With raze permits having been filed recently for the Wendy's on I Street and its little gray neighbor to the east along Half Street, we knew that their days were numbered. JPI informs me that Wendy's will be closed by May 1, and that demolition on the two sites will happen over the summer, to allow construction on the 421-unit 23 Eye at Capitol Yards to begin in September.

First off, I know the site's been having some downtime over the past few days (perhaps it's as exhausted as I am). Hopefully the performance problems will be addressed soon, but in the meantime, I plead for patience. Now to the morning linkage:

(News is getting so overwhelming that I'm having to go to two-a-day link roundups. And still, I feel like I'm missing stuff or giving it short shrift. I guess all that patience being pleaded for by the city and the Nationals and Metro needs to extend to JDLand for the next few weeks, too.)

Another batch of ballpark-related items, which weren't posted before my 2 am bedtime and so didn't make it into the previous roundup:

Here's either a late-night or early-morning update, depending on your sleep schedule:

I wasn't able to see the meeting myself (I was at Madison Square Garden watching my beloved Roger Federer beat Pete Sampras), but on Monday night the Zoning Commission gave its approval on the Capitol Gateway Overlay Review for 1111 New Jersey Avenue, Donohoe's 220,000-square-foot office building to be built just north of the east entrance of the Navy Yard Metro station. At the first part of this hearing a few weeks ago, there was much back-and-forth about whether the garage entrance should be on New Jersey Avenue (the developer's preference) or in the alley (DDOT's preference, which was not looked on fondly by the zoning commissioners). My sources tell me that DDOT has "somewhat grudgingly" agreed to allow the entrance to be on New Jersey after all, but that they expect Donohoe to work with them to better manage the public space on New Jersey and probably reduce the amount of parking offered. The web site for the project says that it will be completed in 2010, which would probably mean a start date later this year; we shall see if that indeed comes to pass. Read more about the previous discussion on the garage entrance and on what exactly a CG Overlay Review is, if you're wanting more information.

* If you've looked at the web cam in the past few days, you've seen that they're mowing the turf to get the pretty diagonal pattern in place. Can the Curly W in the outfield be far behind?

Back when the first information on parking for Nationals Park went out in November, there was a line about special parking arrangements for Department of Defense employees, and now we finally have more details, thanks to the Pentagram (h/t to Nats320): "Washington Nationals fans who wish to attend evening and weekend home games may park their vehicles at the Washington Navy Yard or Fort McNair. A Department of Defense common access card, Retiree or Dependent ID card, and DoD vehicle decal are required for entry onto the installations for game parking. Parking for Nationals Stadium events is available in non-reserved parking spaces outside normal working hours, after 4:30 p.m., on weekdays, as well as weekends and holidays. DoD members may sponsor non-DoD guests in their party. At the Navy Yard, MWR food and drink concessions will be available before the game. [...] Spaces on both installations are limited and will be filled on a "first-come-first-served" basis -- public transportation is highly encouraged for those who wish to avoid the inevitable stadium traffic. Parking will not be allowed for games that conflict with installation work schedules, or ceremonies and special events such as the Military District of Washington Twilight Tattoos on Fort McNair, scheduled for 21 May, 4 June and 25 June." See the article for additional details.