The DC Department of Transportation will hold a public meeting regarding Early Right of Way Acquisitions on the South Capitol Street Bridge Alignment Study Project, Tuesday, August 16, 2005, at 10 am, at the Reeves Municipal Center at 14th and U, NW. According to the press release, the "purpose of this meeting is to provide the landowners and other interested persons with an opportunity to receive information about the project, DDOT's Early Acquisition Program, and to submit written and verbal comments." The realignment of the South Capitol Street (Frederick Douglass) Bridge is part of the huge plans for the redesign and redevelopment of South Capitol Street, as detailed in both the New Vision for South Capitol Street (NCPC), and DDOT's South Capitol Gateway Corridor and Anacostia Access Study. (UPDATE: Bumped up as a reminder.)

The DC government is negotiating to purchase five acres of land in the area near the new baseball stadium, reports the Post, to help influence the development in the neighborhood by creating a "ballpark district" with restaurants, stores, and residential units. Two of the acres would come from the DC Water and Sewer Authority's land at 1st and O Streets, with another 3.2 acres to be acquired by taking control of the WMATA (Metro) bus depot and parking lot at Half and M Streets. Developers are already snapping up plenty of parcels in the area (specifically Monument Realty, which is assembling the acreage to build 750,000 sq ft of mixed-use offerings in the block north of the stadium), but by controlling some of the most desirable land (the Metro land on Half Street lies directly along the envisioned "promenade" entrance to the stadium), DC can do more to ensure that the stadium area sees the sort of development the city wants, and that the area is made into an attractive destination even on non-game days. And in other news, the article mentions that the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation is close to unveiling its master plan for the waterfront redevelopment. (It also reminds us again that DC will be tendering their offers to landowners in the stadium footprint "within the next several weeks.")

On Saturday Aug. 13 the National Building Museum opens Investigating Where We Live, displaying the results of their five-week summer outreach program that teaches young people how to use photography as a way to explore, document, and "interpret the built environment." The exhibit, designed by the participants, showcases photographs, poems, stories, and narratives from the 15 youngsters who explored Anacostia, the New York Avenue Corridor, and Near Southeast. The exhibit runs through Oct. 10.

The challenge of designing a new baseball stadium that symbolizes "the national pastime in the nation's capital" makes the front page of Monday's Post, in "DC Ballpark Architect Has Towering Test." Quoth the architect: "This stadium is going to be very light and modern and different." The article includes some good tidbits about what planners want for not only the ballpark but the surrounding streets, noting: "The challenge is magnified because the city intends to use the stadium as a catalyst to spur redevelopment along the waterfront, and the Nationals want to ensure that fans spend lots of money inside the ballpark. In addition, the ballpark is envisioned to be an iconic gateway as motorists cross the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge -- an anchor at the city's southern end that must tie into the monumental core."

Lots and lots and lots of new pictures posted on the site: the DOT, Southeast Federal Center, New Jersey Avenue, and Baseball Stadium pages all benefit from field trips I took this weekend into the Southeast Federal Center property (ID required to enter!) and over to Anacostia Park.

From Saturday's Post: "A federal judge yesterday declined to issue an emergency 30-day injunction that would have stopped the District from purchasing or taking 33 properties it needs to build a baseball stadium in Southeast Washington." The judge said the three property owners who had sought the injunction failed to show they would be irreparably harmed if the city bought their land, and that they also failed to convince him they would prevail in their lawsuit. This allows the District to continue working to acquire the parcels in the stadium footprint, with the article reiterating that the city plans to submit offers to landowners this month, followed by 30-day negotiation periods with the owners over prices. (The Washington Times has a similar article about the ruling.)

According to yesterday's Washington Times, officials at the DC Sports and Entertainment Commission still maintain, despite "a growing wave of pessmism among bidding groups seeking to buy the club," that the new baseball stadium will be ready for the 2008 season: " 'There are simply a lot of things out of everybody's direct control right now, whether they be lawsuits and what a judge might do, what ends up happening with the environmental aspect of this, or contracts coming before the council,' " said one anonymous prospective owner. The article also lists some developments: the DCSE commission approved an $11.5 million relocation of Pepco utility lines to help make way for the ballpark; HOK Sport and Devroaux & Purnell, architects on the project, have selected a northeast orientation for the stadium, which will give views of the Capitol dome over the left-field wall; a construction manager to oversee the $607 million ballpark will be selected within three weeks; and DC Office of Property Management will begin making bids on the 33 parcels of land in the stadium footprint later this month. If deals cannot be struck, District officials will begin efforts to seize the land through eminent domain. As the article notes, "But the construction calendar with Major League Baseball calls for a full acquisition and rezoning of the land, as well as an environmental assessment, by Dec. 31 -- just 118 days from now." Tick, tick, tick...!

The Post reports that Mayor Williams has approved the city entering a private financing deal with Deutsche Bank for the new baseball stadium. "Under tentative terms the city would accept a $246 million payment from the bank in exchange for revenue from stadium concession taxes and an annual rent payment from the Washington Nationals. The payment would help cut taxes on city businesses from $14 million a year to about $8 million a year to help finance construction bonds."

Yesterday the National Capital Planning Commission took up the issue of the new baseball stadium, voting that the text amendment to the Capitol Gateway Zoning Overlay "would not adversely affect federal interests" (their normal stamp of approval). According to the Post, among the details decided were: not to allow lights higher than 130 feet; to make sure parking would be inside the stadium and underground; not to require that the outfield walls frame a view of the Capitol dome, and to let the architect of the Capitol and the U.S. Capitol Police have design input in the on security matters and on line-of-sight issues between the ballpark and the dome. (The Post brief seems to indicate that the NCPC's vote has now made the "ballpark zone" official--but there is still a required final approval vote by the DC Zoning Board, which will most likely come at its Sept. 15 public meeting.) If you want to read the entire proposed text amendment, you need to first visit the main DC Register site before this link to the proposed text amendment will work....  UPDATE: A tiny bit more of detail on the text amendment from the Washington Business Journal: requirements that at least 20 percent of the stadium's frontage be for retail or entertainment, that the ballpark be set back at least 15 feet from the street, and that the ballpark scoreboard isn't so bright that it will temporarily blind motorists on South Capitol Street and other nearby roads.  (But, no, this doesn't create a Capitol Gateway Zoning Overlay, this amends it.) WBJ also mentions that the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation is close to issuing an official request for information to developers interested in building around the site, a first step in deciding which companies get to partner with the AWC on forming the 14-acre ballpark district.

Wednesday's Post reports that apartment developer JPI has contracts for two deals in Near Southeast. Later this month they will close on a two-acre site on the north side of I Street (I believe between 1st and New Jersey, although the article is indicating further west on I), with hopes to begin construction next summer on a 700-unit residential project. Just south of that lot, at First and I, JPI is buying the property that currently houses the Nexus Gold Club (a "gentlemen's club"). Their plans for that block aren't yet firm (because they are still trying to buy some of the neighboring parcels), but more residential space would be a good bet. That transaction won't close until late 2006, to give the Nexus time to find a new location. UPDATE: The article was wrong about the location of the two-acre site, but I was wrong, too--it's at 70 I Street, which is between Half and First streets.

Fences have gone up, and construction equipment has begun to arrive at the 20 M Street lot. This building will be the 5th new office tower on M Street since 1999. With more to come, I'm sure.

If you are looking for documents, transcripts, bills, and other items related to the governmental minutiae of the new baseball stadium, DC Watch's Baseball Issues page has a sizeable archive of links worth trolling through.

In what the Washington Blade correctly terms a "little-noticed development," a judge dismissed on June 15 the lawsuit brought by Robert Siegel, the owner of several gay nightclubs in the footprint of the new baseball stadium, saying that the suit was premature because the city has not yet begun eminent domain proceedings. According to the article, "[Judge] Alprin declared that if and when the city begins eminent domain proceedings, Siegel has no legal grounds to challenge the stadium financing rules, as he attempts to do in his lawsuit. His only legal recourse, Alprin said, is to contest the amount of compensation the city offers him for his land, with the aim of obtaining a higher compensation." An appeal has been filed in this case, plus Siegel says he intends to file another lawsuit once the eminent domain proceedings begin (expected to be in mid-August). The city has, however, already informed property owners that they must vacate by Dec. 31.

The mammoth transportation bill that's making its way through Congress contains a few nuggets for Near Southeast--$123 million for the rehabilitation of the South Capitol Street Bridge, and $17.6 million for upgrading of the 11th Street Bridge and construction of new ramps for access to M Street, SE.

The July 29 DC Register has published the proposed text amendment (starting on page 2 of the PDF) to the Capitol Gateway Overlay District zoning regulations (Title 11, Chapters 16 and 30 in the DC Municipal Regulations) to allow the construction of the new Nationals baseball stadium, setting forth "the height, floor area ratio, setback, ground floor preferred uses, and parking requirements" as well as other rules for the stadium site. After a comment period of 30 days, the DC Zoning Board will vote on final approval of this amendment, most likely at its Sept. 15 Public Meeting. (Note that once the design of the stadium is unveiled, it too will have to come before the zoning board for approval.) UPDATE: Looks like you need to first visit the main DC Register site before the link to the proposed text amendment will work. Sorry about that! UPDATE II: The Zoning Board has now posted the transcript from the June 2 hearing on this text amendment.

Also from the July 29 Register.... On July 6, the DC Council approved the issuance of revenue bonds of up to $11 million for construction financing for the Arthur Capper Seniors Building II project. This was done on an emergency basis for reasons that make my eyes glaze over when I try to figure them out, having to do with the DC Council's summer recess butting up against the DC Housing Finance Authority's need to close on the project before September or else be penalized by HUD for not using the Hope VI funds in a "timely manner." The text of the resolution is here (go to page 30 in the PDF). UPDATE: Looks like you need to first visit the main DC Register site before the link to the text of the resolution will work.

Saturday's Post had a nice piece by architecture critic Benjamin Forgey, "Stepping Up to the Plate for a Home Run," about the challenges and possibilities faced by the design for the new baseball stadium. It's anticipated that HOK Sport will unveil its design in August.

Today's DC Extra in the Post leads with "Envisioning SoHo at the Southeast Waterfront," about Forest City's plans to transform the Southeast Federal Center. As regular visitors to JDLand already know, the SEFC plans are revitalization on a grand scale--2,600 units of housing, 2 million square feet of office/retail/cultural space, and a 5.5-acre waterfront park--but we learn from the article that the project is also on a grand timeline, a proposed 16-year building schedule, with groundbreaking is estimated to be 2 1/2 years away.

I've ever-so-slightly redesigned the Near Southeast home page, adding a directory of current and future projects. It's information that's always been available on the interior pages of the site, but now with so many projects either started or about to start, I think it's become necessary to have an easy-to-browse list of them... Soon I also plan to categorize the blog entries so that I can display them on their appropriate project pages. Sounds like a good August project. UPDATE: Did I say August? I meant today. You'll now see blog entries pertaining to the individual projects at the bottom of my project/photo pages. This also meant moving most of my photo pages from static .html files to Cold Fusion files, so apologies if your bookmarks have now gone south.

I keep trying to ignore any of the angst surrounding the acquisition of the land for the new baseball stadium, but I can't--so I'll just be really slow about it, instead! The Post reported on Saturday that a third lawsuit has been filed by landowners at the stadium site seeking to prevent the city from seizing their properties. The article also says that bids for the properties will now begin going out to owners in mid-August, with hopes that the city will control all 14 acres by the end of the year. But the Washington Times reported on Monday that some of the groups bidding to buy the Nats are skeptical that the city will be able to get all its ducks in a row in time for a March, 2008 opening of the new stadium. Quote: "There's just so much to do down there. There's no way it's done for Opening Day 2008," another Nationals bidder said. "You have land acquisition issues, environmental remediation issues, political issues, design issues. It's going to be great when it's done, but these projects are always so complex that it's shortsighted to simply assume it will be done [in 2008]."

More posts: Nationals Park