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25 M
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1333 M St.
More Capper Apts.
Yards/DC Water site
New Marine Barracks
Nat'l Community Church
Factory 202/Yards
SC1100
Completed
Thompson Hotel ('20)
West Half ('19)
Novel South Capitol ('19)
Yards/Guild Apts. ('19)
Capper/The Harlow ('19)
New DC Water HQ ('19)
Yards/Bower Condos ('19)
Virginia Ave. Tunnel ('19)
99 M ('18)
Agora ('18)
1221 Van ('18)
District Winery ('17)
Insignia on M ('17)
F1rst/Residence Inn ('17)
One Hill South ('17)
Homewood Suites ('16)
ORE 82 ('16)
The Bixby ('16)
Dock 79 ('16)
Community Center ('16)
The Brig ('16)
Park Chelsea ('16)
Yards/Arris ('16)
Hampton Inn ('15)
Southeast Blvd. ('15)
11th St. Bridges ('15)
Parc Riverside ('14)
Twelve12/Yards ('14)
Lumber Shed ('13)
Boilermaker Shops ('13)
Camden South Cap. ('13)
Canal Park ('12)
Capitol Quarter ('12)
225 Virginia/200 I ('12)
Foundry Lofts ('12)
1015 Half Street ('10)
Yards Park ('10)
Velocity Condos ('09)
Teague Park ('09)
909 New Jersey Ave. ('09)
55 M ('09)
100 M ('08)
Onyx ('08)
70/100 I ('08)
Nationals Park ('08)
Seniors Bldg Demo ('07)
400 M ('07)
Douglass Bridge Fix ('07)
US DOT HQ ('07)
20 M ('07)
Capper Seniors 1 ('06)
Capitol Hill Tower ('06)
Courtyard/Marriott ('06)
Marine Barracks ('04)
 
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Hearing Gunshots on Sunday Night
Readers have reported hearing gunshots around 11:30 pm Sunday. I wrote to the Metropolitan Police Department's 1D mailing list (on Yahoo) and received two replies, first from MPD's Nicholas Gallucci: "An unidentified male fired several shots in the area of half and m street sw. No one was injured and nothing was struck. However, if anyone saw this incident and or has any information regarding the male, please contact the police asap."
Then, 1D Commander David Kamperin added some detail: "We had an individual fire shots at a police officer - the officer took cover. No injuries and the subject is still out and wanted. Anyone with information please call 202-727-9099."
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RSS Feed for JDLand Blog Comments
I've been meaning to do this for months, and this morning the inspiration finally hit. Now you can subscribe to an RSS feed of the blog comments, so that you don't miss an iota of the conversation around these parts.
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ANC Agenda, Public Space Permit Feed Returns, School Bus Tea Leaves
* The agenda for Monday's ANC 6D meeting has been sent around (not yet posted online). They'll be revisiting the designs for exterior trash enclosures on certain Capitol Quarter townhouses that were discussed and given the thumbs down last month. Other items include the potential modification of the 70 bus route, the franchise agreement between the city and Verizon for FiOS, and street closures for the SunTrust National Marathon on March 21. The meeting is at 7 pm at St. Augustine's church, Sixth and M streets, SW.
* Meeting at the same time on Monday (well, starting at 6:30 pm) will be the DC Zoning Commission, with a vote on the proposal to move 225 Virginia Avenue into the Capitol South Receiving Zone (read about it here).
* The city's Public Space Permit feed is back. Yay! Hopefully the Building Permit feed won't be far behind.
* One thing we've all learned over the years is to not believe anything about the school buses leaving Canal Park until we actually see them all drive away. But I will note that the DC Housing Authority currently has a solicitation out for a contractor to build surface parking lots at DC Village (which is where the buses are relocating to). Bids are due Nov. 18. I'm hearing "mumbleJanuarymumbleFebruarymumble" as a potential timetable for the departure of the buses, but see sentence #1 of this paragraph.
 

Nats Want Obama for First Pitch; Six Weekday Afternoon Games on 2009 Schedule
Some news out of this afternoon's unveiling of the team's 2009 uniforms:
* "Nationals manager Manny Acta and outfielder Lastings Milledge said on Thursday afternoon they would like President-elect Barack Obama to throw out the first pitch at the team's home opener against the Phillies on April 13." (MLB.com)
* "The Nationals also released a preliminary schedule that features six weekday games. They include the April 13 opener against the World Series champion Phillies at 3:05 p.m., 12:35 p.m. starts against Houston on May 5 and Florida on Aug. 7, and three 4:35 p.m. games on the final days of home stands. The team did not play any weekday afternoon games last year, during its inaugural season at Nationals Park, because of worries how traffic and parking would be impacted in the neighborhoods surrounding the stadium. Additionally, the start time for Friday night games has been moved from 7:35 p.m. to 7:05 p.m. Last season, several scheduled Friday fireworks nights were canceled because slow-moving games pushed the Nationals past a curfew team officials had agreed upon with neighborhood leaders." (Examiner)
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Wells Wants to End Stadium Shuttles from RFK
(Sorry that this is about a week old) From WTOP: "Baseball fans who took free shuttle buses from RFK Stadium to Nationals Park as a way to get to games this past season -- may be out of luck next year. D.C. Councilmember Tommy Wells tells WTOP he is recommending to the Nationals that the shuttles stop running in 2009. 'The buses add a layer of traffic that is not necessary. I would like to see them stop running.' Wells says he has received numerous complaints from residents in Ward 6 about the danger of the buses as they pass through neighborhoods. Some buses also sit and idle in less than desirable locations. Traffic troubles that were predicted around the stadium never really did materialize in the ballpark's first year. Wells thinks that's all the more reason to discontinue the bus service." What do the Nats say? "As of right now, the Nationals have not announced any plans to change the shuttle bus service next season."
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JDLand.com Profile (A Peek Behind the Curtain!)
(I'll sneak this in during the post-election hangover, when no one's paying attention) The folks at J-Lab have posted a three-minute video profiling JDLand.com and its obsessive-compulsive creator, as part of their coverage of the 2008 Knight-Batten Awards. They did a very nice job of encapsulating my torrent of words about the site into a crisp little presentation, so take a peek if you have nothing better to do (here's a direct link if you're not seeing the embedded video):
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Just Get Out and Vote (Updated with ANC Result)
Almost nothing from me today--other than to tell you to go and vote, dammit! You can find out what you need to know about many of the citywide races at other sources--the only Near Southeast-only race is for ANC 6D07 commissioner, where incumbent Robert Siegel is running against Geoffrey Kreiss. (I'll link again to this Hill Rag piece that looks at both candidates.) I'll post the winner as soon as I find out, but otherwise I'm buried in my real job and then another event through the end of the week. Next week, life should finally start returning to normal.
UPDATE: A very late night here at work (2:25 am), but at least I can post the final result for ANC 6D07: Bob Siegel retained his seat, 193-77 (with 7 write-ins).
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Semi Off-Topic: 1960s Home Movies of Capitol Hill (and Southwest)
(A little diversion while everyone's waiting for Tuesday.) Those few hardy souls who've scrolled down on my 225 Virginia page may recognize the photo at left, which is a picture of my brother on the swingset in Garfield Park in 1964, with 225 Virginia (then the Washington Star building) at rear, and with the Southeast Freeway under construction. In playing with the family movies this weekend (having gotten them transferred to DV tapes from Super 8 film), I found about a minute of footage from that same day, briefly showing the Star Plant along with the rest of Garfield Park.
This led me to a few other clips I think some DC readers might get a kick out of--they're not of Near Southeast, but various streetscapes and parks pretty close by, on the south side of Capitol Hill. Here's three minutes showing both the 100 block of E Street, SE (where we lived) and Marion Park at Fourth and E in 1966 or 1967. You can clearly make out "Turtle Park" as well as the 1D1 police station at Fifth and E in the background. (It's *possible* that the E Street footage is from the January 1966 blizzard, but the Marion Park footage can't be from that storm, because the little blob in white is me, and I didn't come along until the summer of 1966. And yes, that makes me old.) Also note that at about the one-minute mark you see the original location of Weisfeld's Market at 131 E, before it moved to Fourth and E (and eventually became the Capitol Supreme Market).
Then there's my brother and I running around in Folger Park at Second and D on Easter, 1968. I like this footage because in the background is Brent Elementary at Third and North Carolina under construction, and a beautiful old school building on the same lot that's no longer there.
Finally, there's this clip from Second Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, in 1964, which back then was not the Madison Annex of the Library of Congress but was a wide-open park. This brief pan shows you the block where FedEx and Le Bon Cafe are now, along with the church at Second and C and the townhouses along there, around to the Cannon House Office Building, the Capitol and the Library of Congress. (Sorry the streaming quality isn't better.)
(These aren't *completely* outside of the JDLand mandate. They're befores, after all.)
UPDATE: And, amazingly, in my grandmother's home movies (which I've never seen before today), I found footage from 1969 of my parents playing tennis on the courts just south of the freeway on the west side of South Capitol, at I. A pretty neat (if brief) pan of the Southwest skyline (and the freeway, and the South Capitol ramp) from that spot.
 

Lots of New Photos From Around The Yards
As I mentioned a few days ago, I was able to snag some time behind the fences at The Yards this week (with permission!!) and took a bunch of pictures. I also took this opportunity to do a bit of cleanup on the many Yards pages on this site, so if you haven't wandered through all of them in a while, I suggest taking the time to do so, keeping an eye out for the ubiquitous icon. Some highlights (click through to the pages for more details on each project):
* I posted a fair number of photos (plus some new renderings) of the Foundry Lofts at Third and Tingey, where the new top two floors are starting to be framed. You can also see how the a portion of the new Water Street just south of the Foundry has been paved, and curbs have been installed; ditto with the new portion of Third Street that will run alongside the building down to the park.
* There aren't really many exciting new photos of the Yards Park yet, but I added in new renderings and also spruced up the page some. The park and the Foundry Lofts apartments (along with the Boilermaker Shop retail pavilion) are expected to deliver in mid-2010.
* I made my first close-up visit to the Factory 202 building at Fifth and M (the old Gun Assembly Building), and got a few new images like the one at right. (Look for the "Pistol Range" photo for added entertainment.) This building is expected to be condos, delivering in 2011.
* I added a lot of new images to the Later Phases page, where you can see a good close-up of the little Building 74 next to Factory 202, which will eventually be townhouses. You'll also see more of the infrastructure work going on, including curb cuts already in place at Fourth and Tingey (even though the southern part of Fourth doesn't exist there yet). There's also a new red brick wall going in along the boundary with the Navy Yard, where a new block of Fifth Street will be built.
* You should also check out my Yards Overview page for the hard-to-read map, to help orient yourself to all the locations.
* Or, if you just want a pile of pictures without the "guided tour," here's all the new photos on one page (which includes images not posted on any of the above pages.) Click the icon to see other photos from the past few years from the same location.
Hopefully that's enough to keep everyone entertained for a while.
 

Articles from November's Hill Rag
A few items in the new issue of the Hill Rag might be of interest to Near Southeast denizens and aficionados:
* Columnist Peter Waldron looks at the few ANC commissioner races where there's actually a challenger, which includes Near Southeast's single member district (6D07), where longtime commissioner Bob Siegel is facing Capitol Hill Tower resident Geoffrey Kreiss. Some interesting background to be had on both candidates, if you're still needing to make a decision.
* There's a summary of the October ANC6D meeting, in case you found my lousy one wanting. (It also includes info on some of the Southwest-related items brought up.)
* An article called "Anacostia Waterfront: Where is the Environment Vision Now?" looks at the fate of the environmental vision for the Anacostia that was published by the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation shortly before its demise. This portion was eye-catching: "Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells 6 cites the 'inertia of bureaucracy' that the Fenty government allows with respect to the Anacostia environment. The stadium is the mayor's pride, but 'the failure of the Anacostia Trail network to be completed by this time leaves me disgusted,' Wells says. The river walk and trail limps along, and new park access is mostly on the drawing board. The Fenty administration has not made environment a priority. Wells argues, 'I don't see a financial component in the budget.' " The Wayback Machine has a copy of the draft standards.
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Akridge Buys More Land on Square 740
According to the city's land records, on October 7 Akridge paid $4.65 million for the three properties totalling about 7,000 square feet on the south side of K Street between New Jersey and First, all owned by the Cohen family. (Currently on these properties are a defunct garage and an empty lot, as seen in the photo at right). Akridge already owns the lots along First Street south of K down to the Market Deli at L Street; and, from what I can see in my very-unlearned reading of other land records, it also now has agreements with both the Market Deli and the cab garage on the northwest corner of New Jersey and L.
The only non-Akridge lots left on this block (known as Square 740) are two tiny lots directly behind the Market Deli on L Street and the buildings in the middle of the block along New Jersey where Positive Nature used to operate. (I'll also note, for those for whom this actually means anything, that the Positive Nature lots were the recipients of 52,000 square feet in transferable development rights earlier this year.)
This block is kind of the "last frontier" in the neighborhood, the only one without any sort of large development announced anywhere on it.
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Yards Park Public-Private Partnership Announced
This morning inside the Boilermaker Shop at Fourth and Tingey Mayor Fenty announced the completion of a $42 million public-private partnership to fund and maintain the 5.5-acre Waterfront Park at The Yards. He was joined by Forest City's Deborah Ratner Salzberg, Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells, and Capitol Riverfront BID executive director Michael Stevens, all of whom extolled the potential not only of the park (the neighborhood's "front yard", Stevens said) but of all of what is coming to Near Southeast. In the press release, Fenty is quoted as saying, "This is a great example of the kind of great urban spaces we can create when we think creatively and work together with partners who share our vision for transforming the banks of the Anacostia River into a world class waterfront."
Construction will begin on the park in January, and is being funded by the PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) that the city created last year. Once the park is built, the BID will be in charge of maintaining and "programming" it. One caveat for those who have been looking forward to seeing the park completed--it is now scheduled for a mid-2010 opening, along with the Boilermaker Shop and the Pattern Shop Foundry Lofts (they renamed the dang building; I can't wait to change it everywhere on the site).
I took a few photos at the event (seems like it's been forever since there was one of these, especially after the avalanche of them back in 2007 and early 2008). You'll also see on that page the latest renderings of the park, the Foundry Lofts building, and some views along Water Street. The park images aren't new, but the others are, and it may be a few days before I get them integrated into the site, so I figured I'd toss them up here for now.
I also got to take a tour behind the fences across much of the 44 acres of The Yards, and of course snapped a bunch of photos. However, since there are hardly any *streets* in most of these locations just yet, it makes my cataloging and posting of pictures much more time-consuming than with other projects. So I hope to post them in the next few days. At least the sun was out, unlike last time!
There was a fair amount of media at this event, so check back for links to stories (and the press releases, once they're posted).
UPDATE: A video report from NBC4, and a few paragraphs from the Post. The AP gave it a little write-up, too. And the Yards has now posted its own press release.
 

Development Slows in Ballpark District; Yards Park Funding Announcement on Wednesday
Nothing in this WashTimes piece will be news for people who wander by here on a regular basis, but "Economy halts developers' ballpark plans" is a good survey that's probably still worth a read in case you've missed something. The crux is that the current economy has put an end to building on spec--"'Until you're getting your office building 70 percent leased up, you're not moving forward,' said Michael Stevens, executive director of the Capitol Riverfront Business Improvement District." And with things as they are, companies aren't moving to new office space, either. There's also this: "Monument Vice President Russell Hines said the financing difficulty is not because of pre-leasing requirements but rather demands for larger amounts of collateral on loans. Lenders once were willing to finance 75 percent of a project with only the project itself as collateral. Now, however, companies ask developers to put up additional assets to back the loan, even for just 50 percent financing."
One thing that is moving forward: Wednesday morning the mayor will be announcing a $42 million public/private deal between Forest City, the city, and the BID to build and maintain the 5.5-acre waterfront park at The Yards. The target date for the park has been mid-2009; we'll see at tomorrow's event whether that's still in the cards.
UPDATE: On his blog, Tim Lemke of the Times addresses a few issues that Forest City had with his article. And my entry on the park announcement is here.
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More posts: The Yards, Yards Park
 

8th Street Lot to Open to the Public
Since people are talking about this in the comments on my post about the Connect Barracks Row meeting Wednesday night, it's timely to point to this Infosnack post that breaks news about the parking lot on Eighth Street under the Southeast Freeway. Apparently at last week's ANC 6B meeting DDOT informed the ANC that the Marines are going to be vacating the lot, and that DDOT is proposing "market-based pricing" of the lot, using either stick meters or multi-space meters. Read the post for more details.
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More posts: ANC News, 8th Street
 

Oct 28, 2008 10:58 AM
Brief Zoning Commission Hearing on Post Plant
On Monday night the Zoning Commission held a brief hearing on Case 06-32a, the request by the city to move the old Post Plant at 225 Virginia Avenue into the "Capitol South Receiving Zone," which would allow the block to receive transferable development rights, allowing greater height and density than the 6.5 FAR and 90-ft-height currently allowed.
When this was originally brought before the commission by developer Washington Telecom Associates for setdown two years ago, the Office of Planning indicated that they wouldn't support the request because of concerns about the added density on that block affecting both Canal Park to the south and Capper/Carrollsburg townhouses to the east (read the transcript for more details). Since that time, the city subleased the building (paying $500k a month in rent), but has decided not to use it to house police department functions and so is in the process of finding a developer to take over its sublease (which also has an option to buy).
In their pre-hearing report and during last night's session, OP said they are now prepared to support the move to the receiving zone, "provided that there is Zoning Commission review of the design of the portions of a building proposed to rise higher than 90' " which would confirm that the building "will be sufficiently setback from the eastern building face to avoid shadowing the lower buildings in Square 797 to the east" and that it "will provide a suitable northern focal point for the Canal Blocks Park." The OP report says that this lot would not be exempt from the city's inclusionary zoning requirements.
The three commissioners in attendance (Hood, May, and Turnbull) asked a few cursory questions, and noted that there was no report from ANC 6D nor any witnesses in support or opposition. The ZC will vote on this case at its Nov. 10 public meeting.
With the OPM page on the 225 Virginia Request for Expressions of Interest saying that notification was to have happened yesterday, I thought there was a possibility that this hearing would give us some hint as to who might be taking over the city's lease, but the Office of Planning said they didn't know who the developer might be.
 

Oct 24, 2008 2:04 PM
Community Meeting About South End of 8th Street
A project called "Connect Barracks Row," organized by University of Maryland graduate students in a Community Planning class, is looking at how the portion of Eighth Street between the Southeast Freeway and M Street, SE "can be developed to best benefit and connect the surrounding communities." To that end, they are having a community meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 29, where they are hoping to get feedback and ideas on how to make this stretch more vibrant and pedestrian-friendly, and how to overcome the barrier that is the freeway. The meeting is at 7 pm at Friendship House, 619 D Street, SE--here's the invitation flyer for more information. UPDATE: And here's the press release, for a bit more background.
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Oct 23, 2008 1:01 PM
Half Street Hole: Construction Starting, But....
Folks watching the Half Street Hole just south of 55 M Street have noted the arrival of a crane in the past few days. I've contacted Monument Realty, and they've confirmed that some construction is getting underway--but it's just to complete the three-level underground garage on the southern portion of the street, not to begin the hotel and residential projects. Perhaps all that parking directly north of the ballpark is seen as some worthwhile income while waiting for the residential market to improve....
 

Oct 23, 2008 12:14 PM
Capper PUD Items at Monday's Zoning Commission
On Monday night, the Zoning Commission briefly took up a group of items having to do with the Planned Unit Development (PUD) approved for Capper/Carrollsburg back in 2004. The first was the request that I've written about in the past to expand the allowed number of residential units in apartment buildings planned for two spots along L Street (between Second and Third behind the proposed 250 M Street office building and on the north side of the Old Capper Seniors site). See my previous entry for specifics.
There were also requests for three time extensions: to extend the first-stage PUD for an additional five years, to extend the deadline for filing second-stage approvals for the apartment building sites along Canal Park (including the trash-transfer station site) to 2013, and to extend the deadline for filing a building permit application for the planned community center at Fifth and K to January 2011, with an included extension of the start of construction to January 2012.
The commission voted 4-0-1 to have all of these items come up together on a future date to be determined (as one public hearing and one special public meeting for those of you well-versed in ZC phraseology).
 

Oct 22, 2008 3:13 PM
Upcoming Events: Living Classrooms Fundraiser, Navy Yard Special Events
* A reminder that Friday night (Oct. 24) is the "Night at the Yards" fundraiser for Living Classrooms of the National Capital Region. Individual tickets are $125 in advance, $135 at the door for the event to be held in a big tent at Fourth and Tingey, with music by the English Beat and Rita Rocks. Living Classrooms is planning to eventually build its new main campus building on the eastern end of the waterfront park at the Yards, near the Navy Yard.
* Also on Friday night is the annual "Ghost Ship Barry" event, where kids can take a haunted tour of the display ship Barry at the Navy Yard. "The Ghost Ship Barry is suitable for children ages 4-9 from 5 to 7pm. After 7pm, Ghost Ship Barry will become much scarier and is only appropriate for children over the age of 9. This event is free and open to the public, but a 24-hour RSVP to 202-433-6897 is required for entry to the Washington Navy Yard. Please do not wear Halloween costumes for safety reasons."
* On Saturday night (Oct. 25) the Navy Yard is offering a candlelight tour, starting at the Navy Museum at 7 pm. This is also free and open to the public, but also requires a 24-hour RSVP for entry. Free parking is available.
 

Oct 22, 2008 11:28 AM
Nats to Expand WiFi Offerings at the Ballpark
From PC World (and also a ton of other places via press release): "After a first successful season running 802.11n high-speed Wi-Fi throughout its glimmering new ballpark, Nationals Park officials in Washington plan to add more applications for next year, including video game clips that fans at the park can wirelessly pick up on their handhelds. [...] In addition to sending video clips of spectacular game plays to fans at Nationals Park, Zachariah said he hopes to have other types of wireless interactions between fans. Among these is making it possible for fans to send text comments or photos that could be posted on the park's 4,800-square-foot high-definition scoreboard. Plans also include using RFID (radio frequency identification) tags to track cash bags over the Wi-Fi network as they are carried from a concession stand to the safe, Zachariah added. The tags could also be distributed to parents who could attch them to their children, in case they get lost in the ballpark. Plans for next spring also include allowing a voice over Wi-Fi system for stadium staff to use during emergencies when cellular networks may be overtaxed, Zachariah added. Fans could also place food orders over Wi-Fi and have the orders delivered to their seats."
The article says it cost about $280,000 for all the equipment and installation.
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