Designs and Photos News Items
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A rendering of the Park Chelsea apartment building, WC Smith's first planned project on Square 737, seen here from the intersection of New Jersey and I. It is expected to have 432 units, two pools, a dog exercise area, gym, and green roof garden. Site clearing got underway in early 2012, and WCS is hoping to have the building completed by late 2014.
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Looking at the northeast corner of new Jersey and I, the same angle as the rendering (which also shows how I Street will be built through). Demolition in fall 2012 of the DPW site just to the south of Smith's property allowed 880 New Jersey to finally get underway. (11/11/12) 
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Look! A hole in the ground! (11/11/12) 
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An overhead photo from 1992 of Square 737, when it was occupied by a warehouse. The main white building was a beautiful marble-or-limestone turn-of-the-century structure; it was demolished in 2000, and I weep every time I think of how I never got my own photo of it. (Waaaaaah!) From the Library of Congress Historic American Buildings Survey Virginia Avenue Collection.
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A similar view of Square 737, this time from on top of 100 I Street in May, 2008. The building at rear is the old Post Plant at 225 Virginia Avenue. (05/08)
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Looking southeastward down New Jersey at what someday will be the intersection with H Street, in May 2007. Square 737 runs along the left side of the street as seen here (well, if you could see behind the brush). (05/07)
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The same location, a little different with the site having been cleared and construction underway on the south end of the block. (11/11/12)
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Looking westward from 2nd Street at I Street in 2005. The diagonal Canal Street ran alongside the old trash transfer station (left), and I Street didn't run through this block. Square 737 is to the right/north. (2/3/05)
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The same location, with demolition of the DPW/Trash Transfer building wrapping up and construction on the Park Chelsea getting started. (5/02/13)
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Second Street at its intersection with both H and Virginia. After the demolition of the warehouse in 2000, Square 737 spent a number of years as a parking lot. At rear is the trash transfer station. (8/21/03)
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The same location, with construction equipment now on site for work on the Park Chelsea, and with a number of new buildings in the distance. (5/02/13)
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JDLand Blog Posts on this Project
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Park Chelsea Financing Secured, Now Officially Underway
Nov 9, 2012 3:35 PM
 While there's been a lot of work going on at the site since the beginning of the year, it's only now that it can truly be said that work has begun on the 432-unit Park Chelsea apartment building at New Jersey and I Streets, SE. Developer William C. Smith has closed on a $100 million construction loan (which they are calling the largest one secured for a DC residential project this year), and if you look down on the site from on high, you can definitely see earth being moved, separate from the huge shafts built over these past few months to facilitate the relocation of deep infrastructure beneath the site. (There was also that whole demolishing of the trash transfer station just to the south of the project's footprint, since a small corner of that old building extended onto the Park Chelsea land.) The cost of the entire project is pegged at $150 million. The Park Chelsea is expected to deliver late in 2014, and will have three levels of below-grade parking, both indoor and outdoor pools, a rooftop garden with a dog park, an electric car charging station, and a "state of the art bike storage and maintenance area." It's also just the first phase of the development of the entire block bounded by New Jersey, 2nd, H, and I, which is expected to have 1,200 residential units and 75,000 square feet of retail when it is all completed; plus, H and I streets will be built through between 2nd and New Jersey. It's also just a few steps away from the so-close-to-opening-you-can't-believe-it Canal Park. The Park Chelsea is now the second new-construction multi-unit residential building to start in Near Southeast in 2012, along with Forest City's Twelve12 apartment building (home also to Harris Teeter and Vida Fitness) at the Yards.
Landscaping Tip: Clearing Brush Can Really Make a Difference!
Jan 8, 2012 4:58 PM
New Jersey Avenue, south of the freeway, looking east, before and after the clearing of brush and trees that happened late last week:   A slightly different angle, looking south-southeast:   This appears to be the work that William C. Smith mentioned would be coming, as part of their preparations for infrastructure work in advance of their 880 New Jersey Avenue apartment project. More before-and-afters here. (That's 225 Virginia/200 I in the background, if you're bewildered at what you're seeing in this new view.) (This is the first in what will be an avalanche of new photos over the next few days, after I drove around for about two hours grabbing scads of shots that I have been guilt ridden about not getting to. Rather than trying to put them up in one overwhelming post, I'll be passing them along in manageable bites.)
Summer Doldrums Tidbits on All Sorts of Subjects
Jul 14, 2011 2:13 PM
All sorts of little items that you mostly already know about if you follow JDLand on Twitter or Facebook. But I'll start with some new items at the top: * Still no word from Akridge about when they may get underway with their 700,000-square-foot mixed-use project on Half Street just north of Nationals Park (where the Bullpen and its beergarden sibling Das currently reside), but I will note that in May they filed for building permits for two nine-story and one eleven-story building on the site, matching their announced plans. The permits haven't been approved yet, and once they are they are good for one year, but can then be renewed. * William C. Smith told me a few weeks ago that they expect to be doing some infrastructure work on their Square 737 site this fall (sewer, water, etc) before starting on their 430-unit apartment building there next spring, and I hear that the bidding process for that site work is now underway. (This also means to not get *too* excited when you see dirt getting moved there late this year.) And, speaking of 880 New Jersey, ANC 6D voted 7-0 on Monday night to support WC Smith's request for a circular driveway, a new curb cut on 2nd Street to access underground parking, and the general public space plan. * Tonight (Thursday) is the Congressional Baseball Game at Nationals Park, Republicans vs. Democrats. The $10 tickets might be worth it just to see if there are any bench-clearing brawls. * Friday (July 15) is the second Truckeroo food truck festival, along Half Street by the Bullpens. It runs from 11 am to 11 pm. * The speculation is underway about the venues for upcoming baseball All-Star Games, with the previous conventional wisdom about Nationals Park being in line for perhaps the 2015 event taking some hits, with the lack of development progress around the ballpark being cited as a prime reason. * If you're all fired up to game out the new ANC/SMD districts, here's all the data you might want, from the Office of Planning. And remember that the ANC 6D redistricting "listening" session with the Ward 6 task force is on July 28 at 6:30 pm. There wasn't really much news out of the initial public meeting on Monday night, other than that while the 2,000-plus-or-minus-100 population levels per single member district aren't a legal requirement, there's still clearly a desire to have SMDs be as similar in size as possible. And, also, that an SMD can't be looked at in terms of how its size has changed (or will change) since the census data as of April 1, 2010 was recorded. * I'm going to go ahead and post this now, but check back later today (or look for a Twitter heads up) for more Market Deli demolition photos, which I will wander down to get at some point. UPDATE: A moment of silence, please, as the Market Deli has now been added to the Demolished Buildings Gallery, as building number 161 and 162 that have been torn down since I started photographing the neighborhood. And the three garages on the north end of the block are in their final hours, with demolition underway on the southernmost one.
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Designs and Photos News Items
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