From the Examiner: "The District of Columbia could get its first gold-rated 'green' building courtesy of Washington Nationals owner Ted Lerner, the family announced Wednesday. The 190,000-square-foot office building, located at 20 M St. SE near the under-construction Nationals baseball stadium, was constructed to match the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold standards for environmentally friendly buildings. The building, the first built under Lerner Enterprises' Green Initiative Program, will be submitted for certification from the Building Council, officials announced. Projects are awarded certified, silver, gold or platinum certification depending on the number of credits buildings receive under the Building Council's grading system. The Lerners have endured criticism from some environmental activists for not including enough green materials in the new Nationals stadium."

Word has coming pouring in this afternoon from various boots on the ground (we'll give co-credit to readers Frank and Dave) that a sign announcing "Coming Soon - FedEx/Kinkos" has appeared in the window just to the left of the 20 M Street entrance (as they once again wait until I am just out of sight to hang the advertisement). Those who are hoping for a restaurant will have to continue to keep their fingers crossed.

I gave you new stadium, Monument Half Street, and 20 M photos yesterday; today I've posted new Community Center and DOT HQ shots, including some pretty neat ones of the new New Jersey Ave. and Tingey Street intersection (amazing what bright sunlight can do for a bunch of buildings and fresh asphalt!). I also added to the 20 M page new shots of the festive scrolling information sign they've installed over the main entrance, as well as the "Coming Soon - Wachovia" sign that I missed by minutes when taking my pictures on Sunday. You can also see on one page all the photos from yesterday and today that I've posted.

Still working my way through the pile of pictures I took today.... New shots posted of the ongoing work at the Monument Half Street site, and also some "substantially complete" shots of 20 M Street--in a couple photos you can see men working on the far left window on M Street, and a reader gave me a heads up that not more than a few minutes after I came through, they posted a sign saying "Wachovia Coming Soon." So, if that's indeed the case, that would be the first 20 M tenant we've heard of.

A press release today from Lerner Enterprises: "Lerner Enterprises, Washington D.C.'s largest private real estate developer, is pleased to announce the substantial completion of 20 M Street, SE, a 190,600 square foot 10-story Class 'A' office building located in Washington D.C.'s Southeast Corridor. 20 M Street is situated across from the Navy Yard Metro and two blocks from the new ballpark of the Washington Nationals." The press release touts the building's views of the Capitol and the Nats Ballpark, and its LEED Gold rating by the US Green Building Council. Missing from the release, it should be noted, is any announcement of tenants for the building; as of now, none have been announced that I've heard. As for "substantially completed", the building itself doesn't look 100% open for business, but the sidewalks are now completed and open, so I guess that's good enough. You can relive the before-and-afters on my 20 M Street page, and I've also updated the office tab of my Project Directory to move 20 M to the Completed list. (And you'll note that 55 M and the other portions of the Monument Half Street project are now listed in the directory as "Under Construction.")

In addition to the latest stadium photos that I posted on Saturday, there's also a smattering of new photos on the 20 M Street and Capper Seniors #2 pages, and even the Monument Half Street page (showing the hole in the ground starting to be dug as part of the Navy Yard Metro station upgrade). I also tossed in a few updated photos of the 4th and K and 4th and L intersections into the Photo Archive as well.

As we slide into the New Year's weekend, I'm bringing 2006 to a close with a pile of new photos. The most comprehensive update would be on my Department of Transportation HQ page, with updated photos from almost every angle, including the not-yet-open-to-the-public views from the south side of the project, along Tingey Street. And I had a lovely time on Christmas Eve morning being briefly detained by security and then escorted off the premises, so I hope you appreciate my sacrifice. I also updated all the 20 M Street shots, as workers have switched into a high gear to have the building ready for a Spring 2007 delivery. The demolition work on the last Capper block has brought some new photos to the Capper Apartments page (updated since yesterday), and my wanderings around the Capper footprint made me also add some new shots to the Capitol Quarter page and even at the bottom of the main Capper/Carrollsburg Overview page. Then I had to go take a few new Nationals ballpark shots (yes, new just since Christmas Eve). Then, because I never want to be accused of ignoring a construction site, I've even posted fabulously exciting pictures of the excavated holes at 70/100 I and 100 M/Onyx. And sprinkled two new M Street images, too. The beloved icon is your guide to all the latest, of course. And I hope to have another big update early in 2007 with some new overhead shots, once the Capper demolition is complete. In the meantime, enjoy this overwhelming bounty.

With the lovely weather, I've wandered out to take some photos around the Hood, and have posted a couple new ones here and there. First, I went to Anacostia Park and Poplar Point and took a bunch of new photos of the Near Southeast waterfront, and so now have my first shots of the stadium construction as seen from across the river. There's also now photos of the latest demolition at Capper/Carrollsburg (which also means two new entries on my Near SE's Demolished Buildings page), and a couple new shots of JPI's 70/100 I Street residential project (mainly showing the increasingly large hole in the ground). There's also a couple new photos on the Monument Realty/Half Street page as well as new additions and rejiggering (and a new waterfront shot) to the Ballpark District/More Photos page. Definitely look for the icon on these pages, because the additions are sprinkled throughout.

Thankfully I looked at the weather forecast before planning my weekend, and scheduled a photo excursion for Saturday, not Sunday. Lots of new pictures in the Stadium Construction Gallery, now also reorganized so that as you scroll down you're basically walking clockwise around the stadium site from it's construction starting point at 1st and N Place all the way down Potomac, up South Capitol, and over on Half back to 1st. And I also added a new photo or two (and updated the spiffy animated slide shows) for 20 M and Capper Seniors #2. Let the icon be your guide to the additions, as always. UPDATE: Oh yeah, duh, there's also the Capper demolition along the south side of L Street between 3rd and 4th, I added a couple of shots of that as well to my Capitol Quarter page, I'll update when the last of the blue-roofed apartment buildings comes down, probably within the next week.

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.