Baseball Back for Fourth Season at Nationals Park; Neighborhood Update, Parking Map for Returning Fans

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Mar 28, 2011 9:44 AM

Baseball Back for Fourth Season at Nationals Park; Neighborhood Update, Parking Map for Returning Fans

It's hard for me to believe that this week marks three years since the first Opening Day at Nationals Park, but time does march on. Wednesday evening's NatsFest followed by three games against the Braves (starting with Thursday's 1:05 pm season opener) will bring a lot of people back to Near Southeast for the first time since last summer.

If you're one of them, and you haven't diligently been reading my posts (gasp!), you might be interested in knowing what's been going on since the last time you ventured into this neck of the woods. Here's the big items:

Yards Park: In early September, the first phase of the six-acre Yards Park opened on the banks of the Anacostia, just two blocks east of the ballpark. It's a space unlike any in Washington, and is definitely worth a visit, perhaps even on your way to Saturday's afternoon game, since the park is holding a Family Fun Day that starts at 11 am. (Even if you don't make it to the park right away, you can easily see it from the ballpark's southeastern viewing platform.)

~~It will probably be a neat place to watch the Friday night post-game fireworks as well~~ (UPDATE: waah! no fireworks this year!), a trip which will be made even easier when a floating bridge connecting Diamond Teague Park--just across Potomac Avenue from the First Base Gate--with the Yards Park is completed, perhaps by the end of the season.

Unfortunately, most people visiting the park in conjunction with a Nationals game won't get to walk along the river all the way to 11th Street: while the Navy Yard has announced that its stretch of the boardwalk is opening April 1, the initial hours will only be from 8 am to 5 pm Monday-Friday.

Foundry Lofts: Just to the north of the new park, work re-started last September on the stalled Foundry Lofts building at 3rd and Tingey, and it is expected to be completed this fall.

Bullpen: It may not be ready by Thursday, but the open-air bar and live music gathering place across N Street from the stadium known as the Bullpen is opening a gameday beer garden to the north of its current spot, on the corner of Half and M across from the west entrance to the Navy Yard Metro station. With close to 80 picnic tables, it will have a capacity of over 600 and will offer European beers, sausages and other like fare, and a quieter environment than the original Bullpen (which will be remaining open for this season as well). The name of the new spot? Das Bullpen. (Yes, that's the moniker I flippantly gave the project back when the news first broke, which the owners decided to go ahead and use. #winning!)

Capitol Quarter: If you park in lot T on 3rd Street, SE, you'll see new townhouses going up directly across the street as part of Capitol Quarter's second phase of construction.

200 I: Just to the north of lot T and right by the Southeast Freeway, you'll see the old Star/Post Plant at 225 Virginia Avenue in the process of losing its exterior "skin" as it moves toward becoming 200 I Street, a DC government office building that will be completed next spring.

Canal Park: Right in the middle of things, across from the Five Guys and Subway, you'll see construction at last underway on Canal Park, the stretch of 2nd between I and M that at one time was a schoolbus parking lot and which has been plain open space for the past two years. The park is expected to be open by spring of next year, and so during the next 12 months expect there to be almost no parking along 2nd; the eastern part of the street is closed altogether. Also, note that L Street is closed for this one block, so you can't use it to get from New Jersey to 3rd or vice versa.

Harry's: If your path to and from the ballpark includes a walk down New Jersey Avenue (perhaps from the Capitol South Metro station), and you find yourself in desperate need of adult beverages, Harry's Reserve has now opened on the southwest corner of New Jersey and I, in the ground floor of the 909 New Jersey apartment building.

Florida Rock: While it hasn't happened yet, plans are for the concrete plant just south of the ballpark to be razed sometime this year, bringing unobstructed views of the Anacostia River to the southeastern viewing platform and clearing the Florida Rock site until the proposed 1.1-million-square-foot RiverFront project can get some financing and get started.

Getting Here: I've got my Stadium Parking map ready to go for 2011, though I've made no additions or deletions on it yet for the new season. I'll wander around this weekend and see if any new lots have popped up or old ones have gone away, though first impressions are that there are no major changes, certainly not in terms of the official Nats lots. (If you see any new lots or old ones that have gone offline, let me know so I can update the map.)

But with this area being a multimodal paradise, your better bet is Metro, or the Circulator that runs from Union Station and Eastern Market, or even Capital Bikeshare, now that there's a station at 1st and N. UPDATE: Forgot to mention the water taxi running from Alexandria, and it's possible that the new American Water Taxi service may get started up soon.

Retail? Eats? Unfortunately, if you were expecting this post to include a litany of new food and retail offerings, you will be just as disappointed as the residents and officeworkers currently are with the continuing lack of options beyond Subway, Five Guys, Justin's Cafe, and Cornercopia. There could be at least two additions before the end of the season, however: another beer garden (separate from Das Bullpen) is under development at 8th and L, SE, and the old "Little Red Building" site at 2nd and L is on its way to becoming "Lot 38 Espresso." Neither project has an announced opening date.

There is also lots of under-the-radar chatter of various restaurateurs starting to look at the area (which I haven't bothered posting, because a) I don't do rumors and b) it shouldn't really be news that they're looking in such an underserved area). With the above projects underway, along with DDOT and the FAA soon moving into 55 M, 20 M now 97 percent leased, and 100 M off the DL thanks to its foreclosure sale, there is a definite shift in the economic winds, and it would not be surprising to get some announcement of some new retail before the end of this season.

For more information on what's changed and what might be changing, check out my 2011 State of the Hood. The BID also did a recent roundup of changes.

If you want to relive the glory days of the ballpark's construction, you can wander through all my exterior and interior photos from that heady time, along with my many photo galleries from ballpark-related events over the years, from the groundbreaking to the topping out to each Opening Day. You can also check out what that part of the neighborhood looked like before the stadium's arrival. (Yes, I'm wallowing in nostalgia. It was a fun time.)

(UPDATED headline, because I can't count.)

Comments (36)

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Comments

Feel Wood says: (3/28/11 10:09 AM)
This will be the fourth season at Nationals Park, not the third. 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011. Four, count 'em, four.

JD says: (3/28/11 10:15 AM)
Math is hard.

Hillster says: (3/28/11 11:37 AM)
Word is that there are no Friday Nats fireworks this year.

Ben in SE says: (3/28/11 11:48 AM)
I hope that is not the case. Those fireworks were one of the only things I could use to convince my wife to go to more games. So unless the Nats adopt an all-Braves home schedule (her favorite team), the number of times I will be able to convince her to catch a game is about to decrease significantly.

I would have recommended cutting Nyjer Morgan and using the cost savings to fund the fireworks, but they already traded him.

Will says: (3/28/11 12:19 PM)
Excellent summary. Us folks in the hood are very excited about the 4th season at Nats Park. Thanks for posting.

mletschin says: (3/28/11 2:09 PM)
I was also told no more fireworks on Friday night games.

Front Resident says: (3/28/11 2:20 PM)
The fireworks freak my dog out anyways.....

A trade for anyone named Cutter is pretty solid in my books (Cutter Dykstra for Nyjer Morgan trade).

We're going to surprise a lot of people this year - the team is really shaping up.

Ben in SE says: (3/28/11 2:42 PM)
I genuinely couldn't think of anyone on the roster that I would cut in favor of fireworks (though Lannan had better get it together), which I took to be a good sign. I'm cautiously optimistic that the Nats will be competitive this year. And it is certainly not a bold statement, given the 100 homers it seems like he has hit this spring, but Morse could have a breakout year.

AKR says: (3/28/11 5:09 PM)
Looking forward to Opening day!

Note: The street parking is significantly limited. This Map link is no longer correct. Residential parking restrictions now apply to most streets around Capitol Quarter. As mentioned, construction has blocked off remaining parking as well so plan to pay to park!

JD says: (3/28/11 5:19 PM)
The map is still correct, it has those streets by Capitol Quarter as being "Enhanced RPP/Residential Protections." They were never considered as open parking, even if the signs hadn't all quite gotten posted before construction.

thedofc says: (3/28/11 6:47 PM)
@JD It will probably be a neat place to watch the Friday night post-game fireworks as well (about yards park).

It is! I went there two or three times last year for the fireworks. It seemed like they were launched from either a barge in the river or from near poplar point, I had always thought that they were launched from the ballpark. If the fireworks tradition ends, I will be saddened, they make the friday games so much more worthwhile.

David Garber says: (3/29/11 12:38 AM)
Sadly the Friday fireworks are no more. I will likely be writing a letter to the Nationals organization to show support for bringing them back .. but they decided to spend more on in-game entertainment and giveaways and cut the fireworks. I'll be posting the contact information on my site www.votegarber.com if anyone is interested in writing.

Andrew in DC says: (3/29/11 4:46 AM)
"The map is still correct" ...

Mostly this is true - VA Ave on the south side of 395, though, is marked in Red when it needs purple. At least in the 200 and 300 block, there aren't any variable rate meters on that stretch, but there is RPP on the latter.

JT says: (3/29/11 7:02 AM)
Regarding Canal Park: there is currently no pedestrian walkway going east-west on K St SE between the middle and north blocks of the park.

Isn't there a law requiring some sort of temporary pedestrian pathway, similar to the one on M St SE south of the park's footprint, during construction?

I recall reading something on dcist that I can't find now indicating that all construction starts after October 2007 (or something) are required to provide a passable walkway.

It's pretty unsafe up there on K St.

MJM says: (3/29/11 8:37 AM)
@JT - contact David Garber, he is aware and working with the crews involved. Apparently you are not the only to raise a concern about that and L St.

MJM says: (3/29/11 8:39 AM)
Speaking of fireworks - if the Nats could hit more homeruns then that would make up for the lack of Friday night fireworks

David Garber says: (3/29/11 10:43 AM)
JT, I'm working on this with Canal Park folks and DDOT. Latest update from them: "Anything we do in public space requires a revision to the traffic control plan and approval by DDOT first. I know it’s a significant safety issue and are working to get it resolved asap." Will stay on top of this.

Marcus Gaines says: (3/29/11 12:49 PM)
No fireworks.Look at the promtional calendar for the team found here:

link

Previously, there fireworks were listed on Friday as Bang! Zoom! Go the Fireworks!

jwg says: (3/29/11 9:46 PM)
Thanks, David, for staying on top of the walkway issue. A lot of the L Street traffic seems to have been diverted to K Street so K is busier than ever, and too many people walk here to not have a safe place to walk through. And this is a problem even *before* we get additional traffic (both cars and peds) with the baseball season. People are walking in the middle of the street - it's just plain dangerous. They even have temporary walkways on 2nd Street by the old Post building just north of Canal Park and that's not exactly a heavy-foot-traffic area; I don't see why they can't get them for that one block of K.

Please keep us posted.

B in DC says: (3/30/11 10:17 AM)
On the walkways, it's also not like they didn't have years and years of planning to think about these pedestrian safety issues. They should have been in contact with DDOT about this from the start.

Jason says: (3/30/11 11:33 AM)
Mmm...Shake Shack.

On a completely non-thread related note, anyone know what's up with the recent ADW's? Are they related, any arrests? I'm sure that it amounts to a blip on the radar, but seems like a slight uptick on the crime feed as we move into spring.

And what was the story with that drug bust on the Dog-Ma block between 8th and 9th SE about a month ago?

G says: (3/30/11 3:13 PM)
JD - great post.

Washington Times front page article today you probably saw -- "Nationals Park still surrounded only by potential"

Re: dearth of restaurants - we had March Madness party attended by good friend from SW. I was asking her if they had any restaurants down there yet and she said, 'Um Subway'.

And then she said, oh wait, there is this one place, a pizza place... she was talking about Justins! SE-SW = what's the difference? LOL

Sophia says: (3/30/11 3:49 PM)
No fireworks? Double yuck.

David Garber says: (3/30/11 5:30 PM)
B in DC: It was a last minute decision to open up K to vehicles during construction of Canal Park - but I have word that they are adding a pedestrian walkway sometime this week. Was a no-brainer that is now being fixed.

JD says: (3/30/11 7:41 PM)
G, you need to follow my Twitter feed if you want to keep up-to-date. :)

jwg says: (3/30/11 8:50 PM)
Thank you, David, for being on the walkway issue! Thrilled to hear one is coming so soon. Much appreciated!

Eric says: (3/31/11 2:32 AM)
"In a completely non-thread related note, anyone know what's up with the recent ADW's? Are they related, any arrests? I'm sure that it amounts to a blip on the radar, but seems like a slight uptick on the crime feed as we move into spring. "

I'm also interested. Anyone know?

SW says: (3/31/11 9:46 AM)
G----thanks for confirming that your SW friend is a moron. I'll be stopping by Cantina for pre-game fish tacos. No morons allowed there.

JT says: (3/31/11 7:33 PM)
The pedestrian walkway is up now (that's good), but its location makes no sense (that's bad).

It's on the north side of the block, but there's no sidewalk on the north side of K Street between 2nd Pl SE and NJ Ave SE. It should be on the south side of the street so that it connects two sidewalks rather than connecting a sidewalk to a muddy wasteland next to the trash transfer station.

It's like the escalator to nowhere...

JT says: (3/31/11 8:07 PM)
My bad.

I meant between 2nd St SE and NJ Ave SE (that Place vs. Street stuff confuses me).

jwg says: (4/1/11 12:44 PM)
Maybe they'll put a 4-way stop sign at the intersection of K St SE & 2nd St SE, so we can at least cross K St safely to get to the walkway? Uhm... we do need a stop on K St SE there anyway, but... yeah, that placement is kinda dumb.

(And maybe they can rename 2nd Pl when construction is over? I always mix them up, too. Even "2 1/2 St" would make more sense...)

NJA1000 says: (4/1/11 6:02 PM)
jwg, "place" is the name for streets between numbered streets in DC (except for Half Street). 1/2 streets are more of a New York thing.

JD says: (4/1/11 6:10 PM)
Yes, though note that there will be a 1 1/2 Street in the Yards, south of N/Tingey and east of First (bisecting the current parking lots there), if the plans go through as designed....

jwg says: (4/1/11 9:21 PM)
Ahh. Guess I got spoiled living in NY for 5 yrs... granted, it was a while ago, but ever since then I have always wondered why streets elsewhere so often make no sense ;)

Although... a 1 1/2 Street, too? Hmm... I like the idea of a couple of streets-and-a-half here and there. At least it'll be intuitive when figuring out where you're going!

F says: (4/2/11 6:51 PM)
THE BRICKS ARE HERE! THE BRICK ARE HERE! CQ Phase two has started bricking its new units. Another block of colorful homes coming soon.

JD says: (4/4/11 9:35 AM)
A few days late on this, but I should note that DDOT said they'd be out this week checking the parking signage in the area (after I passed along the comments about the Virginia Avenue stuff on their map being incorrect).

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