Voice of the Hill has posted it's summary of the July 10 ANC 6D Meeting. It's a bit of water under the bridge at this point, but it's still worth noting here that the ANC did vote to oppose the Garages Wrapped With Development Goodness, which were then approved the next day by the city council. Also on the agenda had been William C. Smith's request for alley closings and street openings in preparation for its development project at 800 New Jersey Ave. The proposal was referred to the ANC's development subcommittee, with there again being debate about what "community benefits" the project would be providing. According to VOTH, the "William C. Smith representative pointed to amenities his company has already promised, including an affordable housing component and funding for a public park." The public park being Canal Park, which William C. Smith is helping to fund. (Note that the alley closing/street opening request is on the Aug. 3 NCPC agenda.)

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.)

Donohoe appears to be continuing to move forward with its office project on New Jersey Ave., now christened 1111 New Jersey (just north of the Navy Yard Metro station at New Jersey and M). A page on the Donohoe Real Estate Services web site describes the project: 146,000 sq ft, 12 floors, designed by WDG (who've also designed a pile of other buildings in Near Southeast), and delivery in 2008 (which would mean that construction would need to start by early 2007). At this time, the project doesn't include the land still occupied by St. Matthew's Baptist Church at New Jersey & L--I've heard through the grapevine about negotiations over the past year or so, but apparently no deal has been reached. (I haven't yet created a page for this project, I'm waiting a bit to see if anything changes with the church.)

Thanks to a tip from an eagle-eyed correspondent, I can pass along that a sign has materialized on New Jersey Avenue just north of the Navy Yard Metro entrance at M Street that says: "Donohoe Real Estate Servies / CORFAC International / Office Space for Lease / 150,000 to 250,000 SF." A bit of poking around the Donohoe web site finds this "What Have We Been Doing Lately?" page, which includes this lot, and gives "late 2008" as a delivery date (and also says that the project will include retail). Donohoe paid $6.2 million in early 2005 for 10 lots (totalling about 16,000 sq ft) along New Jersey north of the Metro entrance, up to but not including the St. Matthew's Baptist Church. I know that the church has had developers knocking on their door, but I don't know whether Donohoe has bought the property (no such transaction appears in the DC land records through early April). With this project now appearing to move forward, that makes at least eight high-rise projects (maybe 10, maybe more) that are looking to start construction in the next 12 months. Between all that and the stadium, you might want to start wearing a mask to protect yourself from all the dust that will be flying in Near Southeast.

Getting to be a busy time of photo-taking, so I've added a smattering of photos here and there to my Capper/Carrollsburg, JPI Residentials, Capitol Hill Tower, DOT HQ, New Jersey Avenue, M Street, and new baseball stadium pages. Let the icon be your guide. With demolition continuing at Capper and JPI's 70 I Street, I expect to be updating those pages steadily over the next few weeks. (They appear to be moving more quickly with the Capper demolition at 3rd, 4th, K, and L, and I expect the block to the north, between 3rd, 4th, K, and I, to be next to come down.) And starting soon I'll be updating 20 M Street much more frequently, with the tower's construction finally coming up out of the hole and above ground level. And then there'll be that stadium demolition and construction....

Couldn't help myself, had to go take more pictures in the Hood, so check out my Capitol Hill Tower, New Jersey Avenue, and especially my DOT HQ pages for new images--I ventured out after construction was finished for the day, but they hadn't closed the gates to DOT at New Jersey and M, and now that there's a nice concrete road bed, I took my first walk from M to N on the "new New Jersey." And didn't even get arrested! I also added a photo or two to my Capper Seniors page, mainly to document that they have sped along with the bricking the southern exterior of Capper #1.

Digging through my thousands of Near Southeast images, I realized tonight that I had one of my oldest ones (from September 2000) mis-identified, and that it's actually of the 1100 block of New Jersey Avenue, well before construction was begun on the green-and-white "Federal Gateway" building. (Scroll down the NJ page to see it, now pared with a current photo of the same spot.) I've always grumbled that I didn't have any evidence of what that block looked like before 1100 New Jersey went up--now I do! How wonderful that I can be made happy by such little things. :-)

ANC 6D's January meeting is Monday, Jan. 9, and its agenda is now available. It contains mostly items pertaining to SW (including a presentation by Forest City Enterprises on Waterside Mall, which I know is of interest to many of you), but what caught my eye was this: "Presentation: Variance and Special Exception, 900 New Jersey Avenue SE." Whaa? For those of you who don't know the street grid inside out, 900 New Jersey would be on the east side of the street between K and (the nonexistent) I Street, and is currently occupied by a DC Department of Public Works facility (the one with the tall brick chimney). The DPW site is part of the Capper / Carrollsburg PUD, which calls for a mid- to high-rise residential building on that lot. Are they moving forward with this? Is this something else? Or is it some boring little thing about eventually re-opening I Street, and nothing more? I'm doing some digging, and maybe I'll have an answer before Monday's meeting. But it is intriguing....  UPDATE: The agenda has been changed, and the 900 NJ Ave presentation is no longer there; it has been replaced with a presentation on proposed alley closings on the east side of Square 743, the 1100 block of 1st Street, SE. And apparently the "900 NJ Ave" label was an incorrect reference to the zoning adjustment request for the JPI project, which is not on New Jersey Ave (it's at 100 I Street). So for now, the DPW site is not going anywhere. UPDATE II: These JPI projects have driven me crazy since the beginning. To clarify a bit, JPI is also in the process of buying land on the west side of the 900 block of New Jersey (which includes the Nexus Gold Club), so they do plan on giving a presenation to ANC 6D soon about desired variances and exceptions for that project. But nothing for this second JPI project has shown up yet on any of the zoning calendars....

Blech, after all this stadium stuff recently, I feel the need to clense my digital palate, so I've returned to my original Near Southeast mission for a moment and have posted some new photos. My latest Capper Seniors #1 photos show that construction is moving along, and I've added a cool comparison to my New Jersey Avenue page from the SE Freeway (don't ask how I took them) showing the impact of Capitol Hill Tower and the DOT HQ on the Near SE skyline in the past 11 months. And I've documented some minor changes in the landscape of the Ballpark District (with the demolition of a few small buildings along Half Street) and the 8th Street Historic District. I also tossed in a few updated shots on my M Street, Capitol Hill Tower, and DOT HQ pages, too. (As always, scroll the pages and look for the  icon.) Speaking of the Ballpark District, Stephen Green of the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development said today at the stadium hearing that the four finalists for the "master developer" gig were interviewed by the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation today, and that a team should be named by the first or second week in December.

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.