If you have wandered through Canal Park or the Yards Park in recent days, you may have come across the large displays that make up the Capitol Riverfront BID's new two-part "Then and Now" exhibit, showcasing photos that probably look very familiar to longtime JDLand readers. The BID also included explanatory text for the 20 sites highlighted, and they are a very striking way for people who've never heard of a "JDLand" to see exactly what has gone on in the neighborhood in such a relatively short period of time. And no need to be hunched over a computer or squinting at a phone screen! The exhibits will be on display through mid-summer.
In other news that I've been extraordinarily neglectful of:
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NICOLETTA PIZZA: It was
almost six years ago that I first wrote of plans for Chef Michael White's plans to bring a sibling of his Osteria Morini to the Yards Park boardwalk.The notion seemed to fall by the wayside, especially when
Morini Piccolo arrived in the fall of 2017, but lo and behold, a few weeks ago signage went up, and
now it is open.
Eater DC wrote a preview, if you are looking for information beyond ***PIZZA*** (and frozen Negronis, which Mr. JDLand would have been quite revved up for).
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MORE APARTMENTS UNDERWAY: My coverage of the eastern portion of the neighborhood is even worse than my coverage of the rest of it, so I haven't written much about either the completed renovations of the 19-unit apartment building now known as
the Callisto at 816 Potomac or about the adjoining four-story, 49-unit new construction apartment building apparently dubbed
Europa at 818 Potomac, both by
MMg Development. Work is now underway on Europa, as I captured in
a terrible photo a few weeks ago. (And maybe I'll get
my development map updated with these items soon. Any Minute Now.)
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MORE CONDOS UNDERWAY: Readers have been noticing digging underway on the south side of L Street between South Capitol and Half, and it is the start of construction on an 11-story, 74-unit condo building at
37 L Street, a project of
DBT Development. Here is a rendering, from the web site of
Bonstra Haresign Architects, that shows the building if you are looking toward the southeast from across L Street. This was the site for the former Empire Cab company, and before that, the site of
one of the city's deadliest fires. This is not to be confused with the Metro "
chiller plant" site next door, on the corner of Half and L, where residential is slated to happen Some Day.
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TACO CITY DC: One other east-end item that I have neglected terribly is the arrival of
Taco City DC, next to Las Placitas on the southeast corner of 8th and L in a storefront that has seen at least three other food ventures come and go within the past few years. But it looks like the jinx might be broken, with the Post's Going Out Guide quickly naming it
one of the ten best taco shops in the area.