* The tarp is coming off the field today--look at that pretty turf! It's probably being done today because Tuesday the Nats are holding a ceremony to install home plate and officially unveil the HD scoreboard (not open to the public).

In our latest edition of What's the Deal With...., reader JD of JDLand.com asks: "WTDW with the old trash transfer site at 900 New Jersey Avenue, that place with the smokestack and all the Department of Public Works operations?"

I visited my perch above New Jersey Avenue today and got updated photos looking to the south and west and northwest, which provide quite the overview of the changes in the past 21 months on the blocks I've wittily dubbed North of M (between M, South Capitol, the freeway, and New Jersey). The two links above show you just the oldest and the newest photos for each angle, or you can try these links to see all the photos I've taken of those angles, at about three-month intervals.

Because I'm not always so successful in getting people to tell me the current status of various projects, I spend a lot of time pouring through documents hoping to get hints here or there, and within the past few days I've uncovered a few new ones. I sent out some e-mails asking for additional information, but those have gone unanswered (waaaaah!), so I'll just post what I've seen, and wait for the various bureaucratic processes to move along to get more information.1111 NJ UPDATE: Amazingly, just a few hours later, another document popped up with additional information on 1111 New Jersey: it's for the Dec. 13 WMATA board meeting, a request to execute the sale announced back in June of the 5,612-sq-ft WMATA land at New Jersey and M to "NJA Associates" (aka Donohoe). And it describes the "new" 1111 NJ thusly (emphases mine):

A rumor that's been floating around for the past few weeks is apparently true--sources are telling me that the St. Matthew's Baptist Church, on the southwest corner of New Jersey and L, is being sold. The sale hasn't been finalized yet (though there is a contract), and there's no word on what the sale price is or when the church would vacate; they're now looking for property in Prince George's County where they can build a new church. The property is assessed at just under $4.5 million, though the person I talked to cited problems with parking for members of the congregation (and knowing that it's only going to get worse) as the reason for leaving, not some sort of big payday.

To those who ask me from time to time when the Department of Public Works' operations at the old trash transfer station at New Jersey Avenue and K Street might be closed down, I offer this quote from the Post: "As a result of a hearing granted representatives of the East Washington Citizens' Association, the Commissioners yesterday announced that they would endeavor to change the location of the present garbage transfer station, and K Street and New Jersey avenue southeast, provided the arrangement does not call for the expenditure of too large a sum of money." Said M.I. Weller, vice president of the association, " '[O]ne or two improvements of large dimensions are in progress in our section of the city, and really we can spare the garbage transfer station.' "

Thanks to reader G. for giving me a heads up on the work being done along New Jersey Avenue to put in new sidewalks (specifically across the street from Capitol Hill Tower and alongside the DPW Trash Transfer station north of K). DDOT tells me that this is part of the planned South Capitol Streetscape improvements that we'll be seeing over the next few months along the streets between New Jersey and South Capitol. I don't have many details yet on exactly what the improvements will entail and the exact locations, but I think we'll get some additional information from next week's DDOT briefing on the Douglass Bridge Extreme Makeover. These may not be fabulous artsy-fartsy sidewalks in this phase, but concrete is better than dirt pathways--and when the blocks get redeveloped, the developers will be responsible for bringing their sidewalks up to Anacostia Waterfront Initiative standards. The new New Jersey Avenue sidewalks are being done all the way north to the freeway, to make it easier for folks to walk to Capitol Hill--and by extension, to the Capitol South Metro station (take note, ballpark-goers).

Today the Board of Zoning Adjustment heard an application by Donohoe to waive the rear-yard requirement for its planned 146,000-sq-ft office building at 1111 New Jersey. I don't want to get too far into the weeds of it all, but basically this rear "yard" requirement was actually applying to the airspace along the alley between L and M above the project's first floor (because by right the first floor can run right to the alley line). Donohoe's position was that, by allowing them to build to the rear property line on all floors, they could build an 11-story building with higher ceilings on the 1st floor (16 feet), making the space far more desirable to prospective retail tenants. If they were unable to use that airspace, they would instead build a 12-story building of the same square footage, but with only 12-ft ceilings on the 1st floor (and shorter ceiling heights on the other floors). Although ANC 6D opposed this application on the grounds that it lacked a community benefits package (which is not required in a "by-right" project), the BZA felt that the higher ceiling heights on the first floor that would be allowed by granting this special exception, and the resulting higher-quality retail prospects that could be drawn to the building, could be considered to benefit the community. And with the pastor of St. Matthew's Church (which sits directly to 1111's north) saying that he is in favor of the project, and with the Office of Planning, the Capitol Hill Historical Society, and the neighboring developments (100 M Street and Onyx on First both sit across the alley from 1111 New Jersey) supporting it as well, and with other required standards of the rules met (sufficient distance between 1111 and adjacent structures, sitelines sufficiently separated, and adequate off-street parking [114 spaces], loading docks, and delivery space), the BZA voted 5-0 to approve this application. I've been told that this project could begin construction this summer.

More posts: 1111 New Jersey/Insignia on M, Metro/WMATA, New Jersey Ave., Square 743N, zoning