On Wednesday a "shoring and sheeting" building permit application was filed for
1001 First Street, which is on the block known as
Square 699N, bounded by 1st, Half, K, and L streets. It was bought in September 2005 by local developer
Ron Cohen for $51 million, and was the home to nightclubs Wet, Edge, and Club 55, along with various other small businesses that slowly moved out until the block was left vacant in September 2006. As for the building permit app, shoring and sheeting is how the walls of a big hole in the ground are held up during excavation (I hope that isn't too technical of an explanation), and is another sign that Cohen is getting his ducks in a row to do .... something .... on this lot, as were the public space permits that were granted in December 2006 for the necessary water and sewer shut-off work on the site. I haven't seen evidence of raze permits, but I only started seeing those in Fall 2006 and it's possible that they were applied for earlier. What I did notice during a drive-by today is that all of the trees on the block--including a
pretty huge one at 1st and L--have been chopped down (I'm pretty sure within the past week). Will we hear word of Cohen's plans soon?
(I was hoping to give you an equally enticing report on a building permit app filed for
83 M Street, the Normandie Liquors lot at
1st and M, but apparently it's for the placement of a construction trailer, which I'm guessing is for Monument's
Half Street project, though I don't know for sure. Ah well.)