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With a unanimous 5-0 vote after a brief discussion, the Zoning Commission approved last night the plans for "RiverFront," the 5.8-acre mixed-use project on the Anacostia River south of Nationals Park, ending the decade-long trip through the zoning process for the site long known as Florida Rock.
Before the final vote, chairman Anthony Hood quoted from the recent ruling by the National Capital Planning Commission that the RiverFront project "would not adversely effect" any federal interests. Remarking that the passage "says it all," Hood read: "This project is expected to bring activity and amenities to the Anacostia waterfront and is respecting the planning for the South Capitol Street corridor and the new Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge. Furthermore, it is enhancing the connection of the Nationals Baseball Park and surrounding district to the Anacostia waterfront, goals supported by the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative[.]"
Now it's onto construction drawings and a trip through the city's permitting process. It's not expected that work will begin until sometime in 2009 on the first phase of the site, which includes an office building with ground-floor retail and a public plaza across Potomac Avenue from the ballpark's grand staircase. [see update below for caveat]
If you want to know more (dear heavens, I'm not going to go through all the details AGAIN), look at my project page for renderings and also scroll through five years' worth of news items on it all. UPDATE: The press release is out, and I'll note that it gives no indication of when the first phase could start. Given the Monument Realty news of financing troubles, Camden's pause at 1345 South Capitol, and the commercial real estate biz in general, it's probably best to now be pretty skeptical of start dates until permit approvals start popping up and shovels start digging into the ground.
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More posts: Florida Rock, zoning
 

The folks at JPI were kind enough to take me on a walk-through today of their getting-close-to-opening Jefferson and Axiom apartment buildings (better known as 70 and 100 I Street). Jefferson, with its warehouse/industrial feel, is about a month away from opening its shared spaces and first few floors of apartments, with all 12 stories expected to be open to tenants by late fall; Axiom will see its first units open in July, and also is expected to be completed before the end of the year. Together, the two buildings total nearly 700 apartments, and will be the first rental units to open in Near Southeast.
My interior photos of Jefferson/70 I give you a glimpse of the huge "sports pub", the interior courtyard, the other shared spaces, and the roof deck and pool, with hints of the amazing views of the city from up on high. (Don't worry, I'll be adding lots of big images to my Overhead Photos Gallery soon.)
Since Axiom/100 I is not quite as far along in its construction, the interior photos don't hint as much at the final look-and-feel of the shared spaces; but I actually got more photos inside the units in 100 I. And it's on 100 I's roof deck that I got the above photo.
The temporary rental office in the trailer at Half and I is open for business. At Jefferson, rents start at about $1,600 for a studio, $1,855 for a 1-bedroom ($2,225 for a 1 br/den), $2,555 for a 2-bedroom, and a $3,320 for a 3-bedroom; Axiom's prices are a little higher. For both buildings, a single parking space is $200 per month, or $275 a month for a tandem space. And pets are allowed, but there are size and breed restrictions, and additional fees. There are also some special deals being offered on lease terms.
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More posts: 70/100 I, jpi
 

The Post's Marc Fisher writes for Thursday's paper about the behind the scenes battle between the city and the Lerners about whether Nationals Park was completed on schedule, with the owners pointing to the $100,000-per-day damages owed to them according to the stadium lease agreement if construction was not finished on time. Quoting: "But nearly three weeks after the stadium played host to its first game, the Nationals were still demanding $100,000 a day because, among other items, the team offices at the new ballpark were not yet completely ready. The city conceded that the offices weren't done as soon as the ballpark itself, but sports commission chief executive Gregory O'Dell reminded the Nationals that the offices make up less than 3 percent of the stadium project. He called that delay a "minor inconvenience" and noted that the District allowed the team to stay at its old RFK Stadium offices rent-free."
In other ballpark-related news, reader D. reports that the valet parking that was launched a few weeks ago at the Southeastern Bus Garage at Half and M has gotten cheaper, now down to $40 from $50.
UPDATE: Tim Lemke has more on the $100k/day issue, saying that it does appear to revolve around the admin building. He also has a bit about the upgrading of some of the stadium bonds from BBB+ to AA, which I'm sure is faaaabulous!
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More posts: Nationals Park
 

Just like last month, the agenda for the WMATA board of directors meetings this Thursday includes an executive session, and in that executive session is the agenda item "Legal Issues - Monument vs. WMATA." For those of you just joining us, this lawsuit is a result of the bidding process for the Southeastern Bus Garage at Half and M that awarded the site to Akridge for $69 million--Monument argued that they were supposed to have first dibs on the site after being named "master developer" by the city. A judge awarded a preliminary injunction on the sale in February, saying that Monument has "demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits of their claim that they were substantially prejudiced when WMATA considered Akridge's nonresponsive bid and participated in improper ex parte discussions with Akridge." I never heard about anything coming out of last month's board executive session when this was supposed to be discussed; perhaps there will be some action needing to be taken this time outside of executive session to give us a hint.
There's nothing else of Near Southeast-interest in the other WMATA board meetings on Thursday, but the Subsequent Agenda for the Planning, Development and Real Estate Committee says that its June 26 meeting will include an action item for approving the term sheet on the Navy Yard Chiller Site at Half and L. A joint development solicitation for this 14,100-sq-ft site was released back in September of 2006. A "developer selection" was supposed to be on the board's agenda back in January, but then disappeared; we'll see if this June item actually holds. The 2006 solicitation described WMATA as "looking for innovative plans . . . that will yield quality developments for the local communities, increase transit ridership, enhance the local tax base and provide a stream of revenue to WMATA for capital needs." Proposals were also supposed to follow the principles of "transit-oriented development" -- "providing safe, walkable, mixed-use communities that emphasize transit connections and reduce auto dependency." While doing all that, the site's developer would still have to replace the chiller operations either on site or somewhere close to the Navy Yard station.
 

If you've ever said, "I'd PAY to get a date with Ryan Zimmerman," this is for you. On Thursday (May 22) from 7 to 10 pm there's a charity date auction being held in the Stars & Stripes Club at Nationals Park, to help Nationals communications guru Chartese Burnett raise $170,000 in her quest to become the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Woman of the Year. Bachelors on the auction block in addition to Mr. Zimmerman are Nats Lastings Milledge and Joel Hanrahan, former DC United player Shawn Kuykendall, and former Secret Service Special Agent Shawn Holtzclaw (if G-Men are your thing). The Bachelorettes will be Miss DC of USA Chelsea Rogers, Cherry Blossom Princess Jen Corey, Former Woman of The Year Candidate Colleen Sasser, and Becky Lee of Survivor: Cook Islands. You can also bid on spending an afternoon with Many Acta and Chartese.
Tickets to the auction are $40 in advance and $50 at the door. More information here.
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More posts: Nationals Park
 

I haven't officially visited the rental office/trailer at Half and I yet, but I can still pass along that 70 and 100 I Street now have their own web sites: 70 I is officially the Jefferson at Capitol Yards, and its sibling 100 I is known as Axiom at Capitol Yards. The sites (which could perhaps use a bit more horsepower or a bit less Flash) have floor plans (just for the Jefferson, Axiom coming soon), amenities lists, and photo galleries.
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More posts: 70/100 I, jpi
 

Now this is what Spring is supposed to be like. I didn't have much time, but I wandered around to get mainly new photos of 909 New Jersey, which is sprouting like a weed. Here's the entire batch of today's photos, centered mainly on the area bounded by Half, New Jersey, I, and K (with a few from Second Street thrown in). You can also look at the Half and I, Half and K, First and I, First and K, New Jersey and I, and New Jersey and K intersection archives to see the before-and-after comparisons. (You'll also see the new rental office trailer for 70/100 I on the southwest corner of Half and I.) Watch for the icon, though the photos I took on gloomy May 1 are marked as "new" still, too. And, as always, the See All Photos of This Angle icon will show you all photos in the archive of a certain intersection (like the northwest corner of New Jersey and K, which you can watch get demolished, then see 70/100 I rise up in the distance, and now watch 909 New Jersey climb up.)
 

From both the Post and Bruce Johnson of Channel 9 (using my pictures again), news that the standoff about tickets to the two luxury boxes at Nationals Park for baseball games has been resolved. Attorney General Peter Nickles personally delivered the 19 tickets per game for Suite 61 to council chair Vincent Gray this morning. Says the Post: "The suite has 19 seats. With 13 council members, the chairman will create a "fair rotation," said Dawn Slonneger, Gray's chief of staff. The chairman would like to have nine more seats in the lower section so that the council has 28 tickets, the number it had to RFK stadium where the Washington Nationals played before the new stadium opened this spring, she said. Under the old system, Gray received four tickets to each game while the other 12 members got two each."
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More posts: politics, Nationals Park
 

Word has just arrived that there's a "Preview Grand Opening" this weekend for JPI's first two "Capitol Yards" apartment buildings, the brick siblings at 70 and 100 I Street (officially known as Jefferson and Axiom at Capitol Yards). There's apparently now a leasing trailer on I between Half and South Capitol (next to Wendy's perhaps? I haven't been by in a few days), and tours of the new buildings will start there, with the preview running from 10 am to 6 pm on Saturday and Sunday (the 17th and 18th). The two buildings will have almost 700 rental units available, and should have some pretty amazing views of the neighborhood and the Capitol dome (and the freeway!). (The building permits for rooftop pools on both buildings just came through within the past few days.) The official web site is at capitolyardsdc.com; you can see the history of the project (which broke ground in fall 2006) on my 70/100 I project page. These are the first residential units to open in Near Southeast since Capitol Hill Tower was completed in spring 2006, and they are the first rentals. It's expected that Onyx on First (now apartments, at least last I heard) will be opening later this year as well, adding another 266 rental units to the neighborhood.
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More posts: 70/100 I, jpi
 

May 15, 2008 10:30 AM
* My Ballpark and Beyond column in today's District Extra of the Post includes a series of items I've posted here over the past few weeks, including the signing of sales contracts at Capitol Quarter, the return of the DOT Farmers Market, work starting/not starting on the Pattern Shop Lofts at the Yards and 1345 South Capitol, and the plans Monument Realty has for 50 M Street. (The column's just going to run every other week from now on, which will be festive given that the amount of news out of the neighborhood has dropped by about 70 percent since the ballpark opened; so my desperation for content will be even greater than before).
* Tim Lemke reports that the D.C. Building Industry Association is presenting today "a 2008 Building Achievement Award to the ballpark project team, in recognition of the accomplishment of building the stadium in under two years while facing significant budget pressure."
* A native of Chicagoland has good things to say about the ballpark, especially its "green" aspects.
* It took a while, but here's some press coverage of the May 6 high school baseball game at the ballpark between B-CC and Whitman.
* Keith Olbermann's video tours broadcast during the past two weeks of the under-construction Yankees and Mets ballparks have made me wistful.
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More posts: Nationals Park
 

May 14, 2008 11:49 PM
City Paper's latest issue brings us "What Parking Crisis?", detailing how hard the city and the Nationals worked to plan for the expected parking catastrophe when the ballpark opened, and then surveys the nearly empty the parking lots during the recent homestand, along with the decline in use of the Nats Express and the lack of much problem with on-street parking by fans in Southwest and on Capitol Hill. (It also mentions the $550,000 a year the DC Housing Authority is getting from the Nats to lease the T, U, and W lots in the old Capper footprint, whether all the spaces are used or not.) Gregory McCarthy of the Nats is quoted as saying that it's still early in the season: "Summer is not here. The inventory of lots was based on the experience we think will unfold. The parking situation is still evolving." It also mentions last week's community meeting on the on-street parking restrictions, which I summarized here.
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More posts: parking, Nationals Park
 

May 14, 2008 2:42 PM
This tidbit is outside of my boundaries, but news is slow these days, so I'll pass along news that the city has just released its solicitation looking for a master developer for 50-plus acres in Hill East, the area along the Anacostia River near RFK and Barney Circle. Responses are due by August 1. It's expected that the redevelopment would take a decade. You can find out lots more about the solicitation and the area itself at hilleastwaterfrontdc.com. There's also a press release, but it's not online yet. Here's the Post's DC Wire blog about the plans.
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May 14, 2008 10:13 AM
Handy timing: not long after my long and wordy survey of retail space that will be coming online in Near Southeast over the next few years, the Capitol Riverfront BID has released a Retail Opportunities map, showing basically the same data in a purty graphic format, for those of you who prefer colors to prose....
 

May 13, 2008 5:33 PM
From DDOT: "The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) will be conducting operational testing of the swing span of the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge, a.k.a. South Capitol Street Bridge this weekend beginning on Friday, May 16th at 10pm. To conduct a full operational test of the swing span, and ensure the safety of motorists and workers, the bridge must be closed during the testing activity. The initial closure is scheduled for Friday evening, May 16th from 10pm - 5am, weather permitting. If all results return positive no further closures will be necessary. The rain date is scheduled for Saturday from 10pm - 5am. Motorists will be detoured to the 11th Street bridges. Variable Message Signs will be posted along the north and south bound routes leading to the bridge to alert drivers to alternate routes."
 

May 13, 2008 3:28 PM
From DDOT: "The Barracks Row Main Street in Washington, DC seeks an artist or artist team to design, create and install an urban mural for the SE Freeway overpass that divides the south end of 8th Street SE, now known as Barracks Row. The goal of this project is to create a unique landmark that expresses the character of the surrounding neighborhood. The large mural will help draw residents and non-residents for repeated viewings to the area and reinforce a sense of place within this community." Deadline is June 13, with the schedule calling for the work to be completed by early 2009. see the announcement for more details. The money is coming from federal highway funds, but the project itself is being run by the Barracks Row folks along with DDOT.
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More posts: 8th Street
 

May 13, 2008 9:02 AM
A raze permit has been filed for the now-vacant white one-story garage on the northwest corner of First and K, where DRI Development is planning to build the first phase of its three-building 825,000-sq-ft Square 696 office/retail project, a 300,000-sq-ft building that is expected to begin construction later this year. This garage was, until the end of February, home to both Four Star Cab and Merritt Cab, both of which relocated when their leases expired.
A peek into CoStar (link may not work right, and CoStar doesn't allow direct links to listings for plebes like me) shows lease listings for both 50 K Street and 90 K Street, each also labeled "The Plaza on K," which I imagine also is referencing the 8,000-sq-ft public plaza planned for K Street at First Street. 90 K appears to be the first building planned for the site, listed at 300,000 total square feet and 12 stories, with a "year built" date of 2010. Its sibling 50 K is listed at 285,000 sq ft and 12 stories, with no "built" date (though both listings have an April 2010 occupancy date in their detail pages). See my Square 696 page for a rendering of the project, plus a site map and photos of the block in its current incarnation.
 

May 12, 2008 1:26 PM
Responding to my inquiry about the windows that have recently been removed from the Pattern Shop Lofts building on the south side of Third and Tingey streets in The Yards, the folks at Forest City have let me know that interior demolition work is indeed underway on the World War I-era building. The existing interior walls, ceilings, plumbing, asbestos {cough} and whatnot is all being removed, in preparation for the actual construction/renovation work that is scheduled to begin later this year. Two floors will be added to the top of the building as part of its transformation into a 170-unit apartment building, which will also have 10,000 square feet of ground-floor retail. It's expected to be finished next year. (Its neighbor across Third Street, the Boilermaker Shop, is currently out for bid, and construction is expected to begin this summer to turn it into a 46,000-sq-ft retail space by fall 2009.)
Meanwhile, work has stopped at the 1345 South Capitol Street site (directly across from the ballpark), with the old buildings demolished and the site mostly cleared. Camden Development has been planning a 276-unit apartment building for this location, but I've been told that the company is "trying to decide what to do" with the project.
 

May 12, 2008 12:02 PM
Hmmm, perhaps it's not a go yet after all--the July 26 date for the Eagles to be in concert at Nationals Park is now removed from their July tour date list, after popping up there last week. The WashTimes had reported last week that the concert was under negotiation, but then a few days later one of JDLand's commenters noted that the date was on the band's web site. And now it's not. We shall see.
 

May 11, 2008 3:37 PM
The agenda for Monday's ANC 6D meeting has been sent around (although not posted on their web site, sigh), and it has a couple of Near Southeast items. There will be a presentation on the plans for the Waterfront Park at The Yards, in advance of a May 29 Southeast Federal Center Overlay District Review covering new structures that will be built to house retail pavilions at the park. There's also apparently a public space permit application from the Onyx folks at 1100 First Street for a fence along L Street, plus garden masonry piers and light fixtures. And the developers of the 250 M Street office building are back again, after having not gotten very far at last month's meeting with their request for support for a second-stage PUD modification at a May 28 zoning hearing to increase the building's height (but not its square footage) from what was originally approved, since the commissioners wanted a new round of community benefits in return for their support, which W.C. Smith balked at given that the project isn't requesting to take any new amount of public space. We'll see if there were any negotiations since then. The meeting will be at 7 pm at St. Augustine's church at 6th and M streets, SW.
 

May 9, 2008 2:01 PM
Since it's such a rotten day, I'll go back to when the sun was shining (Tuesday), and give you my first-ever photos from the roof of 20 M Street. (I've taken a few photos from inside the 10th floor going back to April of last year, but from the roof I don't have deal with the pesky glass reflections.) Here are these new photos matched with the oldest ones from the same angle, so you can compare 13 months' worth of changes easily; you can also look at all the photos if you want to watch the progression of changes. There's views to the north (above), showing the digging now underway at 1015 Half Street along with the construction progress at 70/100 I, 909 New Jersey, and Velocity (plus the site-clearing at 23 I). To the south is the increasingly-shiny 55 M, as well as the ballpark, of course. I also tossed in some photos toward the west, showing the skyline of Southwest.
 
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