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....

(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.)

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.

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.

Took a new pile of pictures, and have updated the stadium construction gallery. The last buildings on the site are now almost completely gone, just some final clean-up work along Half Street south of N. Now interest will shift to actual construction, which is starting along 1st Street near (what used to be) O Street.

A small brief in Sunday's Post talks to Ken Wyban, the only person who owned and lived in a home on the stadium site, now that his house has been demolished.

This week's Washington Business Journal has an article on a proposal for a $230 million bond package to help prod along development at the Southeast Federal Center. The mayor and the two developers of the 55-acre site--Forest City Washington and JBG (which is building the new US Department of Transportation HQ on 11 acres of the SEFC)--are proposing two "payment in lieu of taxes" (aka Pilot) financing plans "for the roads, parks, and sewers." Because the Southeast Federal Center is currently federal property, the developers are not paying property taxes to the city--so the city would sell the $230 million in bonds and then "use a portion of the future payments in lieu of property taxes to cover the debt service for up to 15 years." The Pilot programs would then generate about $88 million, which would be used to cover the costs of roads and sidewalks and the 5.5-acre waterfront park that Forest City envisions. Forest City is saying that this infrastructure deal must be in place by June 15 to honor their agreement with GSA, and that city subsidies are "absolutely necessary" to ensure that the SFC is developed as a mixed-use project, according to the Office of Planning. The Pilot packages also include about $75 million for the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation's infrastructure projects--the AWC says specific projects "are not really well defined at this point" (but gee, aren't folks looking for a couple million to pay for those underground stadium parking garages? Just a thought.) WBJ says that the DC Council is expected to vote on the legislation (PR 16-796) on June 6 (although this is not yet on the Council calendar). (UPDATED to add link to article, now online.)

From the Associated Press, news that the National Capital Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve the first phase of the new baseball stadium. From the story: "Still, some board members remain concerned the project could obstruct views of the Capitol. The board voted to approve a measure calling for further review of any future changes to the stadium's design. The planning commission wasn't asked to approve a second phase plan for retail and entertainment facilities, which are still being worked on. The panel also reserves the right to review plans for lighting, scoreboards and other signage as they become available."

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