With no debate, the four Near Southeast alley closing bills that have been snaking their way through the DC legislative process in 2006 were passed at today's city council session, with both emergency and permanent bills being passed (emergency bills allow the statutes to take effect immediately, allowing the closings to be considered law as the permanent bills await mayoral and congressional approval). To recap, this batch included the closing of alleys on the west side of Square 701 between M, N, Cushing, and Half (at Monument Realty's 55 M Street site); the closing of alleys and the creation of streets named 2nd Place, 3rd Place, and an official designation of a portion of L Street, all part of the Capitol Quarter footprint; the closing of alleys and the eventual reopening of H and I streets between 2nd and New Jersey to make way for W.C. Smith's 1-million-sq-ft mixed-use project at 800 New Jersey; and finally the closing of alleys on the east side of Square 700 (between Half, Van, M, and N), where Monument will eventually add to their Half Street domination. That makes seven Near Southeast alley closings and street changes put on the books in 2006, when you include the stadium street closings, the Willco land on the east side of Square 701 (M, N, Cushing, and 1st) and the Square 743N west-side alley closings that allowed the start of construction on the 100 M Street office building and the Onyx on First residential tower. There's one more potential alley closing wandering around out there somewhere, and that's for Lerner's 1000 South Capitol Street office building; representatives came before ANC 6D way back in April, but (believe it or not!) a squabble broke out about an acceptable community benefits package in return for the ANC's report, and nothing's been heard on this since.

WDG Architecture updated its web site recently to include a rendering of 1015 Half Street, the 440,000-sq-ft office building by Potomac Investment Properties slated for the Nation site at Half and L. (I'd give a link directly to their page on 1015 Half, but like so many architecture firms, their site is so overly Flash'ed that there's no way to get you there.) They also had a rendering for 1325 South Capitol Street, the 244-unit residential project across from the stadium by Camden Development. (As expected, I'm wavering in my resolve to stop my coverage at the South Capitol Street median, and will now track anything that fronts South Capitol, even if the address is in Southwest.) These renderings--along with the one I found last week for 1000 South Capitol (the proposed 320,000-sq-ft office building by Lerner Enterprises on the same block as Nation)--spurred me to do some freshening of both my North of M and South Capitol Street pages, adding a lot of new photos and views.

Lerner Enterprises within the past few days launched a very nice (and very much needed) redesign of their web site. The 20 M Street page (which isn't really the official project web site, that's 20MStreetSE.com) says that the building will be available in Spring 2007 (an earlier date than the Fall 2007 originally given), and gives much detail about the project's "green" features. It also lists Cushman & Wakefield as the commercial leasing agents, which I believe is a new development. There's also a page for 1000 South Capitol Street, a proposed 320,000-sq-ft office building on South Capitol between K and L (the parking lot next to Nation). No start date, but there's a rendering, the first I've seen for this project (and you know how excited I get when I unearth renderings). 1000 South Cap has been on the boards for years, but other than a request for an alley closing at an ANC6D meeting earlier this year (which was referred to the development committee), there's been no evidence of movement. See my own 20 M and North of M pages for photos, etc.

The parade of alley closings and street closings/realignments this year in Near Southeast continues, as the National Capital Planning Commission has on its September meeting agenda the proposed closing of a public alley in Square 701 (the square bounded by 1st, M, N and Half Streets, SE--see my cruddy tax parcel map for assistance on where the squares are). I figured that this was going to be the alleys in the footprint of the Monument/WMATA properties, since Monument has made clear it's plans to move forward with developing the land along Half Street, but instead I find out that the alley closings being requested are on the east side of the Square, between Cushing Place and 1st Street, where the land is owned by the Cohen and Camalier families, who have said little about their plans for these properties. Does this mean we'll be seeing development coming to 1st Street south of M soon, too? And believe it or not, as I was writing this very entry, I received word that Monument has now filed it's application for alley closings on the west side of Square 701 as well as one small alley on Square 700 (behind the Amoco Station). Note that neither of these applications request closings of Van or Cushing. These applications follow successful alley closing requests already this year for Square 0743N as part of the 100 M and 1100 1st Street projects, the street/alley closings for the new ballpark, and the closed alleys and new streets for Capper/Carrollsburg--plus there are the still-pending requests to realign the streets in Square 737 in preparation for William C. Smith's big mixed-use project at 2nd and H and the Lerners' request to close a small portion of an alley in Square 697 as part of their 1000 South Capitol office project (no bills for these yet appearing in the DC Council legislation database).

Also at the ANC meeting, I found out a bit more about some of the new projects in the Near Southeast pipeline: the JPI residential project at 901 New Jersey (which was called "Jefferson at New Jersey and K" on the display boards) will have 237ish units, a pool, fitness room, conference center, etc. The Preston Partnership is the architect (fun web site, guys!). This project was before the ANC to ask for support in advance of its BZA hearing on May 16; however, its requests for a special exception for roof requirements and also a lessening of the residential recreation space were referred to the ANC's development subcommittee, and the ANC voiced its concern about the lack of an affordable housing component within the project, which will probably be something that developers coming to Near Southeast will need to address. As for the Square 743N Faison/Opus East projects along 1st Street, the alley closings brouhaha over the past few months has been settled (the city council approved the bill on its final reading April 4), the developers were back again, now asking for the ANC's support in its hearing before the Zoning Commission on May 25 for approval of the plans for the office building portion of the project, at 100 M Street. The commission voted 4-0-1 to give its support. Finally, a request for closing a portion of an alley on Square 0697 as part of Lerner Enterprises's 1000 South Capitol Street project came before the commission, and after the requisite squabbling over payments to the community for the loss of "public space", this too was referred to the development subcommittee.

It's not posted yet, but I've gotten a peek at the agenda for the April ANC 6D meeting, this Monday the 10th, and it's chock full of Near Southeast goodness. There will be a presentation by the DC Sports and Entertainment Commission on the immediate plans for the baseball stadium; then there are presentations on three projects in the pipeline: the Opus East 250,000-sq-ft office building at 100 M Street (the fractious debate at previous meetings over a request to close two alleys on the block for this project has really been jaw-dropping); the JPI project at New Jersey and I; and another request for alley closings (have fun with that, fellas!) for 1000 South Capitol Street. This project is a 320,000-sq-ft office building that Lerner Enterprises has had on the boards for a number of years, and so they appear to now be beginning to move forward with it. It's on the same block--and backs up to--Nation, where Potomac Investment Properties is also now moving on its long-planned 250,000-sq-ft office building at 1015 Half Street. UPDATE: The agenda is now posted.

A building permit application was filed in late August for a $20 million project at 1015 Half Street, SE. Although that particular tax parcel is owned by Potomac Investment Properties, the entire rest of the same block (bounded by K, Half, L, and South Capitol) is owned by Lerner Enterprises, and would seem to be the same location as the 1000 South Capitol project listed on Lerner's web site, a 250,000 sq ft office building. One way or the other, does this spell the end of Nation, the music and dance club currently occupying that block? See my South Capitol Street Corridor page for photos.