relocated to their new home. I'm not sure it technically qualifies as a "raze", but I've still added it as #137 on my Demolished Buildings page, making it the 27th building to disappear from Near Southeast in 2007. And I'm guessing that a few more will probably be gone before the end of the year--one definite candidate is the DC Foreign Car garage on K between Half and South Capitol, which was purchased in July for $7.6 million as part of Opus East's $41.5 million acquisition of the 1015 Half Street project, construction of which is expected to begin in October. And, as I recently posted, raze permits are in the pipeline for the old Capper Seniors building at 601 L Street and the low-rise structures on First between M and N.

 

Al's Deli Building on 8th Street Sold
The DC Property Sales database has finished its August recess, and now reports that 1003 8th Street, SE, home to Al's Famous Delicatessen, was bought on July 19 for $620,000 by "1003 8th Street LLC." As of a few days ago, Al's was still open, and I haven't heard about any plans for the site. No sign yet, though, as to whether the old Miles Glass building next door is changing hands, which I thought might be the case after Mac's Tire Service closed at the end of June -- as of now, there's no records in the database indicating that building has been sold, but the database is about a month behind. Here's a photo of the buildings--the building that sold is the four-story one in the middle, and the Miles Glass building is the funky two-story one on the right.
UPDATE, 10/17: Two months later, I finally figure out that the Miles Glass building is actually part of the lot that makes up 1003 8th Street, so it was part of this sale.
More posts: 8th Street, square 906
 

Walking Tour On for Sept. 9 - Filled Up
UPDATE: There's been a pretty good response, and the group is looking sizeable, so I'm not accepting any more people for this tour. Sorry!
Thanks to everyone who's expressed an interest in a walking tour of Near Southeast--I'm now confirming that I will indeed lead this tour, on Sunday, Sept. 9, starting at 10:30 am. My plan is for it to take about two hours to cover a route that's just under two miles, so who knows, it may go quicker depending on how fast our feet and chatter take us. If you've already e-mailed me to let me know you're interested, no need to write again; if I haven't heard from you and you still want to come along, drop me a line, although it's filling up fast. This is all weather permitting, of course.
More posts:
 

Two L Street Robberies on Friday
On Friday there were two robberies in Near Southeast, according to the Weekend Report posted today by First District Commander Diane Groomes on the 1D mailing list. Quoting:
"100 blk of L ST SE at 1600 hours - Anns Beauty supply - owner reports two black males in their early twenties entered - one grabbed the owner and demanded that she give up all the money in the register - she complied and they fled out the door - money taken.
"600 L ST SE at 2220 hours - a family of four was walking down the street - when a black male in his twenties came up from behind with a weapon and stated" Im not joking - I will shoot give up your stuff" - they allcomplied and the male fled South on 7th ST towards M ST."
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'Investigating Where We Live' at the Building Museum
From now through Nov. 25, the National Building Museum is running the exhibition "Investigating Where We Live: The River Has Two Sides." Designed by students in the museum's summer outreach program, it displays photos, drawings, collages, poems, stories, and more about Anacostia, Congress Heights, and the Navy Yard neighborhoods. (Museum location and hours here.) There's also an entry about the exhibition on Tommy Wells's blog.
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Post: Envisioning City Life Along the Rivers
Monday's Post has a huge overview of all of the coming development plans along the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers, entitled "Envisioning City Life Along the Rivers." There's also a big interactive map showing the locations of planned projects and their approximate completion dates, along with animated 360-degree panoramic photos showing what the area looks like currently.
More posts:
 

Lots of New Photos - Stadium, SouthCap, Onyx, Etc.
With Saturday being one of those glorious clear days, I of course raced out with camera to make the rounds. 70/100 I, Onyx on First, and 100 M continue to rise, so the usual photos of those are now posted. The Stadium Construction Gallery is updated with views of the ballpark's northern and western vistas, which are changing markedly thanks to the work being done on the parking garages and on South Capitol Street in conjunction with the Douglass Bridge work.
And while you might think it's pretty much become rote for me to watch these changes, I must admit that when I scurried very briefly out into the middle of South Capitol Street at P Street to grab a shot or two, I was just about overcome by what it's all starting to look like. The holes are cut for the new South Capitol median, the curbs are being put in place for the new wider sidewalks, and the stadium's fake-limestone (I'm sorry, "precast concrete") exterior just pops in the late afternoon sun. Check my Douglass Bridge Extreme Makeover page photos that try to capture the new vista, along with a new Expanded Project Archive that I built if you can't get enough of looking at the before-and-afters of this stretch of road.
UPDATE: Oops, forgot to add the obligatory link to all the new photos on one page. There are also some additional here-and-there shots of spots that needed fresh photos.
 

Towing Company Leaves Near Southeast
The departure of "light industrial uses" from Near Southeast continues, as within the past week or so AnA Towing has closed its lot on Half Street between I and K. A sign is posted indicating that they've moved to 1620 2nd Street, SW, down in Buzzards Point--which did not please the two young folk I ran into who were there trying to claim their car at the old lot. AnA's block was purchased back in April for $64 milliion by Transwestern subsidiary DRI Development, who have posted signs announcing an office/retail project. With the clearing out first of the firewood company at 1st and I and now AnA, this leaves just Four Star Cab and Merritt Cab at First and K occupying the block. No word yet on when the DRI project (99 I Street) might get underway. You can see my Square 696/99 I Street page for photos and more information. (UPDATED to correct the appellation of "AnA.")
 

Raze Application Underway for Old Capper Seniors
Along with the Square 701 buildings mentioned yesterday, there are still a few buildings to be razed in Near Southeast (though not many, with 136 of them having already been demolished in the past four-plus years). None of them, however, are as big as the old Capper Seniors building at 601 L Street. All of its former residents have been moved out, and preparations are being made to bring down this building late this year, which will certainly be the most striking of all the demolitions I've watched. In the meantime, as you can see from the latest Approved Building Permit, interior demolition will be starting soon so that asbestos abatement can be taken care of before the building itself can be demolished. In its place there will eventually be a 500,000-sq-ft office building by Forest City, though no timeline has been announced; you can see a rendering of it on my old Capper Seniors page. In the interim, look for a surface parking lot to help ease the Nationals ballpark parking crunch. (Oh, and check out the new photo on that Stadium Transportation and Parking page. I just couldn't resist. I'm sorry.)
 

Raze Permits for First/N/Cushing Buildings
In what can't be considered a surprise, raze permit applications were filed in June for the remaining buildings along N, First, and Cushing just north of the stadium. This site is where three landowners are coming together to develop a combined office, residential, and retail project that would stretch from M Street to N, and is next to the big hole in the ground where Monument Realty's Half Street project is underway. (The raze permit for Normandie Liquors at First and M, part of the same development site, was filed separately.) No word on when the demolition or the development will get started, but I would imagine there's some interest in seeing these buildings demolished before Opening Day 2008. You can see more photos of these buildings on my Ballpark Distrct page and in the Photo Archive.

More posts: staddis, Square 701
 

Interested in a Near Southeast Walking Tour?
With so many projects now really moving forward, I'm thinking that it might be fun to lead a walking tour of Near Southeast, if there's any interest. I've done a couple before for Nationals fans, but would open it up this time to anyone who wants to come along and doesn't mind a lot of walking through construction dust.
I'm aiming for around 11:0010:30 am on Sunday, September 9, doing the loop around the stadium and up the "new" South Capitol Street, and past the various buildings under construction north of M Street, and maybe into The Yards and toward Capitol Quarter. In other words, be prepared to hike a pretty fair distance--I imagine it might take about two hours to do the whole thing.
But first I need to gauge whether there's enough people interested, so if you think you'd want to do something like this, let me know by sending a quick note via my contact form. I'll make an official "go/no-go" announcement soon, depending on whether there appears to be critical mass or not.
UPDATE: I'm being reminded that Sept. 9 is opening day for the Redskins, at FedEx field at 1 pm. So I'm shifting the idea back a half-hour to a 10:30 start time; and of course, if people need to peel away earlier than that, that's fine.
UPDATE, 8/21: Just like that, I officially made the tour a "go," and it filled up. If you missed out this time, sorry!

More posts:
 

Geospatial Agency's New Home
It was reported in Wednesday's Post that a contract has been awarded to build at Ft. Belvoir the new home of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the super-secret, don't-even-think-of-pointing-that-camera-at-this-building agency that currently occupies the windowless white box at First and M. As part of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) plan, NGA must be moved to Ft. Belvoir by Sept. 15, 2011; and they actually have pretty detailed page about the move on their web site, if you want to know more. It estimates that workers at what's known as Building 213 at The Yards/Southeast Federal Center would be moving in late 2010 and 2011. Once they're gone, that very valuable lot at First and M would be redeveloped as office space as part of the later phases of construction at The Yards, presumably without the high fences and gun-toting guards.

 

Douglass Bridge Visit - Photos Now Posted
The folks at DDOT were nice enough to let me tag along today on a visit to the Douglass Bridge Extreme Makeover, and of course I took a whole pile of photos. Check back later today to see them--I need time to plow through the hundreds I took to find the one or two that are actually any good.
UPDATE: I've now added photos from today to the Makeover page (look for the icon). I might keep tinkering, though.
 

Web Site for 801 Virginia Ave.
It must be admitted that lately I've spent most of my Near Southeast on-the-ground time west of New Jersey Avenue, given that all of the active projects are in that area. So I'm embarrassed to see that there's now fence drapes around the lot at 801 Virginia Avenue, advertising a new web site for this condo-and-retail project, at admiralcondo.com. There's not really much more there than a somewhat balky Flash video and a preview list registration form, but if you're interested in this 40,000-sq-ft project that is slated to have 17 residential units (with parking) on top of ground-floor retail and some office space, take a look. There's also the web site of the realtor selling the commercial space, for additional detail. I've updated my own 801 Virginia page with a few new photos as well.
More posts: 801va, 8th Street
 

Latest on WMATA Bus Garage Move
Yesterday Metro posted an update on its Southeastern Bus Garage Replacement page, announcing that "WMATA staff will be recommending to its Board of Directors that, rather implementing the [construction of a new bus garage at DC Village] through three phases, WMATA should design and construct the ultimate 250-bus facility at the outset with an opening in late 2010." Because Metro and the city both very strongly feel that WMATA should be out of the current Southeastern Bus Garage at Half and M before the opening of the baseball stadium in April 2008, Metro is now starting an analysis of four alternative plans to make this happen: leasing/upgrading an existing crane rental facility on W Street, NE; upgrading the Carmen Turner Facility and using the Landover Bus Garage in Landover, MD; leasing and developing land on Howard Road, SE; or reassigning the 114 buses currently at the garage to other facilities. (Option #5 is staying at Half and M.) They've posted an Alternatives Analysis presentation, and will be having public meetings and briefings as they work through the options to make a decision. If you're interested in the plans for the new garage at DC Village, the project overview slides on the project page might be of interest.
In the meantime, Aug. 28 is the scheduled date for Metro to pick the developer with the winning bid to purchase the Half and M site.
 

New Photos, Again
The new buildings now coming out of the ground, adding one floor a week, are keeping me busy, so there are updated photos again on the Onyx on First, 100 M, and 70/100 I project pages. I also took some new photos of the 909 New Jersey site, as the hole being dug there gets deeper. And I ventured across to Poplar Point for the first time in a while and got a long-range photo comparing the northern end of the Douglass Bridge after the lowering/demolition of the northern part of the approach, which are now on my Douglass Bridge Extreme Makeover page. You can also browse all the new photos on a single page.
 
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