"Behind the Vision for a Ballpark District is a Man of Big Ideas" is a front-page story in Tuesday's Post about Herb Miller, the DC developer who persuaded the Mayor and the City Council to take a chance on his $300 million plan to wrap the 900 required parking spaces at the north end of the new Nats ballpark with condos, retail, and a hotel. (I'd quibble with the sense from the headline that this project is the entire Ballpark District, because it's not, but we digress.) While the plan has passed the City Council, it still requires approval from the Lerners (cue ominous music), who according to the article refer in private to the two structures as "Godzilla" and "Mothra" (scroll to the first rendering on my ballpark page to see the design as submitted to the Zoning Commission in June). The Lerners are to review Miller's plans and financing strategy early next month. So no, it's still not over. UPDATE: Wow, they changed the headline, it's now a much better "DC Developer Sways the City with Big Bucks and Big Ideas."

A correspondent passed along an image from the paperwork filed with the Zoning Commission for the stadium hearing last month, which shows a concept rendering of the now-infamous condo- and hotel-wrapped parking garages on the north edge of the stadium site. I've put it at the top of my Stadium Renderings page, where you can scroll down to remind yourself of the plain parking garages originally planned for that location. Now I just have to figure out how I'm going to move all my discussions and photos of this land between N Street and N Place to my Ballpark District page without completely gutting my Stadium page :-). (I think I'll wait until the Ballpark District Master Plan is released.) In the meantime, I also added a couple of new photos to my M Street page, my Capper/Carrollsburg page (celebrating at long last the completion of above-ground demolition on the 3rd/4th/I/Virginia block), and the Capper Seniors #2 page (the 4th and M location is starting to look very different).

New from the Post: "Major League Baseball has declared the District government in default of the lease agreement for the new stadium, charging that the city has failed to meet several deadlines for turning over critical documents.In a letter to city officials Tuesday, Tom Ostertag, a lawyer for MLB, said the city had failed to meet 11 provisions called for in the construction administration agreement between the District and MLB." What does this mean? "Some city officials interpreted the default notice as a legal maneuver meant to establish firm deadlines in case the stadium project ever ends up disputed in the courts." Quoth incoming Nats president Stan Kasten: "We're doing all we can to build this team and to excite the fans again about life at RFK. And we're having trouble getting the simplest things done. We keep getting foot-dragging. . . . It does weight us down as we try to move forward. And we keep getting silly roadblocks that stop us." On the other side: "Mark H. Tuohey, chairman of the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission, said lawyers for the city's attorney general's office are working on finalizing more documents to give MLB and that most of the baseball's concerns would be resolved today." UPDATE, 3:03 pm: Here's the official notice from MLB. UPDATE, 12:24 pm: Here's a nifty opinion piece by the Post's Steve Perlstein basically telling both sides to get a grip: "Less Hardball, More Humility." And here's the WashTimes story on the default.

What was I just saying about crime in Near Southeast? The Washington Blade reports: "Two men, one armed with a gun, made off with more than $18,000 in cash after robbing the Wet/Edge nightclub complex, home to D.C.'s only remaining male strip club, on July 16, according to police." The clubs were open at the time; no one was hurt. The police are investigating it as a possible inside job. These clubs are part of the huge 2005 purchase of Square 699N by developer Ron Cohen; at the time of the purchase he announced plans for mixed-use development on the site, starting construction in 2006, but the businesses on the block are still operating and as best I've heard have not been given eviction notices, so I don't know when development is going to proceed.

On Wednesday night there was an official "grand opening" of the Courtyard by Marriott--Mr. Marriott himself was there, helping to celebrate what is the 700th Courtyard hotel. A good crowd was on-hand, including Ward 6 council candidate Tommy Wells, although current councilmembers Linda Cropp and Sharon Ambrose were too tied up in the "crime emergency" legislation hearings to attend.

Voice of the Hill reports that ANC 6B "voted unanimously July 11 to support preliminary plans for a project that would connect the Southeast Freeway with the Anacostia Freeway." This is the 11th Street Bridges project, which "would allow southbound motorists on the Anacostia Freeway to access the 11th Street Bridges and motorists on the bridges to go north on the freeway, thereby creating a link between the Anacostia and Southeast freeways." There are public hearings on July 26 and 27 on the project's draft environmental impact statement, and public comment is being accepted until August 28.

Today's WashTimes has "Hotel Industry Gathers Momentum in Near Southeast", keyed to today's "opening" of the Courtyard by Marriott at New Jersey and L. (They're having a grand opening party tonight, but of course the hotel actually opened to customers in March.) The article mentions three other hotel projects on the boards, at Florida Rock (That's "FRP Development" in the story), Herb Miller's garage-wrapper plan just north of the stadium, Half and L (the Ron Cohen project, which I've heard nothing about for quite some time), and Maritime Plaza (east of 11th Street). The project it doesn't mention is the rumored sale at 50 M Street of the Sunoco station to a hotel developer of some sort--still no confirmation of that anywhere.

The tentative agenda for the National Capital Planning Commission's August meeting has been posted, and there's one item of Near Southeast interest: a request for some street and alley closings, and also some street openings, in Squares 737 and 739 (see my terribly low-tech map of the Near Southeast Tax Parcels). What is being requested is to close the current 1st and Canal "streets" on Square 737, and at the same time allow H and I streets to be extended from 2nd Street through to New Jersey Avenue. Making the request is the William C. Smith Company, which owns the land on Square 737 that's currently a surface parking lot--they have plans for a big (900,000 sq ft) mixed-use development, although I've heard nothing about these plans moving forward. Perhaps this request is the first hint that they are thinking about it? And I know people will also be wondering if this means that the dreaded DPW station at New Jersey and K is also on the way out, to which the answer is: eventually, but I don't know when. (The DPW lot/Square 739 is actually part of the Capper/Carrollsburg planned-unit development, with an apartment building slated to be built there. Someday.)

A correspondent passes along this link, a July 6 story originally from GlobeSt.com (which goes behind a paywall soon after publishing stories), "Monument Details Plans for Half Street." Nothing earthshatteringly new in this piece, but for folks who don't follow every iota of news in Near Southeast like SOME people, it's a good summary of what will be coming to the Ballpark District area just north of the stadium. Monument has bought all available land (the WMATA properties not being for sale) that faces Half Street between M and N, plus all the parcels facing N between Half and South Capitol, and about half of them between Half and 1st. They are planning to begin construction in mid-2007 of their Phase I, which apparently is the land on the east side of Half Street. There will be a 250,000-sq-ft office building on top of the Navy Yard Metro station at Half and M, and also a 450,000-sq-ft residential building along Half Street. The article says that "the tone of the street . . . is supposed to be celebratory, urban streetscape, . . . with restaurants on both sides." The news to me in this is that Monument will be able to develop the air rights above the Metro station as well as the WMATA lot in this first phase. Also possibly part of Phase I, according to the article, is a 125,000-sq-ft office building at the site of the Good and Plenty carryout on the northwest corner of Half and M. My Ballpark District page has lots of photos of these sites (now nicely festooned with the bright yellow Monument Realty signs). But we'll find out much more about these plans whenever the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation finally gets around to releasing the Ballpark District Master Plan. And, for those of you who often ask about the land bounded by 1st Street, Cushing, M, and N, I still have no news for you--it's owned by a couple of different families with ties to DC-area development, but no plans have been announced.

A small but fun tidbit--today a building permit application was filed for "1500 South Capitol Street SE" - yes, the Nats ballpark.

Short notice, but on Tuesday July 18 the DC Sports and Entertainmnet Commission is sponsoring "Straight Talk and Lessons from the Field," a roundtable on LSDBE participation and workforce opportunities at the stadium. Scheduled attendees include council member Kwame Brown, along with representatives from various DC agencies and from Clark/Hunt/Smoot. See the flyer for details and RSVP info. Also, the DCSEC announced on Friday that the stadium construction "is meeting its contracting and employment goals as set by Mayor Anthony A. Williams and the DC City Council. Through the end of June, approximately $212 million has been awarded for construction subcontracts, supplies and professional services. Of that amount, $108 million has been committed for Local, Small and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (LSDBEs)."

Nation, the nightclub at Half and K, is closing its doors after Saturday night, and the Washington Blade has a look back at VelvetNation, the Saturday night gay dance party. I've not heard anything on when the building might be demolished, or when construction might start on 1015 Half Street, the 250,000-sq-ft office building planned for that site by Potomac Investment Properties (the people who brought you 300 M Street). Check my North of M page for information and photos about that little slice of Near Southeast.

Residents on floors 1-6 have now begun the settlement process and are moving in to the co-ops at Capitol Hill Tower, after some delays and gnashing of teeth. Residents might be interested in the CHT Shareholder Community blog that was launched to organize unit owners.

With the squabble over the stadium's on-site parking garages finished, attention is turning to how the city will provide additional parking to the teeming masses who will insist on driving to the new Nats ballpark. Eventually (as certain sage local observers have noted on multiple occasions), the many new developments that will be sprouting in the Ballpark District will have plenty of underground parking that will be usable for baseball attendees. But until then, where will people park? Friday's Post has a big piece on the scrambling being done by the DC government (with considerable prodding by the Lerner/Kasten team) to line up existing lots (or create new lots) by Opening Day 2008 - here's the Post graphic showing the location of the lots. Some spots aren't surprising--the Southeast Federal Center, WASA, and Buzzards Point are all going to be developed in the future, but in the meantime can offer plenty of space for surface lots. But I also see that they're saying that the site of the current Capper Seniors at 7th and M could be available--putting aside that it's just a touch far away, could it really be emptied and demolished and paved by Spring, 2008? (Not if they hire the same folks currently using forks and knives to demolish the second ribbon of Capper/Carrollsburg.) Yes, some are a bit of a hike--but gosh, don't we all need more exercise these days, anyway? (it's a JOKE, people!) UPDATE: Here are articles on the city's parking presentation from the Examiner and the WashTimes. UPDATE II: Added the link to the Post map of the lots.

With the "crime emergency" that's been announced in DC over the past few days, I did want to mention that crime in Near Southeast is certainly down from a few years ago, which isn't a surprise given that it's got about 1,000 fewer residents now (because of the closure of Capper/Carrollsburg). But what's become apparent over the past few months is that some bad guys have figured out that the on-street parking spaces of Near Southeast are now filled with the cars of construction and office workers, who are parking on empty streets that then are all but devoid of human beings for hours and hours while everyone is working. So that makes these cars very easy pickings. Thefts from autos are also very big at nighttime on the streets near the Half and K nightclubs. So, if you park in Near Southeast (or anywhere in the city!), be street-smart and don't leave any valuables (or even anything unvaluable) in sight in your vehicle. Just common sense.... If you want to browse through the most recent crime reports filed with the city, visit crimeports.com (Near Southeast west of 6th Street is in PSA 105, in the First District). (PS, very soon the city is going to be offering RSS feeds of crime incident data, and once they do, I'll be making Near Southeast crime incident reports available here.)

Big surprise this morning--a correspondent reported that the Sunoco at 50 M Street (Half and M) is being dismantled as we speak. (Waah, where will I track gas prices now?) There's been no record of a land sale in the DC Property Sales database (although that currently runs about 6 weeks behind and is only updated right now through late May). However, a call to the station's phone number revealed a change to a new number with a 703 area code, and the person who answered said that Sunoco had sold the land "to a hotel or something." So do we have yet another new development arriving on M Street? More as I get it.

The Post's Thomas Boswell writes today ("Look No Farther Than Pittsburgh") on the stadium, the Lerners' concerns about dealing with the DC government ("Where's their sense of urgency?" is the quote from one Nationals source), and the worrisome drop in Nationals attendance.

More to come when news stories are posted, but I can report that the city council today passed without debate PR 16-852, the resolution to sell some of the stadium property right along N Street to developer Herb Miller, so that he can build not only the 925 parking spaces required by MLB but also a mix of residential, retail, and hotel offerings. (Without debate! Will wonders never cease!) Now the real fun begins, seeing whether he can actually pull this off on schedule and on budget. While it's quite a gamble, I don't think there's many residents who would have preferred two aboveground parking garage-boxes rather than mixed-use offerings in this location. Now we'll just see whether the gamble pays off. Batter up, Herb. UPDATE: here's the Post story, including that news that Miller "intends to produce the first $5 million or $6 million [of financing] in September to start excavation of the land, and the bulk of the financing would come by Dec. 1." UPDATE, 9:48 am: And here's the WashTimes story. UPDATE, 7:39 pm: And a late addition, this Examiner story says what I've suspected all along: "In its unanimous support of developer Herb Miller's project, to be built on two city-owned parcels adjacent to the ballpark's north end, the council sent a message, members said: Major League Baseball has long had the city over a barrel, but not in this case. " 'It's the first time the council has stood up and said, "This is ours," said Ward 5 Council Member Vincent Orange. "These are our development rights." ' "

Do not adjust your monitor, the Near Southeast home page has indeed grown wider. Blame it on the developers--I ran out of ways to keep adding all these projects to the neighborhood map in its old incarnation, and finally had to increase its size. For those of you running resolutions like 800 x 600, I apologize, but my options were limited. If it makes you feel any better, the news items column is now slightly wider, too. But I do think the revamped map now also conveys a bit more information at first glance, which should be helpful.

WTOP has a short piece about the Navy Yard Metro station, talking about what needs to be done to get it ready for the onslaught of Nats fans in 2008. They say it can currently handle 15,000 people an hour (the same as Stadium-Armory), but that they'd like to add "Another elevator ... an additional set of stairs, and another escalator from the mezzanine down to the platform" (quoting Dan Tangherlini). But so far, no funding.