The latest building permits issued by the DC government (shown in my DC Government Feeds section) have a couple tantalizing Near Southeast tidbits: one is for the long-planned dry cleaners on the first-floor of Capitol Hill Tower at 1000 New Jersey, and the other is a series of building permit entries (strangely devoid of detail or even permit numbers) for five addresses on block Square 669N, the land bounded by 1st, Half, K, and L that's owned by Bethesda developer Ron Cohen. I don't really know anything more than this on either project (except that the dry cleaners won't have actual dry-cleaning operations right on the premises), but news is news. Hopefully Mr. Cohen will be showing his hand before too much longer. UPDATE, 12/10: Another four building permits for the Cohen block arrived in the latest building permit feed, and the only additional hint is that the permit type on these is listed as "repair."

The shareholders at Capitol Hill Tower invited me over last night to bore them with descriptions of arcane zoning regulations and pending parking garages, and their CHT Shareholder Community Blog includes a nice roundup of some of the Near Southeast development plans people had questions about, edited into handy bullet-point fashion for those of you just too darn lazy to bother committing to memory thousands of blog entries and hundreds of pages of photos and content. :-)

If you are a resident of Capitol Hill Tower, you're invited to their next Shareholder Community Meet and Greet, on Nov. 9 (note changed date) from 6:30 - 9:00 pm, where the special guest of honor will be, um, me. Yes, I've agreed to unshackle myself from my computer and exit my dungeon temporarily to come chat with CHT residents about the goings-on in Near Southeast. So come on by and spend some time getting to know your neighbors, I'll be the one standing in the corner shaking uncontrollably from all the unfamiliar contact with actual live humans.

A quick roundup of Near Southeast-related doings at Monday night's ANC 6D meeting. After a plea from 6D07 commissioner Robert Siegel, the ANC voted to support the previously-voted-down alley closing request on the east side of Square 701 (between Cushing and 1st streets), saying in effect that a $95,000 community amenities proffer is not something that should be turned down. Monument Realty came before the commission to request support for it's two alley closing bills (in Squares 700 and 701 in the Ballpark District), and the request was referred to the ANC's Development Subcommittee for further discussions about Monument's community amenities package, which includes a pledge of up to 20% affordable housing in the residential project at Half and N, LSDBE participation, LEED standards, and an offer to spend approximately $500,000 to upgrade the electrical/HVAC systems at Amidon Elementary School (but there's some question as to whether Amidon will be open past 2007). Finally, the ANC voted not to support the request for a liquor license to open a liquor store at the old Star Market site at 2nd and L (the license hearing is Nov. 8). I'll link to the Hill Rag/Voice of the Hill reports on these meetings when available for additional details since it must be admitted that I bailed before the meeting was over and am relying on a vast network of informants and stringers to provide the few meager details I included here.

The very active new residents of Capitol Hill Tower have organized a meeting at 5 pm on Oct. 7 (Saturday) with officers from PSA 105 and also the three Ward 6 council candidates - Tommy Wells (D), Tony Williams (R) and Will Cobb (I) - to discuss security issues in the neighborhood as well as the plans for growth in Near Southeast. This meeting is open to the public.

Today's WashTimes has "Hotel Industry Gathers Momentum in Near Southeast", keyed to today's "opening" of the Courtyard by Marriott at New Jersey and L. (They're having a grand opening party tonight, but of course the hotel actually opened to customers in March.) The article mentions three other hotel projects on the boards, at Florida Rock (That's "FRP Development" in the story), Herb Miller's garage-wrapper plan just north of the stadium, Half and L (the Ron Cohen project, which I've heard nothing about for quite some time), and Maritime Plaza (east of 11th Street). The project it doesn't mention is the rumored sale at 50 M Street of the Sunoco station to a hotel developer of some sort--still no confirmation of that anywhere.

Residents on floors 1-6 have now begun the settlement process and are moving in to the co-ops at Capitol Hill Tower, after some delays and gnashing of teeth. Residents might be interested in the CHT Shareholder Community blog that was launched to organize unit owners.

There continue to be delays at Capitol Hill Tower residences, with move-in dates having now been pushed back multiple times. I've been getting messages from the increasingly grumpy not-yet-residents, and now one of them has created a blog where shareholders (since it's a co-op) can exchange information about the delays. Please contact the owner that blog with comments or questions, not me, since I'm not at all involved in this. UPDATE: Link changed to reflect new blog URL (now moved to Blogspot).

ANC 6D's monthly meeting is coming up (Monday June 12), and although the agenda hasn't been posted on their web site yet, I've gotten a peek at it, and the main event is a presentation of the baseball stadium plan, in advance of it's June 26 Zoning Commission hearing. Like all ANC discussions, I'm sure this one will be calm and collegial and without incident. Speaking of which, the Hill Rag has the summary of last month's meeting, where the commission voted to oppose a both zoning special exception for the JPI residential project at 901 New Jersey Avenue as well as a public space permit application by the Courtyard by Marriott for an outdoor seating area. (Note that the JPI project received approval by the Bureau of Zoning Adjustment for its project, anyway.)

The first people will be moving into Capitol Hill Tower on May 22, according to various sources. I'm posting this mainly so that people will stop bombarding me with e-mails telling me their move-in dates--please note for the future that I will not be following all-but-completed residential projects with the amount of detail that some people seem to be expecting. I don't intend to keep the site updated with the number of units sold, exact move-in dates, changes in prices, etc. etc. So I appreciate the updates that people are sending me (and sending me, and sending me, and sending me) but no need to continue. When there's news that's of interest to the entire neighborhood--like when more retail establishments sign on--I'll of course let folks know, but if you want exact details about Capitol Hill Tower or other projects that will be coming down the pike, you'll need to contact the sales offices. Sorry, but as you can see from the site these days, I've got a lot to cover, and this is one area that just doesn't need my laser-like attention.