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.

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....

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.

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....

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.

"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.)

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.

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).

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.

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...

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.

More posts: Homewood Suites, Nationals Park