For those who haven't visited the neighborhood since, oh, let's say March, progress has not fully ground to a halt. (Even if blogging about it has.) The JDLand auxiliary backup camera (better known as a Pixel 3) took a long-delayed stroll on Friday evening to capture some changes, and to also see that, with a dining landscape built from the beginning to take advantage of outdoor space, most restaurants were pretty hopping with a young crowd. (Not a lot of masks seen on others wandering the neighborhood, I will say.)
Two of the new offerings along Half Street just north of Nats Park are now open--
Atlas Brew Works (with Andy's Pizza) and Cold Stone Creamery--even while Half Street itself is still very much not finished with its streetscape remodel. I also scoped out
Toastique, which has moved into the old Juice Laundry space on 4th Street SE between Tingey and Water. (I completely forgot to get a photo of
Bammy's, the "Caribbean-inspired" restaurant that replaced Whaley's in the Lumber Shed at Yards Park.)
The rest of the new-storefront news is pretty much in the Personal Care category (how apropos!), with the CVS at Half and I SE looking like it is seconds away from opening, in its spot next door to the new(ish)
Medstar Primary Care office. Meanwhile, over at 4th and M,
Pivot Physical Therapy has now opened. (And there are those of us who would say that the new Hill Spirits liquor store at Half and K next to BonChon also qualifies as Personal Care.)
Meanwhile, there's also a few public space updates worth including, even if the photos from late in the evening aren't really so fab. As mentioned above, the streetscape work continues on Half Street north of the ballpark, and there are indeed stringed lights being installed across it (old zoning restrictions be damned, I guess). And look, trees!
Over at the Yards, Tingey Square is finished (and you can also see the latest progress on the
Chemonics HQ in the background). And the new walkway connecting the Tingey Square area to the Yards Park is now open as well, with rough/uneven stones clearly placed to discourage high-speed biking or scootering (watch your ankles, old folks). It also leads to a new plaza on the northwest corner of the Yards Park.
It should also be mentioned that the recent unpleasantness has not been without casualties, with the aforementioned Juice Laundry and also Peet's Coffee at New Jersey and M and the clothing store Willow at 4th and Water closing for good.
At some point I'll pull together a holes-and-skeletons-and-completions construction update, but not until I can do some daytime wandering with collapsing from heat stroke.