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Here we go! Time to play the Stadium Design Guessing Game, this time courtesy of Thomas Boswell's column: "'I hope the new park looks like the rest of the city with all the pillars and white stone,' said [veteran reliever Joey] Eischen. 'Go to the stadium and it would be a little bit like walking into the Lincoln Memorial, but it's your ballpark. Fans would love it. 'Come check it out.' Even Robinson could not resist playing what will soon be Washington's leading parlor game: amateur stadium architect. 'I hope our new ballpark sets a new trend and doesn't just follow one,' said Robinson. 'When Dodger Stadium arrived, I think it was the first big league park that looked out into the landscape -- at the [San Gabriel] mountains. Royals Stadium [in Kansas City] felt unique with the waterfalls. Camden Yards set a new direction, too.Just so long as you can see the U.S. Capitol from some spot in the ballpark, that's all people will talk about. When the new San Francisco ballpark opened, everybody raved about the views [of the Bay]. Well, you had to go in the upper deck to see the water. But that's what you heard about. Just make sure you can see the Capitol from some seats.'"

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Technically, it was a formality (although with this crew, you never know), but the final reading of the stadium lease agreement just passed the city council, 9-4. Will post stories here as they become available.
UPDATE, 9:04 pm: In the meantime, what's next, other than much rejoicing from some quarters and doom and gloom from others? The design should be unveiled soon, and will have to get approval from the Zoning Commission. The city will probably get back in front of Judge Zeldon ASAP to get the ruling to evict the landowners in the stadium footprint. The bonds to actually fund everything will be sold sometime in 4-6 weeks. And MLB will name an owner, maybe by opening day? Then there will be (perhaps in mid-April) news from the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation as to the plans for the Ballpark District--I would hazard a guess that they're going to try real hard to have at least the stretch along Half Street between M and L well-developed with restaurants and retail by Opening Day 2008. Which means that the city and WMATA need to figure out where that Half Street bus depot is going to go. And maybe by early May demolition will begin. And... and... and....
UPDATE, 10:28 pm: Here is the AP story about the votes. Jack Evans is quoted as saying that the city hopes to unveil the designs next week, with a groundbreaking in late April.
UPDATE, 11:26 pm: And the Post story.
UPDATE, 12:57 am: And the WashTimes story, which has this item: "Clark officials already have locked in prices on most of the stadium materials, including steel. Those prices remain valid as long as construction begins before June. Sports commission officials said the construction team can complete the stadium in time for Opening Day in 2008 provided they have access to the land soon. However, the stadium could open as late as July 31 of that season without penalty from the league."

 

The Design Build and Completion Guarantee Agreement for the D.C. Major League Baseball Park Approval Resolution of 2006 (i.e., the construction contract) just passed, 9-4. Next up, the final reading on the lease agreement.
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No, no vote yet. In the meantime, here's a Post DC Wire blog entry from 2:30, counting the votes and saying that there should be 7 for both the lease affirmation and the construction cap agreement. (But wonder of wonders, Marion Barry might vote no!)
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While we wait for the city council to get to the baseball stuff on today's agenda, I'll pass along this news item--according to the DC Land Sales database, on Feb. 3, "ICP PARTNERS POTOMAC 810 LLC" purchased 10 lots along Potomac Avenue between 8th and 9th streets for $9 million. This includes the boarded up apartment building on Potomac, the building on M Street housing Quizno's, and the lots along 9th and the eastern edge of L. No word yet as to what their plans for this spot may be, but it is a prime location, just across the street from the Latrobe Gate of the Navy Yard. (Note that ICP Parnters is part of 801 Virginia Avenue LLC group currently developing the 801 Virginia Avenue project.)

 

From Reuters: "Washington's planned waterfront baseball stadium cleared its last major obstacle on Monday after the city and Major League Baseball signed a 30-year lease that caps city-funded costs at $611 million. " The article says that the path is now cleared for CFO Gandhi to sell the bonds to fund the stadium, a process expected to take four to six weeks. It also says that the construction contract with Clark is expected to be approved by the city council on Tuesday.
UPDATE, 10:43 pm: And here is the AP's very similar piece, with the quote that makes me perk up: "Once the construction contract is approved, the city hopes to unveil ballpark designs next week." Because we haven't had enough acrimony already!
UPDATE, 8:38 am: Tuesday's Post has "DC Exempt on Stadium Overruns," focusing the mayor-signs-lease story on a letter from CEO Gandhi to the city council certifying "that the deal struck over the past few days between the mayor, the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission and baseball officials includes a legal "acknowledgement" of the council's mandate to cap public spending on the project at $611 million" and that "excess tax revenue may be used only with the council's approval," thereby erasing the last major doubts from council members about the deal. A new owner could be named by the end of March. The WashTimes article this morning is very similar to the others, although it does have a new tidbit that says MLB has allowed the new stadium to open as late as July 31, 2008 without penalty. It also says "council members said they had no plans to disrupt the deal." Let's wait until today's council session is finished before putting all our faith in that statement :-).
UPDATE, 8:45 am: And, just for the heck of it, here's the MLB.com story on the lease signing. And if you feel like watching today's council proceedings (you masochist!), here's the streaming video link.
UPDATE, 10:30 am: I'll add in this nice Baltimore Sun piece, which uses a good hook of the long-suffering fans hoping that this finally makes the Nats DC's team.
And, last but not least, here's the Mayor's statement on signing the lease.

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This might be just a touch more than anyone really needs to know, but that won't prevent me from passing along this item from the Clark/Hunt/Smoot A Joint Venture web site (the guys building the new baseball stadium), dated March 1: "Clark/Hunt/Smoot has awarded its first major subcontracts for Demolition and Mass Excavation. Demolition has been awarded to F&L/Wrecking Corp., A Joint Venture, consisting of the local F&L Construction and Wrecking Corporation of America. Mass Excavation has been awarded to Anderson/Urban, A Joint Venture, consisting of The Anderson Company and the local Urban Service Systems Corporation. Approximately 315,000 cubic yards of soil will be excavated from the 20-acre site." If you thought a lot of heavy trucks rumbled through Near Southeast now , just wait until the demolishing and the digging start...
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Lori Montgomery's DC Wire blog entry on MLB signing the lease agreement seems to have some of the hesitation that I was expressing last night, and it centers around MLB's condition that "Excess ballpark tax revenue earmarked for debt service will be available for stadium cost overruns." Linda Cropp is meeting with people from the Mayor's office and the Sports Commission this morning. So I feel good to not have popped the champagne *just* yet. Also, here is the WashTimes's piece from this morning's paper on the "deal."
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From the Post: "Major League Baseball today signed a lease for the Washington Nationals use of a proposed $611 million stadium project along the Anacostia Waterfront, clearing the way for the city to begin construction of the stadium and baseball to move ahead with the sale of the team, according to sources familiar with the process. Baseball delivered a signed document to the D.C. Sports & Entertainment Commission on Sunday afternoon, with a provision that the lease not become effective until the city begins its sale of the bonds to cover the stadium project, sources said. The document, which was delivered to the city attorneys representing the D.C. Sports Commission, also contains a number of other conditions, sources said." And,for my favorite part: "A major condition was that the document does not become legally binding if the city enacts further legislation that is contrary to the stadium funding plan it passed last month, sources said." What does it mean? Is it really good to go? I want to see a bit more information first. See you after the Oscars.
UPDATE, 9:44 pm: Here is the AP story, containing this line, which is why I haven't been jumping up and down with glee just yet: "DuPuy said the lease will go into effect if the Council agrees to several provisions, including an agreement that the city not enact any legislation that violates the terms of the lease." This whole process has made me a wee bit gunshy of declaring "Ballgame" until we've got some more details, but hopefully all will be well.
UPDATE, 11:53 pm: The updated Post story, "MLB Officials Sign Lease for D.C. Stadium," does seem to have a feeling that this is all done. In addition, I saw Adrian Fenty interviewed on ABC7, and he said even though it was a bad deal for the city, it's time to move forward. So perhaps this really is finally completed, although I might not be completely convinced until there are shovels in the ground :-).

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There doesn't appear to be any big news tonight on the stadium lease agreement, so I'll take the opportunity to point people to this morning's WashTimes article (which I looked for but didn't find earlier today), "Mayor Defends Proposal." It appears that everyone is waiting to find out if the city's attorney general will rule whether the legislation passed in February allows use of excess baseball revenue to pay for any cost overruns. Another interesting notion is that if baseball signs the lease agreement on Monday, the council's scheduled vote on Tuesday to extend the cap legislation for 225 days might be, well, superfluous: even if the council were to vote against the extension, the lease will have already been signed. And, says Mayor Tony, "Once a lease is signed, a lease is a lease. It's a contract. You can't authorize people to enter into a contract and then change the law to de-authorize it." Hmmmm. The WashTimes does say that "Some sources, however, said council could disrupt matters by rejecting the city's contract with the ballpark construction team, which also is up for approval Tuesday." Food fight!

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While at the Courtyard by Marriott today, I got some great overhead photos of Near Southeast; as I worked to put them on the site, I realized that it was also now time to launch separate pages for three developments that are in the pipeline: JPI's two residential projects on I Street, the mixed-use development project on Square 699N at 1st, Half, K, and L streets; and the Faison and Opus East 1st Street office and residential towers between L and M. Right now the pages are kind of short on specifics, and I don't have renderings of any of the projects, but with JPI and Square 699N looking to start construction later this year, I figured it was time to break them out into their own pages. Also, I added overhead shots to my Capper/Carrollsburg and North of M pages. (And, in looking at my 2006 pictures, have you all figured out yet that I got a new camera?)

 

Using all the power and pull I have at my disposal ("Uh, yeah, hi, I have this blog, and I was wondering... Hello? Hello?"), I got a sneak-preview today of the not-quite-yet-finished Courtyard by Marriott hotel at New Jersey and L. It's still a few weeks away from the grand opening, but they do have some of the rooms ready for showing, and I snapped a few photos of them, as well as a few shots of the still-under-construction outdoor courtyard space of the residential side of Capitol Hill Tower (scroll a bit down my CapTower page to see the new shots). The hotel has 200-plus rooms, meeting space, a pool and fitness center, a bar, and a small restaurant area that will offer breakfast, lunch, and dinner to not only guests but the public as well. If you ever want to stay there, sacrifice a bit of space and ask for one of the upper-floor rooms on the New Jersey Avenue corner--they have a wall of windows with unreal views to the west, at least until all the other Near Southeast projects get off the ground.
 

"Navy Yard celebrates opening of O St. gate" describes the renovations to the 11th and O Entrance to the Navy Yard, now designated as the entry point for visitors and deliveries. (The renovated gate officially opened in November, but the ribbon-cutting ceremony was delayed to Feb. 23.)
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That screeching sound you hear is the brakes grinding on Mayor Bow Tie's attempt to use revenue left over from the debt service on the stadium to pay for cost overruns. In "D.C.'s Mayor Draws Fire on Stadium Plan," from Thursday's Post, city council members express, shall we say, displeasure over the idea. I think Tony has it right: "People feel betrayed on both sides," Williams said of the council and MLB. "There's bad faith on both sides. And I think the only thing everybody agrees on is they don't like me." Someone wake me up on Tuesday, when we see how this turns out; having to go through this uncertainty for a fourth time is just absurd.

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Thursday's Post has "Williams Digs Up More Stadium Cash", about a plan by Mayor Bow Tie to use "$20 million in excess revenue from a gross-receipts tax on businesses, a utility tax on businesses and federal buildings and taxes from concessions at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium [to pay for cost overruns on the new baseball stadium]. Those taxes were implemented last year to pay off debt service on the construction bonds. Williams aides have told baseball officials that revenue leftover after debt service can be used for overruns, if necessary." But MLB said it was unaware of the plan, council members either wouldn't comment or complained that it would violate the cap legislation. The doom and gloom portion of the article: "The latest negotiations appear to be the final chance to resolve the standoff before Monday, the deadline set by the council for MLB to endorse the spending cap. If baseball officials reject the cap, the stadium dispute could enter binding arbitration. That would cause a delay of as much as six months and open the possibility that the Washington Nationals could be moved elsewhere.Baseball officials have made it clear that they do not want the Nationals' owner to have to pay for cost overruns for the stadium along the Anacostia River in Southeast. Over the past two weeks, the Williams administration has sought to assure MLB that another source of revenue is available." Whee! Time to start up the rollercoaster again.
UPDATE, 12:37 pm: The AP reports: "Williams says he had a conference call with MLB officials today, and promises the deal will get done before Monday's deadline. The mayor says reports that he has dug up 20 million dollars to help cover cost overruns are inaccurate. He says everything he is considering is in compliance with legislation passed by the DC Council. Williams says developments over the past year have left feelings of bad faith and uncertainty on both sides. "
UPDATE, 1:57 pm: For a little bit of atmosphere as to how all this is playing, I suggest Thomas Boswell's column.
UPDATE, 2:36 pm: From early this morning, sorry I'm only now seeing it, is a DC Wire blog entry from David Nakamura with a tiny bit more detail (including that Kwame Brown is against the plan), although how this squares with the AP story from a few hours later, I don't know.

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The Post's DC Wire blog has an entry about today's court hearing on the city's request for the right to remove the property owners from the lands taken via eminent domain in the footprint of the new baseball stadium and take full possession of the land. Interesting tidbit: "Also, Zeldon requested that a representative of DC CFO Natwar M. Gandhi discuss whether the city is ready to issue construction bonds for the project. Gandhi has said he will issue bonds only after MLB endorses the council's spending cap, which would give final approval to the lease agreement. Under the council's legislation, MLB has until March 6 to make a decision about the spending cap and stadium lease. Whether Zeldon will rule on the case before MLB makes its position known is unclear." Also, this week's Washington Blade has a follow-up on the Feb. 9 eminent domain ruling, and what the gay clubs (and their owner Robert Siegel) are going to do.
UPDATE, 11:09 am: The AP is reporting: "DC Superior Court Judge Joan Zeldon says she's prepared to evict the owners once Major League Baseball agrees to a stadium lease with the city. That decision is expected by March sixth. Zeldon has ordered several property owners fighting to keep their land to go into mediation with the DC government before then. Otherwise, the judge says she will promptly sign the land over to the city once it's certain the baseball deal will go through. "
UPDATE, 1:35 pm: Here's the Post's story on the ruling, although the headline ("Court Rejects DC Bid for Private Land") makes the ruling seem far more ominous than seems to be indicated by the text of the story.
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The South Capitol Street Environmental Impact Statement project has posted its Winter 2006 newsletter with the latest updates on the study. Two build alternatives have been identified and are briefly described--the less costly one would keep the South Capitol and M intersection in two levels, and would create a "traditional" intersection at Potomac Avenue. The second and more wide-ranging alternative would reconstruct South Capitol and M to be "at-grade", and would create a traffic circle interchange at Potomac Avenue (there are differences in the two plans for east side of the bridge as well). The various plans (the two build alternatives, plus a "Transportation System Management" alternative and a No-Build alternative) will be presented at public meetings later this winter, then there will be ANC meetings, environmental analyses, and finally the preparation of the draft EIS. In the meantime, DDOT will be discussing this project as part of its Feb. 25 Open House. Also, both the South Capitol Street EIS and the 11th Street Bridges EIS teams will present their pedestrian and bicycle concepts to a meeting of the Bicycle Advisory Council on March 8. See my South Capitol Street and South Capitol Street Bridge pages for more details, photos, links, etc.
 

Boy, it's been a quiet week on the Near Southeast front. (Almost too quiet...!) But this week's DC Register provides some very small stadium-related tibits. First, raze permits for the stadium fooprint have been filed with DCRA. Second, the city council has scheduled a hearing for March 17 on Bill 16-628, "Closing of Public Alleys In Square 702, 703, 704, 705, and 706 Act Of 2006." Of course, tomorrow (Feb. 24) is the date for an expected ruling on whether the city can now force landowners out of their properties.

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Voice of the Hill has a piece on the ANC 6D February meeting. Read it to see why it was the last ANC 6D meeting I will attend. My commitment to bringing you all the latest in Near Southeast does not extend to enduring this level of torture!
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You'd have to dig to find it on washingtonpost.com, but the front page of Monday's Business section has a huge graph showing the trend in commercial real estate sales in Near Southeast (and Buzzards Point) from 2000 through 2005. (Full disclosure: I did the research for it.) From 2000 through September 2004 (when DC got the Expos and the city announced that a new stadium would be built in southeast, there were 32 sales of undeveloped commercial property, totaling just under $40 million. In the 15 months after this, there were 37 sales--for nearly $219 million. It also compares two properties, right next to each other, that sold five years apart--the 45,000-sq-ft lot at 80 M Street sold for $5.5 million in 2000 (and construction began on the office building there soon afterward), while the 82,500-sq-ft block just to its north was purchased by Ron Cohen in 2005 for $51.6 million. A slight spike in prices, one might say. There's an accompanying article by Dana Hedgpeth, "Contesting a Stadium's Power," with quotes from developers, real estate professionals, and city officials as to whether the land boom in Near Southeast can really be attributed to the stadium, or whether the development would have happened anyway (albeit more slowly).

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