New Restaurants

I think the pictures speak for themselves in this section.

Tingey Street saw the opening of Pacers Running, Hugh & Crye Menswear, and Banfield Pet Hospital.

The Hampton Inn at 1st and N and the new Trapeze School space at New Jersey and Tingey snuck in under the wire for 2015. (This section will be considerably larger next year.)

At the Ballpark

Nats Park saw the NHL Winter Classic, new food offerings, and the Taylor Swift invasion. (But not the October games many had been expecting.) Plus, there was the announcement that the 2018 MLB All-Star Game will come to Half Street.

Farewell

The "new neighborhood" is now old enough that some establishments are exiting. We said goodbye to Sizzlin' Express and Buzz Bakery, and await the Italian-themed retooling of the Park Tavern. Plus the Hill Country gameday BBQ pop-up at South Capitol and N will be no more, with development now underway in that spot.

Underway

A mere seven development projects (four residential, two hotel, one office) broke ground in 2015, to go with the mere seven development projects already under construction. (Need a map to keep them all straight? You're in luck!)

Coming soon, an equally speedy summary of what's on tap for 2016.

I wandered in off the streets without the official JDLand camera, but my S6 stood in pretty well as I took some quick photos of the public areas, and of the views off the roof deck, even though that space doesn't appear 100 percent ready yet. (The door was unlocked, honest!)

The official web site for the location probably tells you more than I can about amenities, etc. It looks like the rates are pretty low for dates over the coming days (starting at $99 if you arrived on Monday the 21st), but I'm guessing that won't be the case for long. And there are rooms that are specifically labeled "Ballpark view."

I tossed together a photo gallery that isn't exactly a barn-burner, but here are a few highlights. Apologies that the shots of the ballpark from the roof are ghastly, but I pretty much couldn't have picked a worse time of day in December to try to take photos to the south-southwest. I think you can get the idea.

More in the gallery.

As for the space at street level between the wings of the hotel, directly on the corner, that land is not part of the Hampton footprint--it's part of the Grosvenor F1rst/Residence Inn project immediately to the north, and will eventually be home to a two-story retail building, which you can see in this F1rst rendering that helpfully doesn't include the Hampton Inn.

The building, seen on the left side of this rendering, will have about 12,000 square feet of ground-floor retail as well as below-grade parking, and is expected to be finished in 2018. It was designed by Handel Architects and WDG, and it's not hard to see brick-and-glass echoes of Arris, its cousin across 4th Street.

The financing was provided by Grosvenor Americas' Structured Development Financing program, for those of you keeping score at home.

According to the sign erected a few weeks back, sales are supposed to start this spring.

And at the same time Hoffman's condo project is being built, Forest City will be building its own rental building immediately to the south, with 190 units in two towers (as seen on the right side of the rendering and in other renderings on the project page).

This is the site where the trapeze school has been camped for the past few years, and it's why they are moving to their new digs at New Jersey and Tingey Any Minute Now.

Hoffman's building (technically known at this point at as Parcel O-1) will be the first condo project in the Yards, and will also be the first condo project to get underway in the neighborhood since Velocity started its construction in 2007--and looks to be on the vanguard of a mini-wave of condo offerings, as both developments at Half and N just north of Nats Park are slated to have condos, along with perhaps a future project at Half and L and one on Square 767 on the old Capper footprint.

The Capitol Gateway Zoning Overlay requires buildings just north of the ballpark to "minimize unarticulated walls," and there is no doubt that this design, by ODA Architecture of New York, passes that test, with "extensive modulation" through the use of "balconies [and] extensive landscaping incorporated into the elevations." (This mondo-articulated approach to building design seems to be an ODA hallmark, as you can see from the company's portfolio.)

The condo portion, on the south side of the building at Half and N facing the ballpark, would have approximately 224 1- and 2-bedroom units, while the rental portion on the north end would have 200 units, mostly studio and 1-bedroom units but also with about 10 3-bedroom units. (And the units will have irrigation systems for the balconies, to keep that greenery nice and lush, though I'd still suggest branded watering cans placed strategically as well.)

The rendering above is the view at Half and N, like you were standing at the Nats Park ticket booths looking to the northwest, on the site currently home to the southern portion of the Fairgrounds. Here's a few more drawings, looking down Half Street toward the ballpark (maybe from just a little south of Buffalo Wild Wings) and looking down from On High.

The residential entrances would be on Van Street, facing JBG's just-underway residential building at 1244 South Capitol, which also has two stories of retail, as you can see in the rendering at below left, looking north on Van from N. In the below-right rendering, you can see at left the "Via," a wide pedestrians-only alley that will run along the north end of this project and the south end of Brandywine's planned 25 M Street office building.

For zoning geeks, this filing is actually a modification, revising the design that Akridge received approvals for back in 2009, which planned one office building and one residential building for this portion of the west side of Half Street. A graphic included in the new filing gives a handy siteplan comparison of the modifications, and made me laugh as I realized the line drawing of the new design looks like it could have been drawn on an Etch-a-Sketch. These massing drawings are also worth a look, to give an idea of exactly how the building undulates along Half, as well as how the condo (green) and rental (orange) units are situated.

The only thing that will probably dismay observers is that it's likely the project won't get underway until after the 2016 baseball season ends, making it likely that it won't be completed by the time the Major League Baseball All-Star Game arrives at Nats Park in July of 2018, though the exterior should at least be finished by then.

And because JBG gets a gold star for the thoroughness of its filing, I'll just toss in a few more of the renderings they included, showing the building's interior courtyard (open to Van Street and the west) and the anticipated view from inside the ballpark, with the view of this new building flanked by 1244 South Capitol and the Jair Lynch condo/rental/retail project coming to the Half Street Hole site.

I've added a few of these renderings to the project page, which of course also has a big pile of Before photos and some history of the lot--part of the corner of Half and N has a history that's a bit spicier than we normally discuss around here.

Next, we'll wait to see how the zoning commissioners feel about such an outside-the-box design.

And my hesitancy appears to have been rewarded, because as a reader noticed, the 1111 development is now "Insignia on M," and its marketing (and presumably management) is now being handled by Bozzuto.

The building, currently under construction right next to (but not truly on top of) the east entrance to the Navy Yard-Ballpark Metro station on the northwest corner of New Jersey and M Streets, SE, will have 324 units (a mix of studios and 1- and 2-BR units), and 11,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, along with the increasingly standard amenities found in new "luxury" buildings.

The building's progress up to now has not been lightning quick, with vertical construction only beginning to reach ground level nearly 15 months after site-clearing began. (Digging a big hole immediately next to a Metro station and tunnel is not undertaken lightly.)

At least with this change there's finally some new renderings available of the design by WDG Architecture. The one at the top of this post shows the view looking south along New Jersey Avenue from L Street, the same view as seen in this photo from a few days ago, standing near the small patio space at the Courtyard Marriott (though without that big white building in the distance).

Here's a few additional renderings that I purloined from the official web site, showing the roof view (left), and the ground-floor retail facing M Street (middle) and L Street (right, with the lovely pink of Ann's Beauty and Wigs clearly shown at right). You can see more renderings at the official web site and at Donohoe's site. And there's my project page, for more history and photos.

And this is not really the most major change this project has seen, because originally 1111 New Jersey was going to be a 250,000-square-foot office building, before the decision was made in 2013 to go residential.

This is the second renaming I've posted about this week, after the Lofts at Capitol Quarter appeared to get re-dubbed as The Bixby, though I think the Housing Authority maybe ain't all hep to that notion.

But that's not all! There's another residential project that has an official name previously unmentioned here, and it is...

Agora.

This is the project better known as "The Whole Foods Building," on the north end of New Jersey Avenue just south of the Southeast Freeway and immediately to the north of the Park Chelsea. It's the second of three planned apartment buildings by WC Smith on the block bounded by New Jersey, 2nd, H (to come), and I (to come).

Construction started in June of 2014, and is now just coming out of the ground, while residents for many blocks in all directions tap their toes waiting only somewhat patiently for the 36,000-square-foot Whole Foods Market that is signed for the first floor.

I cannot in any way lay claim to being the fast out of the gate in mentioning this Agora news, since it was in a BID newsletter back in July. I meant to mention it sooner, but I also thought that at some point WC Smith would unveil it. Also, it was July. It was hot. I was tired.

As for what "Agora" means, Wikipedia says in its entry on the ancient Greek marketplace of that name that "the literal meaning of the word is 'gathering place' or 'assembly.' The agora was the center of athletic, artistic, spiritual, and political life of the city." (There's a few other Agora entries as well, including a very early "email" browser.)

I doubt this is the end of the naming dance, either, since you have to figure there will be "real" names for 909 Half and 82 I/801 New Jersey and 1244 South Capitol.

I have, however, updated my maps and project pages with all these new names.

(I should also note that this Agora shouldn't be confused with this Agora.)

This can be considered the opening salvo in the construction of JBG's 290-unit apartment building at 1244 South Capitol Street, which I mentioned last week would be getting underway Any Minute Now.

For much of its post-gas station existence, this site immediately north of Nats Park was used as a parking lot during Nats games, but during the summer of 2015 it was home to Hill Country's game-day barbecue pop-up, "The Home Stand."

As for the canopy, it's enough of a demolition to memorialize it as entry number 173 in my Demolished Buildings Gallery. (If you haven't wandered through the gallery, it's quite a stroll down memory lane.) The photo above shows the gas station still operating, in August 2005.

The apartment project is expected to be finished in late 2017 or early 2018. And soon I'll have (yet) another hole to look into.

While the designs of the buildings and specific numbers as to the exact number of units and the income-requirement structure aren't yet available (and probably won't be until the Housing Authority submits its second-stage PUD filing to the Zoning Commission), a presentation slide referred to "48-67 affordable rental units." It was also said that the design of the buildings will be the same, with the same architect and materials for both buildings, and that the rental building will have ground-floor retail facing Canal Park.

And, because I'm a sucker for the deep official detail of zoning filings, I'm going to wait until that second-stage PUD hits the streets instead of delving into too much more into the details given at the meeting, especially given that it sounds like there is still some level of fluidity in the plans (Todman quickly mentioned at one point that she asked her team to "look at adding some market-rate [units] as well") and given that their zoning encyclopedia David Cortiella was not in attendance. But at the very least it seems to be a concrete decision to "integrate different incomes" in the rental building.

Todman did emphasize the Housing Authority is still in pursuit of its "prime directive" to rebuild the 707 units of public housing that were in Capper/Carrollsburg before it was demolished (398 available so far, 309 to go), and also getting as many of the original Capper families back to Near Southeast if they wish to return. And many of the questions from audience members centered around the issue of returning families, the use of vouchers in the new buildings, and the current lack of affordable ownership opportunities.

One other interesting theme that Todman mentioned a couple of times is how in comparison to other DCHA properties, the Capitol Quarter townhomes are "mixed income on steroids," with levels of diversity in both income and race that the Housing Authority just did not expect when planning Capper's redevelopment more than a decade ago."We have to work harder to make it a more seamless community," she said.

In other Capper-related tidbits passed along at the meeting: the opening date for the Community Center is now anticipated to be April 2016, and the financing deal for the 181-unit mixed-income apartment building planned for the south side of L Street SE between 2nd and 3rd (Square 769N) is expected to be completed in the spring as well.

It looks to be early 2016 before the Square 767 second-stage PUD will be filed, so until then, further specifics for this block may remain hard to come by. But I shall remain vigilant.

This is the building that was the subject of a drive back in 2013 by residents who hoped that it could be transferred to city control and eventually become a "market and community space" called the Half Street Market. And it was a little over a year ago that the news came out that the federal government was indeed looking at swapping the building for construction services to be provided by DC at the St. Elizabeth's/Department of Homeland Security site.

My understanding is that Ward 6 council member Charles Allen, while acknowledging the need for such a shelter, is not in favor of using this particular building in its current one-story warehouse form for such a project, citing the loss of potential development above ground level on the site as well as retail in a space so close to both the Navy Yard Metro station and Nationals Park just down Half Street.

(And, it must be said, the optics of having the words "warehouse" and "homeless shelter" so closely tied together are a bit cringeworthy.)

The building is also getting a new neighbor on its southern end, as a Homewood Suites hotel is currently under construction at 50 M.

I sent a request on Monday to the mayor's press office for additional information, but haven't as yet heard back. If I do (because you know how top-level offices love responding to requests from low-profile bloggers), I'll update this post.

A little bit of Googling brought me first to the address of 601 L St., SE, and then to this web site, all of which points to an official rebranding of what we've come to know as the Lofts at Capitol Quarter, the 195-unit mixed-income apartment building now under construction at 7th and L Streets, SE.

The content of the site at the moment is minimal, but you can see that they are (rightly) highlighting the building's location "between Capitol Hill and Navy Yard":

"At The Bixby, you'll find an inviting apartment that puts you in the middle of DC, just steps to Capitol Hill and the Capitol Riverfront, yet feels far away from it all when you want to relax. Explore the delights of Barracks Row and the Navy Yard, enjoy a quiet afternoon on your balcony or host an evening with friends on the rooftop."

Those of you with long memories may recognize 601 L St. SE as the address of the old Capper Seniors building, which was demolished eight years ago this month.

The Bixby web site allows you to register to receive more information, but there's no mention on the site yet as to when the building might start leasing.

Note that while Forest City's logo appears on the page, the development itself is a product of the DC Housing Authority, as part of the Capper/Carrollsburg redevelopment. Forest City is on board to manage the building, which will have 39 public housing units.