More than half of the owners of land within the stadium footprint are planning to fight the price offers they've received from the DC government, according to the Post's "Battle Brewing for Stadium Tracts." Two examples of owners going to court because the offers they've received are too low: land assessed at $241,000 given a purchase offer of $1.2 million, and land assessed at $654,000 given an offer of $1.8 million. The article also mentions the problems some of the owners are having trying to find new locations for their businesses. UPDATE: The print version of this article (in the 9/25 Post) was accompanied by a map showing all of the parcels, their 2005 tax assessments, and what the city has offered; however, this graphic hasn't been posted on the web site. UPDATE II: I've created a list showing all the stadium parcels along with their 2005 assessments and the city's purchase offer. The city has offered $97 million to the 33 landowners, for land that was assessed in March of 2005 at not quite $39 million. (entry bumped up because this is an interesting list)

Anyone who's lived in DC for any amount of time will be stunned to read today's Post story, "As Stadium Clock Ticks, DC Officials Bicker," detailing the difficulties of getting a design for the new baseball stadium agreed upon. Much of the trouble revolves around the desire (pushed most vehemently by Jack Evans) to have views of the Capitol Dome from as many seats at the stadium as possible. More from the story: "Evans argued that a view beyond center field of one of the city's signature buildings would give fans a sense of place and provide grand shots for national television cameras. At Evans's urging, city planners recently stopped work by Lerner Enterprises on construction of a 130-foot office building on M Street SE, one block north of the stadium. People familiar with the matter said the move angered the company, founded and run by Theodore N. Lerner, who is among those bidding to buy the Nationals. City officials said late last week that they will allow the company to resume work because it has abided by city building regulations. Company officials declined to comment. Evans also has discussed limiting the heights of buildings being planned by Monument Realty, which owns land on N Street SE that abuts the stadium site. City planners worried that such a move would inadvertently harm the creation of an entertainment and shopping district around the ballpark, which has been promised by another powerful player, the Anacostia Waterfront Corp." The article also says that groups are bickering over who has final say on the design. The stadium is supposed to begin construction in March, 2006.

The Anacostia Waterfront Corporation has released a Request for Expressions of Interest, looking to partner with one or more developers to build retail and other entertainment offerings on the 25 acres surrounding the new stadium site. Plans would have to mesh with the AWC's Ballpark District Master Plan, which is supposed to be unveiled no later than Sept. 23, according to the Washington Business Journal, which also says: "The master plan is expected to call for the creation of First Street SE as the principal retail street for the area. Half Street SE would act as the "gateway" for the ballpark and offer retail and other entertainment uses." The RFEI also mentions the desire for "a distinctive waterfront destination at the river's edge at First Street, SE and Potomac Avenue with density and programmable public open spaces to assure the neighborhood's success on game days and non-game days." Responses are due by Oct. 21.

The DC Office of Zoning has posted its agenda for the Sept. 15 meeting, and it includes the stadium text amendment for the Capitol Gateway overlay, as I expected. But they're taking up other Near Southeast items as well, both having to do with Capper/Carrollsburg. I'm not 100% versed in zoning minutiae (I might have made it to the 30% mark by now), so I'll just parrot what the site says, that the Capper/Carrollsburg 2nd Stage Planned Unit Development (PUD) and Modification is on the agenda. I believe that a second-stage PUD means a specific, fully engineered, plan for the site is being submitted for approval. So I hope that's something we can get a look at pretty soon. I would also think that this submittal means that the project may be kicking into a higher gear soon, as also evidenced by 15 building permit requests submitted at the end of August for addresses within the Capper/Carrollsburg boundaries.

There's also an additional agenda item for "Capper/Carrollsburg Venture LLC -- Senior Building," which I believe is a revision of the design of Capper Seniors #2, because the design submitted in 2003 included a blank wall along M Street, which is a zoning no-no in this area. The need for this vote was discussed at the Jan. 12, 2004 meeting, and is probably why the project's building permit application has the zoning section marked "Hold for Correction." (Yes, my head hurts, too.)

Speaking of second-stage PUDs, while wandering around on the web trying to educate myself on this topic, I found this 1999 National Capital Planning Commission document, showing the detailed plans for Florida Rock. However, that was then and this is now, and in December the Zoning Commission will be again taking up Florida Rock's second-stage PUD. So we'll have to wait and see what changes have been brought by six years (and a baseball stadium next door).

I will admit that I have tended to focus on news west of 7th Street, SE, ignoring the small additional sliver of Near Southeast south of the freeway between 7th and the 11th Street Bridge. (Some would argue that the land east of the 11th Street Bridge, including Maritime Plaza, is also part of Near Southeast, but I'm putting my foot down and deeming that Hill East.) But I promise now to add those few blocks to their rightful place on this site (if not on the map at right, at least not yet!). So, with that, a few items:

Speaking of bridges and environmental impact statements, I've only now stumbled across both the South Capitol Street Bridge Study web site and SouthCapitolEIS.com,  two efforts that ran concurrently over the last six months as part of the project to replace the Frederick Douglass Bridge. (I've only been checking the DDOT Public Meetings page on a daily basis for weeks now, sure would have been nice if one of their announcements had ever mentioned these URLs!) Both sites have lots of links and information, and should be required bookmarks for anyone interested in the replacement (and most likely realignment) of the South Capitol Street Bridge. Materials from the summer meetings of these projects are available, as is a mammoth, crash-your-computer PDF showing two of the proposed alternate alignments. I believe these two stages are pretty much over, so I'll try to keep you posted on the next phases.

A couple of items so small I can't actually believe I'm posting them, but here they are anyway:

The Post reports that have purchase offers have gone out to the 33 owners of the properties that the DC government needs to acquire for the new Nationals stadium. Owners have 30 days to sell, or the city will begin eminent domain proceedings, at which point a judge will determine the fair market value to pay the owner, and the property will be acquired. The article mentions that "some owners" are saying that the offers are too low, although the only example given is an owner of a car-repair shop, whose land was assessed at $507,000 this year, who was offered $1.74 million for his 9,500-sq-ft property. As the article notes: "Real estate experts say that the city's offers are expected to be well below what property owners just beyond the ballpark site are getting from private developers who are speculating that the area will be a hot spot once the stadium is completed. Under eminent domain laws, the District is not required to make offers that take into account the financial impact of the proposed stadium." (If you're one of these property owners, and you want to whisper in my ear what the city is offering you, I'll listen!)

Eakin-Youngentob has christened its Capper / Carrollsburg redevelopment "Capitol Quarter." EYA will be building more than 240 market rate, for-sale homes, and also 130 affordable for-sale and rental homes, with pre-construction sales expected to begin in Spring, 2006.  If you're interested in this project, be sure to sign up for their Preview List, as list members usually get the first word on sales.

Today's DC Extra in the Post  profiles Paul Devrouax and Marshall Purnell, the local architects who are partnering with HOK Sport to design the new Nationals stadium. From the article: "HOK Sport has more than 300 employees and is internationally renowned for its stadiums and arenas. It is relying on Devrouax & Purnell, which has about 30 employees, to complement its expertise by providing an intimate knowledge of the city. [...] The involvement of Devrouax and Purnell in the ballpark is important for another reason: As black architects in a white-dominated field, the duo has been working for decades to put their stamp on the city." And, since I know you're wondering, there's still no date announced for when the design will be unveiled.

Confirming the stories from earlier this week, the Washington Business Journal (reg. req.) reports that the DC Sports and Entertainment Commission has chosen the joint venture of Clark Construction, Smoot Construction, and Hunt Construction Group to build the new Nationals stadium. (Here are the portfolios of stadiums built by Clark, Smoot, and Hunt.) Now, if only architects HOK Sport and Devrouax-Purnell would let us in on the secret of what this new stadium will look like! UPDATE: Here's the Post story on the choice, including the tidbit that the $23 million contract with Clark et al. must be approved by the DC Council. UPDATE II:  The DCSEC Press Release.

The DC Sports and Entertainment Commission has released a Request for Proposals to hire a construction contractor to manage utility relocation work for sewer and telephone lines within the stadium footprint. This work will go hand-in-hand with Pepco's work to remove and relocate power lines in the area, which the press release says will be done during the end of August through September. All utility relocation (including electric power, potable water, storm and sanitary sewers, natural gas, telecommunications, and cable television need to be completed by January 2006 so as not to delay stadium construction.

More posts: Nationals Park