The framing of the next batch of townhouses in Capitol Quarter's second phase continues, and so I headed out to get an updated batch of photos at 3rd and I (which also happen to show the buzz around 225 Virginia/200 I, as workers are prepping to take down the exterior walls, perhaps starting next week I was told).

But it isn't just houses being built--a few weeks ago, curbs and asphalt were put in for the new 3rd Place, a north-south street between 3rd and 4th that will run between I and L streets. (You can see it, although it's unmarked, on this map.) It's the first time I've had to add a street to my Photo Archive, but it seems to have worked, and I not only have photos I took today, but whatever photos I could find from deep in the archives that by chance ended up being taken in the right location.

You can see my photos at both 3rd Place and I and 3rd Place and K and perhaps see some 2004-2006 photos you haven't come across before. These two shots are looking north-northeast at the new 3rd Place & K intersection:

(The street isn't actually open yet, though, since it goes right through the block that's currently under construction.)

I also took a lot of pictures along 11th Street, ostensibly to document the progress on the 11th Street Bridges, but I didn't actually go anywhere close to the waterfront, so you have to be satisfied with various other photos that show progress if you squint at them.

And I grabbed a lot of other shots around Square 906 today (7th, 8th, L, Virginia), since my archive is woefully lacking in images of that block, and things will be a'changin' around there before too long. You can see them as part of the display of the 151 pictures (eek) I've posted today, but I'll have something a bit more targeted within the next few weeks. You can also, as always, browse the photo archive at your own speed, using the map or the search boxes to see the intersection(s) you're interested in.

As for additional construction photos perhaps in the offing, a reader reports that No Parking signs have gone up along Second Street, indicating that parking will be prohibited 24 hours a day starting on March 7 for approximately 15 months. Is a certain park about to see some action?

I've pulled together a chart of the assessed values of the neighborhoods' shiny new/ish office buildings and non-DCHA non-condo multi-unit residential buildings, showing their 2011 proposed assessment, along with the final 2011 number and today's new 2012 proposed number. The proposed 2012 valuations for this specific sub-group of properties totals $1.77 billion, which is up a tad from the $1.75 billion proposed for 2010--but which ended up being dropped to a $1.58 billion final 2011 valuation after appeals.

The expansion in the neighborhood's tax base in terms of new residents has become clear as well: Looking at the numbers for the Capitol Quarter and Velocity condos parcels: in 2007, before construction got underway, they were assessed at around $92 million; for 2012, the proposed value is around $282 million. (It should be noted that Capitol Quarter's taxes don't go into the general fund, because owners there actually are governed by a Payment in Lieu of Taxes [PILOT] structure that uses the tax proceeds to pay down the debt on the bonds used to finance the development.)

As for the number everyone always wants to know about: Nationals Park remains valued at $999,982,800, unchanged since the first time the ballpark's assessment appeared, back in 2009.

Yearly Near Southeast Proposed Assessments 2002: $221M * 2003: $428M * 2004: $642M 2005: $771M 2006: $896M * 2007: $1.78B 2008: $2.54B 2009: $4.47B 2010: $6.01B 2011: $6.00B 2012: $5.99B * Includes a mix of proposed and revised assessments

And it's likely that the neighborhood will continue to be home to the most valuable privately held property in the city, as the US Department of Transportation HQ has been assessed at $662.7 million, about $73 million higher than the final 2011 number that made it the most valuable property in the city in 2010, according to WBJ.

I keep a database of neighborhood assessments going back to 2001, although it only took about eight years for me to grasp the concept that the proposed numbers released in March aren't always the final ones, so it was just in 2010 that I started tracking both proposed and year-end numbers. (Though it must be said that during the Bubble Years, landowners weren't quite so vigorous about challenging their assessments.) Plus for a long time I got the years wrong when referencing: numbers posted by the city in one year are labeled as being the proposed/actual value for the following year. And some tax squares inside my strict Near Southeast boundaries escaped my attention for a few years early on. But I don't think the numbers are so out-of-whack that they can't be compared in a general way, as long as you keep the caveats in mind; with that admonition, check out the table at right for the yearly numbers.

And, of course, it should be noted that since large portions of the neighborhood's land is owned by the Feds (*cough*Navy Yard*cough*), there aren't taxes being paid on every dime of these assessment numbers.

If your envelope hasn't already arrived, or if you want to see how your number stacks up against your neighbors, you can search the assessments database yourself.