Happy Monday morning! In "D.C. Ballpark's Rising Price Tag Compels Cuts," the Post details growing problems with the city's attempts to stay under the mandated $535 million price tag for building the new Nationals baseball stadium: "City officials had included money to repave roads and expand a Metro station near the stadium in the $535 million budget approved by the D.C. Council last year. Those funds now will go instead toward labor and building materials and to cover the cost of land for the stadium, which also is more expensive than anticipated. [...] The D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission, which is overseeing the construction, determined that the cost of the distinctive ballpark designed by its architects has risen from $244 million to $337 million. That set off a scramble by top city officials who have since reduced the cost to $300 million but still are seeking money to complete the project."

A Sunday editorial in the Washington Times ("More Baseball Blunders") gives it to Major League Baseball for ballking at the city's proposal that MLB pay the $6 million insurance that Wall Street is requiring for the new baseball stadium in the event of a player strike or terrorist attack: "The fact that MLB can balk at even this tiny a committment with any credibility is another indication of the sorry depths of these negotiations. No sweetheart deal is good enough."

After days of no-progress-on-the-lease stories, today we get to shift gears, with word that the design of the new ballpark is being shown to DC officials, and that the reaction is positive. From the Post ("Stadium's Modern Design is Clear Winner on Council"): "A much-anticipated design for a new home for the Washington Nationals features glass, stone and steel as the primary materials and departs sharply from the popular red-brick throwback ballparks. The design will not be released for several weeks and still could be modified, but Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) and key city officials have given the nod to the modern look." Mr. Bowtie, Linda Cropp, and Sharon Ambrose gave the design high marks, but apparently Jack Evans is still working hard to convince everyone that a Camden Yards-like red brick stadium is what DC needs (and that it would be cheaper). More on the design, from the Post: it "features an exterior wall largely made of glass and broken up by limestone portals, according to city sources who have seen the drawings. Aspects of the design create a translucent quality, offering fans inside views of the surrounding neighborhood and teasing those outside with glimpses of game activities. [...] Two cantilevered ramps leading to the upper decks contain viewing platforms from which fans can pause to take in sweeping scenes of the city -- the federal monuments to the north and the Anacostia River to the south."

After 19 months of construction, the Navy Yard entrance at 11th and O Streets is set to reopen on Nov. 21, and will become the sole entrance for visitors and deliveries. A new visitor parking lot has been constructed as well. Next question--when will the public be able to access the beautiful Riverwalk the Navy has constructed along the Anacostia without having to show ID? (When visiting the area this past weekend, I saw what appear to be new fences between the Riverwalk and the Navy Yard itself, and a nicely done brick gate to enter the Riverwalk from the east, but the gate is closed and cyclone fences block it as well.) UPDATE: Scroll to the bottom of my Navy Yard page to see photos of both the new O Street entrance and the fenced-off Riverwalk.

(UPDATED to fix address for Nov. 28 meeting) ANC 6D and the Southwest Neighborhood Assembly are holding a Baseball Stadium Update meeting on Monday, Nov. 28 at 7 pm at St. Matthew's Lutheran Church, 222 M Street SW. They are working to get city officials, Sports Commission officials, and others to attend to discuss "traffic, construction, zoning and other important issues." This was announced at the ANC 6D meeting on Nov. 14. Also at that meeting, the ANC voted to support the Florida Rock project; as for Capper / Carrollsburg, while the ANC voted to support the alley closings/street openings portion of the zoning application, they are for now opposed to the second-stage PUD. ANC Commissioner Williams is trying to organize a special meeting to hear more from the community so that another vote can be taken by the commission before the zoning deadline (former residents are complaining they are having problems with the developers about their potential return to the development).

My patience is wearing thin having to track all these financing stories! "Think Tank Questions Stadium Financing Plan" in Thursday's District Extra in the Post highlights a study by the DC Fiscal Policy Institute which says "A private financing plan being used by the District to help pay for a new baseball stadium project has the potential to cost city taxpayers nearly $60 million in lost revenue." The specifics and numbers all make my head hurt, so your homework assignment tonight is to read both links yourself and come to your own conclusions :-).

Mayor Williams has gotten personally involved in the negotiations between the city and Major League Baseball over the lease for the new baseball stadium, according to Wednesday's Post ("Williams Joins Talks With Baseball Officials"). In other news, the City Council gave final approval to the technical amendments correcting the wording of the stadium financing package.

District officials are prepared to ask Major League Baseball for a $24 million letter of credit and a $20 million payment for parking costs when high-stakes negotiations over the terms of a new stadium lease resume today, says the Post ("DC to Seek More Money from Baseball Officials"). Read the article for the details, but it does appear that the city is trying a slightly different tack from the request last week for $6 million outright to cover "catastrophe" insurance. Will it work? We shall see....

DC council member Jack Evans, one of the biggest champions of bringing baseball to DC, is angry over the continuing stalemate over the stadium, and has launched a broadside at Major League Baseball, according to NBC4, who quotes Evans as saying that baseball must sign an important new stadium lease or just "move the team somewhere else." Quoting the article: "To sell bonds to build the new stadium along the Anacostia waterfront, Wall Street requires someone to guarantee that the $6 million annual rent will be paid despite any disaster or work stoppage. [...] Baseball is insisting the city bear the cost through expensive insurance. Evans said the city won't commit more money and baseball can move the Washington Nationals again." The money quote from Jack: "This is non-negotiable, so you either agree to this or you go somewhere else, because we are wasting our time. This is non-negotiable, and that's where we are right now," he said. "We are building a $535 million stadium for this group. That's enough." UPDATE: The Post's article ("Baseball Balking Over Stadium Rent") adds background and detail, as does the Washington Times.

Adrian G. Washington, president of the Neighborhood Development Company, has been appointed as head of the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation, replacing Andy Altman, reports Saturday's Post ("Ballpark Area Chief Named"). Washington was raised in Anacostia, has an MBA from Harvard, and has spent 18 years developing and rehabilitating houses in DC. The Post article also says that the AWC has named the four finalists in its search for a "master developer" to oversee the creation of millions of square feet of housing, office, retail, and hotel space expected around the new ballpark. They are: Cordish Co. of Baltimore (which hired architecture firm Michael Graves & Associates, designers of the new Department of Transporation Headquaters around the corner from the stadium site); Monument Realty LLC of the District and its partner Federal Realty Investment Trust of Rockville; Forest City Enterprises Inc. of Ohio and its partner D.C.-based Western Development Corp.; and Akridge of the District. The selection committee is supposed to give its recommendation to the AWC board by early December. UPDATE: Here's the press release on Adrian Washington's appointment.

The 11th Street Bridges EIS web site has posted a two-page Project Overview document explaining (briefly!) the scope of the project and the "aggressive" schedule (with a timetable showing construction of the improvements happening in the 2007-2010 timeframe). There will be two meetings to review the draft set of alternatives before they are selected for detailed study, on Dec. 13 and 14. The handouts from the October scoping meetings are a good place to get general information on what the project is trying to accomplish (mainly, to add additional ramps to allow better access between the 11th Street Bridges and the Anacostia Freeway).

I attended the Community Ballpark Meeting on Nov. 2; it was hosted by the DC Sports and Entertainment Commission, which led to grumbling from the audience that the many DC government agencies who also have a hand in the stadium and surrounding development weren't in attendance. The one real piece of news (to me, anyway) was that the orientation of the ballpark has been decided on, and it's north-northeast, as you can see in the schematic contained in the handout. There are supposed to be public meetings in December to discuss the architecture, which I guess means that the design of the stadium will be unveiled at some point before then (hee hee). They are planning for zoning hearings in January, and now list April 2006 as the groundbreaking date. UPDATE: I've now scanned the 17-page agenda/handout (PDF), which has a lot of bullet points addressing economic opportunities, neighborhood "protection" (i.e., noise, lighting), transportation systems (traffic, parking, Metro), and community activities being undertaken (none of which at the moment are actually in the stadium neighborhood, which brought about much audience angst). UPDATE II (11/11): The Nov. 10 Voice of the Hill has (on page 3) a story on the meeting, detailing the somewhat fractious question and answer session.

This is news from this summer, but I only just now came across it: a story in the September Capitol Hill Restoration Society newsletter (bottom of page 1) describes how the CHRS helped to prevent the demolition of 15 of the 19 existing private homes in the Capper/Carrollsburg footprint as the project goes forward.

ANC 6D has posted the agenda for its November meeting, at 7 pm on Monday Nov. 14., at 65 I Street SW. Agenda items include votes on Capper/Carrollsburg and Florida Rock PUDs, plus an update by the DC Sports and Entertainment Commission on baseball stadium zoning and construction issues.

Thursday's Post ("Bill Would Sell Land Promised to DC") picks up on what NBC4 published last week, that a bill in Congress would have the effect of forcing DC to buy certain federally owned property rather than have it transferred to the city's ownership for free. The gist is thus: "Pombo's plan has also outraged D.C. politicians because it would undermine legislation sponsored by Davis and endorsed by President Bush that would transfer land for free to the city to compensate for Congress's ban on a commuter tax and for the resulting increase in the city's fiscal burden. The areas affected by the bill include 100-acre Poplar Point, where the District is planning a 70-acre waterfront park surrounded by offices, shops, hundreds of apartments and possibly a professional soccer stadium; 15 acres of parking lots and fields just north of Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, where the Washington Nationals baseball team currently plays; and parcels near the Eastern Market Metro station on Capitol Hill, Waterside Mall in Southwest and the site of a new stadium for the Nationals just off South Capitol Street." But note that the only land in the stadium footprint that is currently federally owned is little tiny Reservation 124, the triangle of land between 1st, P, and Potomac. Rep. Davis is quoted: "At the end of the day, this stuff is not going to become law." UPDATE: The entire budget bill was pulled late today.

Bud says that there won't be a new Nationals owner by the time the owners meet next week in Milwaukee. He's still interviewing prospective ownerships groups. (Oh, and there's no lease agreement yet, either.)

For those of you who just can't get enough of zoning regulations, here's the final rulemaking and zoning order published in the Nov. 4 DC Register that amended the Capitol Gateway Overlay District regulations to include specifications for the ballpark. (Still waiting for Chapter 16/Capitol Gateway to reappear in the online DC Municipal Regulations!) Note that the design of the ballpark itself will still have to go through zoning hearings; nothing's appeared on the Zoning Commission schedule yet, but there's been hints of a January 2006 hearing date--I imagine that any delay past January on the zoning process would possibly start to impact the start of construction. Tick, tick, tick...!

On Nov. 1 the city recorded in its real property database the change in ownership of those baseball stadium properties seized by the city via eminent domain. Out of the 23 landowners, 16 had their property taken--presumably the other seven have reached a sale agreement with the city, although those sales have yet to be recorded. You can see which were seized on my Stadium Offers page; those 16 owners will now go through the courts to have the fair price determined for their land (presuming they fail to prove that the seizure was illegal, which most observers seem to think is likely given the Supreme Court's Kelo decision).

I've added a new page for the East M Street Area, that triangle of land east of the 11th Street Bridges and south of the Southeast Freeway that makes up the very eastern portion of Near Southeast. The Maritime Plaza development is the most obvious occupant of this area, but rowers and the like have staked a claim to this site's water access as well. The Anacostia Waterfront Initiative's plans should bring welcome changes to this stretch in the years to come. (The addition of this area to the main map on my home page is not particularly elegant, but I couldn't shrink the map any farther!) I've also renamed the former East End page, giving it its proper designation "8th Street Historic District." (Both these monikers come from the Near Southeast Urban Design Framework, which is worth a look if you've never seen it or haven't looked at it in a while, to see what the city had in mind back in 2003 for this neck of the woods--you know, before anyone was talking about a stadium!!)

Not quite two years after spending $92 million to purchase the Maritime Plaza I & II (just east of the 11th Street Bridges), The Bernstein Companies has sold the two buildings for $115 million to Investcorp and Brinkman Associates. Buildings I & II, which contain 345,000 sq ft of office space, are part of the 12-acre Maritime Plaza Park, which will ultimately offer 800,000 sf of office space and a 250-room hotel. No timeline on the development of the rest of the project, which is being handled by Lincoln Property Company.