From today's print edition of the Washington Business Journal: "CNN and a couple of law firms are sampling the wares in Southeast DC by taking tours of new office buildings cropping up around the new baseball stadium. No leases have been signed yet, but the buzz of these high-profile tenants looking at Southeast as an option is quite a victory for a neighborhood formerly known as an industrial zone crawling with seediness and crime. [...] Also, rents in Southeast are expected to be around $40 per square foot for full service, $20 to $30 cheaper than new or renovated buildings in the Central Business District." Of course, right now, "tours of new office buildings" means 20 M Street, the only new office building currently completed and with plenty of space to lease. But by 2009 there will also be 100 M, 55 M, and probably 250 M and 1111 New Jersey. And maybe a couple more, depending on what happens within the next few months at Square 699N, Square 697 (Nation), and the Willco site at 83 M. (The article fudges a bit by mentioning 1.8 million square feet of office space was under construction in Near Southeast back in December, but, well, 1.35 million of that was the DOT HQ.) UPDATE: Added the link to the story, since WBJ was nice enough to bring it out from behind the pay wall.

There hasn't been any announced movement on either office building planned for Square 697 (the block bounded by South Capitol, K, L, and Half), but I decided it was time to build (or, more accurately, I got guilted into building) a new page detailing 1015 Half Street and 1000 South Capitol. 1015 Half is the 440,000-sq-ft building planned for the site of the old "Nation" nightclub, and since they do at least have a "Coming Soon" banner hung on the north facade and have applied for raze permits, they get the additional honor of being added to the main projects map on my home page (where space is so very limited). 1000 South Capitol is Lerner Enterprises' proposed 300,000-sq-ft office building, but other than a rendering and some contact info on the Lerner web site, there's precious little additional information about this project. Of course, these new pages have photos on them as well.

Today the DCRA Building Plan Review Status database shows a new building permit application for 1015 Half Street, the site of the old Nation nightclub, where Potomac Investment Properties is planning to building a 440,000-sq-ft office building. This is just the application, it hasn't been approved yet, and to illustrate that permit apps don't always morph immediately into new construction, I point out that a building permit application for 1015 Half was originally filed on August 24, 2004; here's a Washington Business Journal story describing the project. That being said, today's new application is most likely a resubmittal of the original one with whatever structural corrections needed to be addressed from the first application, and clearly they're moving forward with the project; you may remember that I posted last week that a raze permit is also currently in the works for 1015 Half.

I've finally uncovered a roundabout way to find out about pending raze permits (right now, raze permit applications are not tracked or listed in any way on DC.gov--waaah!). The city's Historic Preservation Office sends out via e-mail weekly permit reports for the entire city (the HPO is contacted by the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs to confirm that building/raze permits aren't for buildings with some landmark status or other hold). Recently mailings have indicated that raze permits are in process for 1015 Half Street (Nation) as well as most of the buildings on Monument Realty's properties along Half, N, and South Capitol Streets (26, 30, 32, and 68 N Street, 1241 and 1243 Cushing Place, and 1236 South Capitol). This reports from HPO don't mean that razing is imminent (for instance, the Monument Realty raze permit requests came through HPO in mid-October), but do show that plans for demolition are more than just theoretical. UPDATE: I knew I forgot something when I posted this; I meant to include that, while I haven't seen a raze permit, a correspondent has reported that tenants told him that the beige brick building at South Capitol and O SW is scheduled to be demolished just after the New Year, to make way for the 1325 South Capitol 244-unit residential building.

The city's Issued Building Permit data feed just updated (and guys, isn't it time to admit you're only updating it weekly and not daily?), and lo and behold there's an issued permit listed for 1015 Half Street, the site of the defunct Nation nightclub, where Potomac Investment Properties is planning 420,000 sq ft of office space with 20,000 sq ft of retail. The permit info seems a bit incomplete--no actual permit number, some other info missing on the complete entry, and the building permit application submitted two years ago still shows one discipline needing to be approved. But I note that there's also a Public Space Permit that went into effect last week for water and sewer excavation at 1015 Half, a permit that can sometimes signal preparations for demolition (because the water and sewer lines into the property need to be capped before a building can be demolished). But certainly even the existence of these permits--along with the sign on the north side of the Nation building from Cushman and Wakefield advertising office space "coming soon"--would seem to indicate that movement isn't far away. The other half of this block (where the parking lot is, fronting South Capitol) is owned by the Lerner family, who are proposing 1000 South Capitol (320,000 sq ft office building) on that lot, but have not announced any timetable. See my North of M map to get your bearings. (And I guess it might be time for 1015 Half to get its own page. It never stops!) Anyone with the scoop (c'mon, Mr. Gewirz, I know you're lurking out there) feel free to fill me in.

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.

Appearing on the north side of the Nation building at Half and K within the past few days, a sign saying "Coming Soon", 440,000 sq ft of office space, with a phone number for Cushman & Wakefield. So it appears that Potomac Investment Properties (owner of the site) is continuing to move forward on the long-planned 1015 Half Street office building in this spot. But will they wait for a tenant before beginning construction?

Nation, the nightclub at Half and K, is closing its doors after Saturday night, and the Washington Blade has a look back at VelvetNation, the Saturday night gay dance party. I've not heard anything on when the building might be demolished, or when construction might start on 1015 Half Street, the 250,000-sq-ft office building planned for that site by Potomac Investment Properties (the people who brought you 300 M Street). Check my North of M page for information and photos about that little slice of Near Southeast.

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.

The rumors have abounded for some time, and now there's confirmation that the Nation nightclub at Half and K will be closing, with July 15 given as the last night of festivities. Potomac Investment Properties has had plans for some time to build a 250,000-sq-ft office building on that site--they filed a building permit application back in August, 2004, but it lay dormant for months and months and months. However, the permit has had some movement on it within the past month, so there clearly is movement toward beginning the new project. The Washington Blade has more on the closing, and on Nation's history. I don't know when exactly construction would begin. See my North of M page for photos, etc.