We'll start with 801 New Jersey/82 I (above/left), now a smidge more than halfway toward its eventual 13-story height. This is the Graystar/RCP 227-unit apartment building that is expected to open in 2016.

Just up the block is 800 New Jersey, aka the Whole Foods building, which looks just barely out of the ground from New Jersey (below left), but if you venture up 2nd Street (below right) you can see evidence of the ramp for the grocery store parking that will be on the second and third floor. (Resident parking will be below ground, shared with its sibling the Park Chelsea and the eventual third residential building along the east side of the block.) This building will have about 336 rental units:

Two projects have at least some hint of their first floors built: the 380-unit building at 909 Half Street will be a lot larger than this small section of construction at Half and I makes it look like at the moment (below left), while the Homewood Suites at Half and M really does also have a portion of its first floor built, though the nasty late fall shadows make it hard to see.

Next up are three projects that are technically out of the ground, although it's just rebar breaking the plane at the moment, but concrete shouldn't be far behind. Behold terribly unexciting pictures of the status of the F1rst residential project and the Residence Inn immediately to its north, plus the Gallery at Capitol Riverfront/1111 New Jersey.

But if you like photos of holes being dug, you're still in luck. There's now clear evidence of the excavation work at Skanska's 99 M office building project, and while nothing will ever really arise from the cut-and-cover work on the new portion of the Virginia Avenue Tunnel (seen here looking west from 5th Street) it's still digging.

In the midst of all of these updates over the past few days, I did some redevelopment of my own, and finally created individual pages for the Square 701/Not-Ballpark-Square trio of projects, so now you can check out the progress on the Hampton Inn, F1rst/Residence Inn, and 99 M in a less jumbled format.

It's expected to take about two years to complete, and when done it will be the first new building on the east side of South Capitol Street since Nats Park opened more than seven years ago. It will have 26,000 square feet of retail on two stories, giving the corner immediately north of Nats Parking Garage B the sort of "activation" that has been expected ever since it was announced the stadium was coming to South Capitol Street.

For those of you scoring at home, let's go through the lineup of projects currently under construction in the neighborhood east of South Capitol and south of the freeway. Not merely in the pipeline, actually under construction:

* Park Chelsea, 430 rental units, expected delivery early 2016;

* Arris, 326 rental units, expected delivery early 2016;

* Dock 79, 305 rental units, expected delivery summer 2016;

* Lofts at Capitol Quarter, 195 mixed-income rental units, expected delivery 2016;

* Gallery at Capitol Riverfront (1111 New Jersey), 324 rental units, expected delivery 2016;

* 801 New Jersey, 227 rental units, expected delivery late 2016;

* 800 New Jersey/Whole Foods, 336 rental units, expected delivery 2017;

* 909 Half Street, 380 rental units, expected delivery late 2016/early 2017;

* F1rst. 325 rental units, expected delivery 2017;

* Hampton Inn and Suites, 168 rooms, expected delivery Any Minute Now;

* Homewood Suites, 195 rooms, expected delivery late 2016/early 2017;

* Residence Inn, 170 rooms, expected delivery 2017;

* 99 M, 224,000-square-foot office building, expected delivery 2017;

* Capper Community Center, expected delivery early 2016.

If you don't feel like doing the math, that's more than 2,900 rental units being built right now, as well as about 530 hotel rooms.

On Monday night, ANC 6D supported 5-0-1 the project's application for two zoning variances (side yard and loading berth) and a special exception (roof structure). In its motion, the ANC did mention that the loss of Nats Parking Lot K and the addition of more residents "will place further demands on an already difficult parking situation," and asks for the developer's commitment to "place information in all leases stating that tenants are not eligible for [residential parking permits.]" The ANC also mentioned concerns with potential use of the curb lane on South Capitol for loading, deliveries, and drop-offs, and suggested a small signed zone on K Street for such uses.

And, while the building does not have an affordable housing requirement, Lerner has committed to having two such units in the building, one with a household income of 50-80% area median income (AMI) and one of 80-120% AMI. Commissioner Rhonda Hamilton made a strong plea for the AMI to go as low as 30% AMI, noting that "it's not fair" that people who work at the stadium or nearby restaurants for low pay are being priced out of the ability to live near where they work.

Note the angled windows along South Capitol, alternating between south-facing and north-facing on each floor, to give residents views toward the Capitol and toward the ballpark.

I am not seeing any evidence in the filings of any ground-floor retail--this block is not covered by the Capitol Gateway Overlay District, so it does not have the same requirements for retail space that buildings along and south of M are bound by.

To the east, the not-minor project to do the masonry work and the siding at the 195-unit mixed-income Lofts at Capitol Quarter at 7th Street continues--apologies for only showing the rear of the building when I take a wide shot, but with the trees and the narrowness of L Street it's basically impossible for me to get a good photograph of the front. (Plus the low sun angle from late October through early March makes southern-facing photos a pretty miserable experience with a pretty miserable outcome, anyway.)

At 5th and K, the Capper Community Center's exterior isn't changing too much at this stage, but I'd get the shakes if I tried to not photograph it.

At New Jersey and Tingey, the new trapeze school building's blue-and-white exterior is mostly finished, though I'm such a bad blogger that it didn't occur to me to walk up to the big opening and peek in--but TSNYDC has posted a photo of the inside.

As for the Brig, the beer garden-to-be at 8th and L, the building itself looks pretty well finished now, though the "garden" portion of the venture does not appear to have gotten underway yet. And with two pit bulls on guard (!), I wasn't about to poke my camera through the fence for a better view.

And while I had designs on pressing my camera up against the glass at Buffalo Wild Wings on Half Street, they were having a staff training session when I arrived, and so I chickened out (Bad Blogger Data Point #2). But the gentleman I spoke with there confirmed again the Nov. 16 opening date, saying that the doors will open that day at 10 am--and that they generally have people camping out over Sunday nights to be among the first 100 customers through the door, who are then winners of the free-wings-once-a-week-for-a-year prize. Hope y'all have warm sleeping bags!

Still to come, the skeletons-and-holes report.

Both Urban Turf and Capitol Hill Corner have reported on the plans by Northfield Development, which include 16 one-bedroom units, three studios, and three two-bedroom units, along with 11 ground-floor parking spaces tucked in behind the ground floor. Both the parking entrance and the resident entrance will be on L Street.

Developers apparently told a supportive ANC 6B that they anticipate breaking ground in March 2016, making it a busy time for that stretch of Virginia, which is currently closed for the Virginia Avenue Tunnel reconstruction.

In late October the Historic Preservation Review Board found the plans to be "generally compatible" with the Capitol Hill Historic District, though the developers are being asked to "refine the design so that it has more of the character of Capitol Hill, including a weightier base, an attention to details and materials, [...] and more substantial corners."

If one takes a long stroll through the JDLand archives, one can read about how the land was bought in the summer of 2005 (not a typo) for $2.5 million with plans for a mixed residential/office/retail building advertised in 2007 as "The Admiral." The former gas station seen here that stood on the site was demolished in early 2006 (#34 in the Demolished Buildings gallery), but the lot remained unbuilt. Then in the fall of 2008 it reappeared as a planned office building, which actually got BZA approval before also not moving forward. Then the land was purchased by Northfield in July, for what property records say is $1.825 million.

While for a few years the tunnel construction will be yet another hurdle (literally) to getting visitors at the main section of Barracks Row to cross under the freeway, the opening of Ziaafat Grill as well as the arrivals Any Minute Now of Las Placitas and the Brig at 8th and L plus potential plans by the National Community Church for the Blue Castle could perhaps be the first tugs southward that Lower Barracks Row has been looking for. We Shall See.

As for the condo lineup in the neighborhood, the list of potential projects is finally starting to grow, with PN Hoffman's 140-unit building at 4th and Tingey (Yards "Parcel O") looking to be the first out of the gate with construction expected to start next year. The Jair Lynch Companies have said that a portion of his project to fill in the Half Street Hole will be condos, and of course there's the possibility of a condo building on Square 767 in the Capper redevelopment footprint. And 10 Van Street is being "contemplated" as condos, as is the MRP building slated for the Navy Yard Metro station Chiller Plant site at Half and L. It will be interesting to see what comes to fruition.... (If you are keeping track at home, the last [well, only] condo building to be built in the neighborhood was Velocity, which opened in 2009. The co-ops at Capitol Hill Tower opened in 2006.)

It turns out that sometimes the best way to do something you've wanted to do for 12 years is to actually ask.

Last week I was given a tour of the 215,000-square-foot building, often by flashlight since there is no power currently on inside, and here is a gallery of photos for your perusal. There were some areas I was not allowed to depict here: I guess when I finally write a book about all of this in 2030 or so I will get to unveil that particular mystery.

However, you are still able to see a pretty astonishing space, even given its current run-down state, and it's easy to see why developers would be eyeing it as a potential high-risk high-reward rehabilitation of a historic building. The inner atrium runs the complete length of the building and up to the roof, while the sides of the building (where the four narrow strips of windows are in the above photo) offer the sort of industrial/exposed-brick goodness that plenty of architects spend a lot of time trying to emulate.

As mentioned above, Forest City does not have plans for the building anytime soon, and decided to market it to see whether another company might potentially have a vision for it that meshes well with the general direction of the Yards--and one that of course would be willing to pay more than a few pennies to buy the building.

Here are some of the photos, but look at the gallery to see the complete set.

(RCP doesn't actually own the land, but is listed with Crescent Communities LLC as "Contract Purchaser/Development Team," and there is a letter from McDonald's authorizing RCP and Crescent to "represent the Property owner" in all BZA proceedings. McDonald's has owned the land since 1985.)

The first phase would run along South Capitol Street and turn toward the east in an L-shape, paralleling the Southeast Freeway. Tthe second phase would be a tower built to the east, with a glass walkway structure connecting it to the first tower along I Street, and with an open courtyard and driveway (as seen below).

The filings show only about 3,200 square feet of retail at the building's southwest corner. (No word as to whether McDonald's would return, though I note that the rendering above shows a "bank" in that space.) The architect is SK&I.

(As for that Southeast Freeway ramp shown just to the west of the proposed building in the top rendering, it is slated to eventually go away as part of a not-yet-funded not-yet-scheduled later phase of the South Capitol Street reconstruction, with cars instead turning left onto a ramp at a location under the freeway about where Nats Lot HH currently is.)

More as I get it, clearly.

UPDATE: One or two additional tidbits: the first-phase building would be about 380 apartments--the second phase could be more apartments, or condos, or a hotel, at this point undetermined. Also, it's worth keeping in mind that the design in the renderings is a pretty early one.

(And is it really all that different from my rendering?)

No official comment or additional info to be had at this point; however, maybe now that it's out there the development team of Ruben and Related will catch up with the party and pass along some tidbits.

The longest serving member of the holes lineup, 800 New Jersey (aka the Whole Foods Building) continues its slow (did I mention slow?) progress toward reaching ground level on its western side, having hit that milestone on its eastern edge a number of months ago. Meanwhile, the list's first runner-up, 1111 New Jersey (which I suppose someday I'll have to start calling The Gallery at Capitol Riverfront) is pouring concrete and rebar-ing at last. (Do not underestimate the intricacies of excavation and construction near a Metro station.) Here's 800 and 1100, both captured a few days ago:

Then there's the as-yet-unrendering'ed residential project at 909 Half Street, as well as the hole that will sprout both the Residence Inn hotel and F1rst apartment building along 1st Street south of M, all of which were started within weeks of each other in the spring and none of which are small:

Lastly there's the Homewood Suites project at 50 M Street, which despite only going down about two floors has lagged behind its spring cohorts, but which now has a partial concrete floor and some columns, though with a dirt floor still partially in evidence. (See my previous comment about the intricacies of excavation and construction near a Metro station.)

Given how I am getting jolted by the skyline changes from a mere two new skeletons (at Florida Rock and 801 New Jersey), imagine the joltings that are on tap for 2016 as these additional projects rise out of the ground. The image below may help prepare you (and me), with my having marked the locations where the view is going to change.... (UPDATE: Dang it, I had the F1rst and Residence Inn locations swapped. The image is correct now.)

(PS: Reader Poll.)

With the residential buildings at Florida Rock and 801 New Jersey now in the showy above-ground portion of construction, I got jolted quite a few times during a four-hour walk around the neighborhood on Sunday to catch up on photos.

Here's a few images that perhaps might jolt you too, starting with the one above, looking directly at Dock 79 from the DC Water bridge along the Riverwalk, which also should be compared to this view from just before the final demolition of the concrete plant. And while there's this one that I've been waiting to see, looking east along Potomac Avenue from South Capitol Street, with work on the top floor now underway, there's also the "surprise" view from the Yards Park (click to enlarge):

Dock 79 is also quite visible now when looking south along 1st Street, and even from New Jersey and M (in person, not with a wideish-angle lens!).

As for 801 New Jersey, it hasn't risen more than a couple floors, but it's still starting to show itself at locations other than the intersection of New Jersey and I--like along K Street, at 1st and at 2nd Place (I've added a small helpful pointer in case you aren't seeing it). It's going up a total of 13 floors, so it's only going to get more noticeable from more locations.

Of course, if a favored view is being eclipsed by this "progress," my sympathies. At least someone thought to take "before" photos.

(PS: The Reader Poll will be closing soon, so hurry up and vote. Tell us your favorite haunts around the 'Hood, and tell me a little about yourself. Pretty please? There may be a coveted JDLand t-shirt in it for you!)