• While the Canal Park will take a while to be designed, chosen, and constructed (ETA 2006), there are plans to remove the buses, take down the fences, and smooth out and sod the area. DC just needs to figure out where to park the buses first... (I've heard that before, too ;-) )

A Canal Park Development Association has been created, and it has launched a design competition for the Canal Blocks site. They also will be having a introductory community meeting July 28 at 6:30 pm.

Mayor Williams has successfully gotten the DC Council to approve the creation of the Anacostia Waterfront Development Corporation (AWDC), which is tasked with implementing the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative, and hopefully will do for the Anacostia what the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation did for its realm. Next, Benjamin Forgey is doing a big series in the Post about redevelopment in DC, and today's part deals with Near Southeast. (Although you probably won't learn much there that you didn't already see here!)

Plans are afoot to turn the old Post Plant at 225 Virginia Ave. SE (just south of the Freeway at 3rd Street) into a planned 343,000 SF office/mixed-use building, ETA 2006. ML Clark Real Estate is the listing agent; see the Canal Blocks page for renderings and an idea of the location.

I've added a fun graphic of an overhead shot of Near Southeast in the late 1990s, and labeled it with all the changes.

Federal and local leaders have signed an agreement to pledge to rebuild the Frederick Douglass Bridge and to redevelop the South Capitol Street corridor as a grand gateway into the District from Prince George's County (more). Does it actually mean anything? Hope so!

The DC Office of Planning's Near Southeast Urban Design Framework has been awarded the "Outstanding Planning Award for a Plan" by the American Planning Association. (more)

Clearing of the lot has finally begun at the Capitol Hill Towers/Courtyard by Marriott land at 140 L Street SE. Groundbreaking was held on April 8; construction is slated to last until early 2006.

I've been remiss in not yet posting here that construction has begun on the Department of Transportation HQ. Parts of the old brick fence along M Street have been torn down (at the 3rd Street and 4th Street entrances), and digging has begun. Pictures have been taken, but aren't terribly exciting, unless you like Tonka toys.

The demolition of the last of the old boarded-up Capper apartments at 5th and Virginia is finally complete. (Only five months behind schedule!) Construction will probably begin in late spring on the first of two new apartment buildings for low-income seniors. It will overlook the new field/park north of the Marine Barracks (which should be completed fairly soon).

Forest City Enterprises Inc. has been chosen as the developer of the 44 acres of the Southeast Federal Center not included in the DOT HQ project. This is a huge chunk of the entire Near Southeast Redevelopment, so let's keep our fingers crossed that the winners put forth a fantabulous proposal of residential, retail, office, and park/river/green space (as soon as I can get my hands on their proposal, I'll post it here). For more about What It Means, read the Post story, or the Forest City Press Release, or The Slatin Report.

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Still waiting for the school buses to be removed from the Canal Blocks area. Once they're gone (DC was given 90 days notice about 100 days ago), William C. Smith plans to start clearing the blocks in the spring, with the real construction on the park (including hopefully a "water feature") will begin in the future.

The National Capital Planning Commission has released a preview of a Urban Land Institute Advisory Panel's recommendations for South Capitol Street; the detailed report will be made public at a later date.

DC Builds: The Anacostia Waterfront, an exhibit at the National Building Museum, is running from January 17 to May 23. Read also the piece the exhibit and the project by Post architecture critic Benjamin Forgey.

The Office of Planning has released the completed Anacostia Waterfront Framework Plan, a 20-year blueprint for transforming the areas on both sides of the river, at an estimated cost of at least $8 billion. (12/3 WP article, plus a graphic detailing the plans). See my Other Projects page for more AWI links.

M Street SE, from the waterfront to the Navy Yard, is included in the "high priority corridors" in the DC Metro system's 10-year expansion plan for light rail or bus rapid transit. Two corridors--from the Anacostia Corridor to the Waterfront Metro station, and from the Silver Spring Metro station to Anacostia--would run along M Street. A three-mile demonstration version will be built in Anacostia in 2004.

One of the "landmarks" of the old M Street disappeared at some point in the last month--the boarded up gas station on the northwest corner of 3rd and M. Eventually there will be another office building there (250 M Street), but there's no firm construction date yet ("maybe in 2004", according to a William C. Smith rep). (May 2004 update: fences have gone up around the lot, but not for construction--it's been turned into a parking lot, so it doesn't look like they're planning for development anytime soon.)

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