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99 M ('18)
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225 Virginia/200 I ('12)
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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)
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Capitol Hill Tower ('06)
Courtyard/Marriott ('06)
Marine Barracks ('04)
 
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Slipstream Now Open at New Jersey and I
Judging by the packed house at 11:45 Memorial Day morning, very few of you need me to tell you that Slipstream Coffee and Libations has now opened its second DC location, in the ground floor of the ORE82 apartment building at New Jersey Avenue and I Street, SE.
My lack of interest in coffee and coffee-like beverages is well documented by this point, so I will just leave it to the JDLand Commentariat to weigh in with their opinions. But it is always nice to welcome a new retail outpost to the neighborhood.
(And I got a nice chuckle out of the line of people marching directly from next-door neighbor Orangetheory Fitness right into Slipstream. Hope they burned a lot of calories first!)
Slipstream is just the first of a mini-wave of arrivals, with reports via the Commentariat that the Salt Line is apparently coming this week and Bethesda Bagels is in Any Minute Now mode as well.
Unfortunately, there is also apparently a farewell, as reader JH_105 reported that a sign at the register says that Congressional Cleaners, in the ground floor of Capitol Hill Tower, is closing permanently on June 14. which is just two weeks short of the 10th anniversary of its opening. Which would also make it two weeks short of the 10th anniversary of it getting robbed just a few hours after it opened. Things were different then.
(PS: I'm still very much in and out. Patience requested, noted, and truly appreciated.)
 

Tidbits for Tuesday: Chop't Preview at F1rst; 769N Groundbreaking
Two items being posted Monday that are literally Tuesday Tidbits:
* The first retail offering at F1rst has almost arrived, as salad purveyor Chop't is opening its doors on Tuesday for a "preview," from 10:30 am to 2 pm and again from 5 pm to 7:30 pm (or until they run out of food). It's a "Chop't Gives Day," meaning that for a $2 donation to the DC Central Kitchen, guests will receive a complimentary salad.
I do not have a recent photo of the Chop't exterior, but here's what @JRogers202 sent out on Twitter last week. Also, the official address for Chop't is 1257 1st Street, SE, if yiou are needing exact coordinates.
* A press release has gone out announcing a ceremonial ribbon cutting on Tuesday at the still-as-yet-unnamed DC Housing Authority mixed-income residential project on the south side of L Street between 2nd and 3rd known for now as "Square 769N."
The glitterati will be there to wield shovels to herald the "start" of construction on the next phase of the Hope VI redevelopment of the old Capper/Carrollsburg housing project, which will bring 179 rental units including 36 affordable apartments immediately to the east of the Canal Park ice rink block. (Pay no attention to those piles already in the ground.)
(Also note that in the above drawing, the 769N apartment building is the one on the left, as seen from Canal Park--to the right is the long-planned but still in limbo 250 M Street office building.
 

2017 Development Update: Focus Shifts To By the Ballpark, At Last
While I was on the roof of F1rst earlier this week, the view to the west was striking. Immediately north of Nats Park, with the long-forlorn block of Half Street between the Center Field Gate and the Metro station running down the middle of the frame, my camera spied:
* The first piles being driven for JBG's West Half residential and retail project;
* Some evidence of initial activity at Monument Valley, where Jair Lynch's 1250 Half Street residential and retail project is set to finally fill in the hole that has existed on the east side of Half Street since 2007; and
* Shoring/sheeting/excavation underway on the southern part of Monument's combination project of the new headquarters for the National Association of Broadcasters and a residential building at 10 Van Street (here's a closer shot).
Here's what West Half, 1250 Half, and the NAB HQ will look like when they are finished, perhaps in very late 2018 or probably 2019:
These three projects join the other buildings that complete the N Street lineup across from the ballpark--JBG's under construction apartment building at 1221 Van (at the upper left of the above photo) and the Hampton Inn that's been open at 1st and N since late 2015.
What this means is that we will now move from nine years' worth of complaining about how nothing has been built directly north of Nats Park to two years of complaining about construction noise and ickiness, leading into the inevitable future complaining about how these new buildings with all of the retail people have complained about not having end up ruining what views remained of the Capitol dome from inside the ballpark.
Progress!
And these are not the only projects just getting started. Piles have also been driven for the DC Housing Authority's latest Capper Hope VI mixed-income apartment building at 3rd and L, and digging is well underway for the new apartment building at the old McDonald's site at 2 I St., which I don't actually have a recent photo of and so one from February will have to do. I suck. Plus, digging sloooowly continues at the Yards Parcel O apartment/condo dual project.
On the bright side, we're about to have a long-watched hole finally graduate to above-ground construction, as Skanska's 99 M office building is at last reaching street level.
With the completions in 2016 and early 2017 of eight apartment buildings, and with eight more buildings looking to join them in the next two years, the neighborhood now has what can not-so-charitably be called a "glut" of new apartments, as Bisnow reported last week in its story on how the city is seeing a record number of residential units deliver in the second quarter of 2017. (I should of course give you hard numbers of total units, but see my earlier comment about my current state.)
However, if you are looking for a place to live in Near Capitol Ballpark River Yards, having multiple buildings vying for your business is certainly good news for you.
 

Photo Tour of F1rst and Residence Inn; Solidcore Signed
On Monday the JDLand camera took another spin in the neighborhood, this time heading to 1st Street SE to visit the F1rst apartment building and its sibling the Residence Inn, which both of which are now open.
The photo gallery is a big one, with so much newness for me to capture. The official F1rst web site and the Residence Inn site has all of the details you probably want, and so I am just let the photos do most of the talking.
But before I get to those, there is some news, which is that it's been announced that fitness studio Solidcore is the latest retail tenant now signed, joining Chop't, Taylor Gourmet, Chipotle, Roti, Rasa Indian Grill, and Declaration. Solidcore is expected to open in the latter stages of 2017. (For those of you salivating at the rest of the lineup, it looks like Chop't will be the first to open, perhaps next month, followed by Taylor, Chipotle, and Roti in late summer/early fall.)
With that, onto the photos of both the apartment building and the hotel. This is a sampling--see the gallery for the full narrated tour.
 

Latest Restaurant Announcement: Shilling Canning Company, to Arris
Word filtered out last week, and was confirmed to me a few days ago, that Arris has landed another restaurant: the Shilling Canning Company, centered around mid-Atlantic cuisine, is expected to open by early 2018.
Chef Reid Shilling is at the helm of this "rustic combination of Mid-Atlantic cooking and Californian finesse," according to the press release, and will be working with "local growers and purveyors to source the best in fresh ingredients from the Mid Atlantic, from proteins that will be butchered in house, to seafood carefully selected from local fishermen."
The restaurant is named for the small canning business that Shilling's family operated in Maryland from 1935 to 1958.
It will have 75 seats, and additional outdoor seating as well. There will also be a wood-burning grill and wood-fired brick oven, allowing for pizza to be on the menu. There will also be a raw bar.
Chef Shilling has previously worked at numerous restaurants, including Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bistro and most recently at The Dabney here in DC,
The Shilling Canning Company joins the Arris coming-soon offerings Chloe and the Juice Laundry, and a slew of neighborhood-wide eateries expected to open in 2017 and 2018.
 

Checking Out the Rooftop Views at 1221 Van
Using Opening Day as a lure, JBG provided a hard-hat visit to the roof of its under-construction 290-unit apartment building 1221 Van, which is directly across N Street from the Nationals Park and is expected to begin move-ins this fall. The panorama above, while showy, is a wide-angle shot, giving a sense of the full vista from the roof, but at the expense of making everything look farther away.
This image at right is a more accurate representation of the size of the field as your eyes see it. A good chunk of far left field is obscured by the parking garage, but right field is mostly visible.
While you can't see the outfield scoreboard's display, those with good vision can see the scoreboard above the Nats dugout, and perhaps people with good hearing (i.e., not me) could hear the public address system. I did hear the organ a few times.
As for the other views from the roof, you didn't expect me to just take ballpark views, did you? The full gallery of photos is here, but here are a few previews.
Also, I couldn't resist one photo of the workers taking a break to catch some of the action. And a JDLand friend couldn't resist a photo of 1221 Van from inside the ballpark, unaware that the shot also captured a rare glimpse of the official JDLand photographer in action. (The yellow blob. Trust me.)
Check out the full gallery for more shots of the surroundings, and for what the view from the "infinity pool" will look like. And see my 1221 Van project page for renderings, before-and-after photos, and more information. The official web site is 1221van.com.
 

Open Thread
Here's a fresh thread, in case there's some trepidation about chattering in the previous comments section.
And, if you haven't gotten the news yet, Shake Shack is now open for business at 54 M St. SE. Have some crinkle fries for me.
I really, truly, appreciate the many wonderful messages I've received in the past week. I hope to have information soon about where to make donations in Bill's memory, and will update this post when I have it.
In the meantime, my vista does not currently include any buildings under construction.
UPDATE: I can now pass along the link for (tax-deductible!) donations to the newly created American Copy Editors Society Bill Walsh Scholarship. (There's a checkbox to specifically target your donations to this scholarship.) I'm so proud to honor his memory in a very tangible way like this, to support students interested in a career in news copy editing. And it was something he was very much wanted to see done.
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A Few Thoughts About Bill, the Hood, the Hill, and the City
The news seems to be well known at this point, but I will still note here officially that Bill Walsh, known colloquially in these parts as Mr. JDLand, died on Wednesday of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, a rotten cancer of the bile ducts and liver made more rotten by the frequency with which it isn't found until it has spread.
I won't run down his biography here, especially since the fabulous Washington Post obituary does a great job sketching the portrait of the "rock star" of copy editors. And my grief-soaked Facebook farewell gives a hint of the heartbreak I am not only now facing, but have lived with for the past nine months, knowing that it was highly unlikely this cancer was going to be beat.
But I wanted to ruminate for a moment or two about the part Bill played in JDLand, and not just as the chauffeur on that fateful day in January 2003 when I took the series of photos that really started this adventure.
When Bill moved to this area from Phoenix in 1989, he lived in Alexandria at first, but with a commute to the Washington Times building on New York Avenue, NE, he was soon drawn to Capitol Hill, and found a place not far from Eastern Market. The Hill of the 1990s, of course, had a very different feel than today, as did the entire city, but he fell in love with the walkability, and even the slight edginess of the time.
While I had been born on the Hill, my family had left the area when I was a toddler and when we came back we settled in Chevy Chase, so while I very much considered myself a Washington-area native, I was pretty firmly ensconced in the world of Upper Northwest, Bethesda, and points west and north. Sure, I had spent more than my fair share of time at the original 9:30 Club on F Street, drank yards of beer at the old Tiber Creek Pub (where Bistro Bis now resides), served two summers as a Hill intern, worked at a couple of jobs near 16th and K, and wasn't a-feered of going downtown in the late 1980s and early 1990s as many of my cohorts were, but it still just really wasn't part of my orbit.
Until in April 1993, when I met a guy living on Capitol Hill.
By 1995, we had bought our house on the south side of the Hill, much to the chagrin of many people who thought we were crazy to buy in such an "unsafe" place, a feeling that intensified for many who came to our housewarming party via the 6th Street exit off the freeway who were not happy to be greeted by the boarded up shells of the old Ellen Wilson Dwellings and the only slightly less foreboding, not-yet-boarded up Capper apartment buildings.
But we loved it. We loved walking the neighborhood for hours. We loved Eastern Market. We loved walking to the Hawk n Dove or the Tune Inn or La Lomida Dos. We loved going to open houses just to look. We loved the House and Garden Tour. We loved being 10 minutes from National Airport. We loved seeing the Capitol just as part of the neighborhood landscape.
And we loved watching it change, as it really began to in the early 2000s. Somewhere on his hard drive is actually a running list, going back to well before we arrived, of which businesses occupied which addresses on Pennsylvania Avenue and on Barracks Row. He loved telling people about how 8th Street had transformed from "our little slice of Queens" to the restaurant row it is today.
Then I extended the boundaries of our interest when I started hearing about the various plans to transform the blocks south of the freeway, an area we rarely ventured into and in fact would sometimes jokingly subreference Bonfire of the Vanities when telling people how to get back to the freeway and "safety": DON'T GO UNDER THE OVERPASS.
When I get asked to tell the story of how I began to follow the neighborhood, I almost always mention how Bill and I used to stand on 3rd Street and look southward under the freeway to catch a glimpse of the Anacostia River, and how we used to say to each other, "Wouldn't it be great if someday we could walk down there from here and then along the river?" (which was usually followed by loud ironic guffaws) And then I was off on my one great hobby, watching Near Capitol Ballpark River Yards grow from nothing to what it is today.
Of course, through all of this, the rest of DC was changing too, and we became even more intensely in love with our city and what it offered. We ate at as many of the city's restaurants as we could. He began biking to and from work at the Post. We would walk to Caps games at the Verizon Center and then home. We Bikeshared. We Car to Go'ed. We Ubered. We waited for the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail to be extended. We walked to Nats games on a whim. We rode the H Street Streetcar on the first day. We reveled in referring to ourselves derisively as urban hipsters.
Much of our daily running messaging commentary to each other was news of what we had seen and heard--did you hear Hank's is opening on the Hill? The weird florist at 8th and E is gone! Matchbox is almost open! Wait, let me guess, you want to go to Morini again.
And in 2015, when he began a walking regime to combat a bit of fatigue that was probably a missed early sign of his cancer, his route covered all the bases--down 8th Street to the freeway, back up to Pennsylvania Avenue, down New Jersey under the freeway, over to 1st Street, down to the ballpark, along the river, and home. And I received bulletins all along the way of whatever he saw that was new. He became the first and only official JDLand stringer.
We just loved living here. Every minute of it.
A few weeks ago, I felt he was stable enough to allow me a little time to go take some Hood pics for the first time in a few months. It was a beautiful day, I was doing what I have loved doing for more than a decade now, and was on autopilot--until I looked at the large as-yet unleased corner retail space in one of the new buildings. And then I couldn't breathe. Because I knew it would be a restaurant, and would be a restaurant that he would never know about. That we would never eat at.
When my brother brought me home to the Hill after leaving the hospice center for the final time (I can't even believe Bill died in Arlington and not DC), we came across the 14th Street Bridge. I caught sight of the Wharf construction, and burst into tears.
We may not have been activists, or preservationists, or even particularly involved in the culture of the Hill and surroundings, but our neighborhood(s) infused every part of our days. These streets and buildings and businesses and history united us as much as our life at the Post, our love of travel, our cats, and our expert-level pop-culture referencing.
Now I just have to figure out how on earth to watch it all alone.
I will continue to pop in and out in the coming weeks, because he would not be pleased if JDLand was collateral damage in all of this, but it will take a long while before I return to full steam.
However, having moved through the aftermath of my mother's heartbreaking death three years ago, I do know that time heals, and what feel like machete strikes to my chest today will eventually be wistful pangs. There will come a time that roaming these streets will not smack me with what he is missing, but remind me of everything we shared and enjoyed so very much.
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Open Thread, For a Spell
My focus is now zeroing in on a very targeted area in my world, so I am going to be pulling back from full-sized posts here for the foreseeable future. I may still pop up in the comments, and may find a moment or two to pipe up for whatever reason on Twitter, but for now my time is best spent elsewhere. Continued thanks to the "erstwhile" JDLand commenters for keeping the chatter up in my absence.
But at least before I go I can post links to the news of Dacha coming to Dock 79, and that maybe a bowling alley will go into some of the retail space in the Jair Lynch residential/retail project above the Half Street Hole just north of Nats Park. And a reader reports this morning that steel beams have arrived at the NAB HQ site at South Capitol and M, so work might be starting there.
And thanks to everyone for your patience and good thoughts in these past months.
 

Photo Update: Surveying the Landscape, Part I
These days I'm generally the last person laying eyes on something new in the neighborhood, but I still find it necessary to conduct photo documentation when the calendar and forecast align. Which they did on Sunday.
Let's look at signs and entrances, starting first at F1rst and its Residence Inn, where it looks like the homestretch has been entered (click to enlarge, of course):
Then, let's go over to 4th Street, where the District Winery building continues to zip along. It's also where the Bower is now signed, as is Conte's space in Arris:
Then we'll double back westward (you're getting a sense for how far I walk on these excursions), taking a look at the new sidewalk on New Jersey Avenue in front of Insignia on M. Shake Shack's signage at the Homewood Suites, and the One Hill South entrance (very New York, isn't it). (I caught the Bethesda Bagels signage back in December, just in case you think I'm missing it.)
I even caught the view from the bridge of the new Bardo beer garden at Florida Rock, with a few hardy souls in attendance. Plus, views of both Agora on New Jersey Avenue (aka the Whole Foods Building) and 1221 Van (aka That Big Building On South Capitol Immediately North of the Ballpark):
All the links above to project pages have additional brand spanking new pics, and of course Before photos.
Next up, checking out holes in the ground, both current and coming soon.
 

A Sit-Down Restaurant for Arris: Chloe Coming in Fall 2017
It was announced on Thursday that fall 2017 is expected to see the opening at Arris of Chloe, a multi-genre restaurant from Chef Haidar Karoum, late of Estadio, Doi Moi, and Proof.
The press release says that "Chloe will be a showcase of Karoum's personal culinary journey, including his Lebanese roots and extensive travel around Western Europe and Southeast Asia, all grounded in and linked by the seasonal bounties of the mid-Atlantic."
It will have 103 seats inside, with counter seating for 14 at an open kitchen and another 27 spots in the bar, plus 32 outdoor seats for warm months (like February?).
Washingtonian has much more about the venture, including a couple of renderings of the interior, one of which seems to hint that the restaurant will be located in the corner space at 4th and Tingey, but I am trying to confirm the exact location for sure.
Chloe will join Arris's other existing and coming-soon retail tenants Philz Coffee, Conte's Bike Shop, the Juice Laundry, and the Cosmpolitan Nail Lounge. And it also joins the ever-increasing list of eateries across the neighborhood slated to open in 2017.
 

Restaurant News: Declaration to F1rst; Cava Grill to 50 M; Bardo Latest
* The first sit-down restaurant at the F1rst development has been reported by WBJ: Declaration, a 3,500-square-foot restaurant from the Presidential Restaurant Group, which is Lincoln and Teddy & the Bully Bar as well as the first Declaration at 8th and V NW. WBJ says that it will be in the ground floor of the Residence Inn next door to the actual F1rst apartment building, and will have entrances from both the street and the hotel lobby. It also will apparently "be significantly larger and therefore offer a broader menu" than the V Street location, including "Philadelphia-oriented menu items." This location "aims to open by the end of 2017." It joins the previously announced F1rst lineup of Taylor Gourmet, Chop't, Rasa Indian Grill, Chipotle, and Roti.
* Also reported by WBJ, Cava Grill has signed a lease to open in the Homewood Suites on the northeast corner of Half and M, SE, which expectant taste buds may also know as the location-to-be for Shake Shack.
* Bardo says that its new riverfront brewery location on Potomac Avenue across from Nats Park "will open sporadically" between now and April, based on the weather, on a weekend-by-weekend basis.
My food map shows the full lineup of offerings, both open and announced. In addition to the coming-soons mentioned above, 2017 should see the opening of The Salt Line, All-Purpose, Bethesda Bagels, Slipstream, the Juice Laundry, and District Winery.
 

Thursday Tidbits: Morning Flizzard Edition
Hope everyone enjoyed that 45-second snowstorm this morning!
Here's a roundup, mostly from the running linkage I've been posting in the comments. And the photo at right has nothing to do with any of the tidbits--it's just from 11 years ago today. A little different.
* STYMIED: The developers of the proposed large residential project at 1333 M are asking for a two-year extension on their zoning PUD, citing beiing "stymied" in finding financing. (Capitol Hill Corner)
* UNVEILED: Forest City has shown ANC 6D the first renderings of its planned hotel at 3rd and Tingey, SE, on the north end of "Parcel L," where they are already planning a large residential building as well. (Urban Turf)
* TUNNELED: In Virginia Avenue Tunnel news, next week or thereabouts, watch for daily closings of 4th St. SE between I and Virginia, as well as the return of two (shifted) lanes on the 6th Street exit ramp. Also, the portion of 5th (or is the 6th) Street immediately south of Virginia is now closed for seven weeks or so. And the next "Coffee with Chuck" update is at 8 am on Feb. 22 at 861 New Jersey Ave., SE.
* FLICKED: Vote on the lineup for this summer's Thursday Outdoor Movie Series.
* PROMOTED: The 2017 Nats gameday promotions and giveaways lineup is now available.
* SALTED: Ryan Zimmerman is an investor/part-owner of The Salt Line, opening this year across the street from his place of employment. (City Paper)
* STUFFED: Five Guys is back.
Given this weekend's forecast, I may try to get out to take some photos, if the stars align.
 

An Open Thread While Life Reorganizes, Again
I am still here, always at the ready to post news of new retail offerings or projects, but the past few weeks have been a bit crazy on the home front as we found out in late January that Mr. JDLand's femur was in danger of snapping at any moment, necessitating the implantation of a titanium nail along the length of his thigh bone. We also found out that one does not recover from a surgery like that overnight. But he is now getting around a bit better, so I can start to be able to focus on things other than his leg for more than a few seconds at a time. And we hope to have some clarity on the next steps in his treatment before too much longer.
I hear that there are a couple of retail announcements expected in the next few weeks, and perhaps some big projects are close to getting underway (I'm looking at you, 1200 block of Half Street). In the meantime, though, the high-quality JDLand commentariat is doing a great job of keeping an eye on things, so keep checking in the comments for tidbits. And I am mucking around on Twitter, too, of course.
Thanks for everyone's continued patience--and good thoughts--through all of this.
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Cosmopolitan Nail Lounge Coming this Summer to 4th Street
The men got their grooming news already this week, and now it's a tidbit for the ladies: Forest City has announced today that Cosmopolitan Nail Lounge will be opening in the ground floor of the Arris apartment building at the Yards, in one of the 4th Street retail spaces.
It will offer full-service nail and waxing treatments, with free WiFi, refreshments, and "individual guest tables to listen to music or watch a movie during appointments."
The new nail salon will join Arris's already-open Philz Coffee and previously-announced-as-coming-in-2017 tenants Conte's Bike Shop and the Juice Laundry.
 

Eighteen Eight 'Fine Men's Salon' Coming to Foundry Lofts
The photo from the 300 block of Tingey St. SE says it all--"fine men's salon" Eighteen Eight is apparently coming to the former leasing office space in the ground floor of the Foundry Lofts at the Yards.
This would be the second DC opening for the company, joining its 14th St. NW location (along with one in Bethesda and two others in Maryland).
In addition to haircuts, 18|8 offers face, scalp, and nail treatments, shaves, waxing, and coloring; there are also grooming party packages for when you guys want to get with your buddies and get all gussied up.
It's Tingey Street's second grooming outlet, joining the Bang Salon one block to the east. (Too bad Unleashed doesn't offer grooming, otherwise there'd be a Tingey trifecta.)
No official word on when it will open, so don't let your hair get too long while waiting.
Meanwhile, one block to the south, the new District Winery building is getting its face on.
(h/t to reader RMP for the 18|8 sighting)
 

Traffic and Tunnel Tidbits and Open Thread
My focus is elsewhere these days, but I haven't completely stopped keeping an eye on things. Just not any real big news to report. So here's some little news:
* INAUGURATION: It might be a challenge heading north out of the neighborhood on Jan. 20. Here's DDOT's page on the inauguration, with a map of the close-in detours and closings, and the pedestrian routes, and more.
* TUNNEL OPEN HOUSE: The next Virginia Avenue Tunnel open house is Thursday, Jan. 12 (tomorrow), from 6 to 8 pm at the Courtyard Marriott at New Jersey and L, SE. "A brief presentation and Q&A session with residents will be held at 7 p.m., in response to requests from neighbors." Also, CSX says it expects to reopen 3rd Street at Virginia during the week of Jan. 23-27. After that, there will be another temporary closing of 4th St. SE at Virginia to move a utility manhole. And 7th should be reopening at Virginia Any Minute Now.
And, a tidbit that is neither traffic nor tunnel, but is welcome:
* A BRIGHT LIGHT IN THE DISTANCE: Nationals pitchers and catchers report to the new West Palm Beach spring training facility on Feb. 14, with position players arriving by Feb. 17. (WaPo)
What else is going on these days?
 

Welcome to 2017: All is Quiet on Tidbits Day
Cleaning out the hopper:
* FIVE GUYS: There's paper over the windows at the Five Guys on 2nd St., SE, but the official web site says (and a source has said the same) that this is a temporary closure, for some interior "refresh" work.
* ORANGETHEORY: The neighborhood's newest fitness offering will be opening in ORE 82 at New Jersey and I in March, but starting Tuesday, Jan. 3, pre-sales of "founding memberships" will begin.
* EAGLE ACADEMY: The charter school at 1017 New Jersey Avenue will be relocating after this school year ends to Naylor Road SE in Ward 8, "after recently learning that its leased facility in Ward 6 will be sold by the building's owner in August 2017." I imagine questioning eyes will now turn to the garage next door at New Jersey and L, wondering if its days are numbered as well, and if a developer is assembling the New Jersey-facing parcels on Square 740 for some future project.
* OH SAY, CAN YOU HEAR: If within the past month or so you've suddenly started hearing the National Anthem in the air at 8 am, you're not alone. (The Hill is Home)
There's probably more, but I've been awake for a good 90 minutes since my late-morning/early-afternoon nap and still need to get in my mid-afternoon nap before the game with the Washington Football Team gets underway.
But I'll add this, showing the view from the freeway 12 years ago today (Jan. 1, 2005) and a wider shot of the same general view back in August.
UPDATE, JAN. 2: Have you seen this cute little Chihuahua that went missing in the neighborhood?
 

Virginia Ave. Southern Tunnel Complete; Work on Old One Continuing
At 8 am on Friday, Dec. 23, the first double-stacked train passed through the newly built southern tunnel under Virginia Avenue, SE, marking the official completion of that phase of the Virginia Avenue Tunnel project.
(Alas, the photo at left shows a train coming through the old tunnel, before the rails were laid into the new one, but whaddyagonnado.)
Now Phase II of the project is kicking into gear, which is the rehabilitation and expansion of the existing 100-plus-year-old northern tunnel. That work is expected to be completed, along with the streetscape restoration improvements to Virginia Avenue, in mid-2018.
If you want to see some photos from inside the new tunnel as work was being completed, CSX has them in this presentation.
As part of the work on the northern tunnel, the intersection of 7th and Virginia is expected to close Any Minute Now for about two weeks. Of course, 3rd Street remains closed at Virginia for similar work of demolishing the temporary deck over the now-completed new tunnel and rebuilding it over the northern tunnel; it is expected to reopen in January.
 

Roti Joining Chop't, Taylor, Chipotle, and Rasa at F1rst in 2017
The headline about says it all, but for the sake of fleshing out a full post I'll write that it's been announced this morning that Mediterranean-style fresh-and-wholesome purveyor Roti will be coming to the apartment project in the block north of Nats Park known as F1rst in 2017.
It joins previously announced food offerings Taylor Gourmet, Chop't, Chipotle, and Rasa Indian Grill, and this morning's press release says that the retailers are all expected to open in Spring 2017 at the same time the F1rst residences will be completed.
F1rst will have 325 rental units, and a Residence Inn is being completed next door at the same time.
The official F1rst web site has floor plans and additional information (plus the hours of their now-open leasing center trailer at 1st and N), and my project page gives more details and history of the site. And my Food Options page shows you the lineup of everything that's in the pipeline (scroll way way down).
 
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