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Details on the Akridge 'Festival Park' at the Stadium
Tonight ANC 6D gave its support to a plan for "Festival Park on Half Street," a 14,000-square-foot combination food, drink, and activity space on the northwest corner of Half and N streets, on land owned by Akridge directly across from Nationals Park.
This is the "beer garden" that caused a bit of a stir last week, and representatives of Akridge, Georgetown Events, and Headfirst Sports were on hand to explain their concept to the ANC. A document handed out describes it as a space with "a large tent that will include a beverage station, a temporary stage for live music, porta johns, tables with seating, possible baseball netting cages for live instruction, and a children's activity area." It would be open on game days beginning three hours before game time and ending two hours after (or before midnight regardless of whether the game is over). The newly erected 12-foot-high wooden fence would surround the site, with one entrance where IDs will be checked and bracelets given to those 21 and older, with up to 12 security employees on hand. There would be food from third-party vendors as well as Georgetown Events' own restaurants (Surfside, Jetties, and the Rookery). There's also the possibility of activities in the space (such as farmers' markets or other events) on non-gamedays, though the lease for the space ends at the beginning of November.
Headfirst Sports (named by Sports Illustrated for Kids as the "Best Summer Camp in the Entire Washington Area") is planning to run in the park a "variety of games, contests, and competitions as well as small clinic and group instruction aimed at teaching young Nationals fans how to play and love baseball and softball." The operator of Headfirst also made clear his interest in working with youth groups from the neighborhood in sessions apart from the gameday activities.
The ANC commissioners were supportive of the plans, although they had a lot of questions (too bad you all missed the long discussion of whether the phrase "frozen drinks" is a legal term), and 6D07 commissioner Bob Siegel complimented the group, saying "you convinced us that this is going to possibly work." Some specifics still need to be hammered out in the "voluntary agreement" that Georgetown Events is entering into with the ANC, but the commissioners voted 7-0 to support the group's application for a "Tavern" liquor license. An April 30-May 1 opening date is being targeted, but there is still city bureaucracy to contend with.
As for the Akridge site, baseball fans heading to the ballpark today were met with a slew of new signage on the west side of Half Street advertising "Akridge at Half Street"--the new web site shows some of the art on the signs, and I also took a few photos of the fences and put them on my Akridge Half Street page, though the skies were so gloomy that I couldn't bring myself to post the complete set. There's a spot where local artists will be creating works right on the fence, and there is also a chalkboard where passers-by can write messages, as many did today.
UPDATE: Some additional details on the plans from WBJ.
 

More on the 'Beer Garden' (or Not)
City Paper does some digging on the "Beer Garden" item on ANC6D's April 13 agenda that I posted about yesterday: "Andrew J. Kline, representing Robert 'Bo' Blair, said at a March 25 meeting of the Alcohol Beverage Control Board that his client wants to create a 'festival site with amenities' near Nationals Stadium, but that 'beer garden is not our term, I don't know where that came from.' [Note from JD: that's what it said on the ANC agenda.]
"Blair, who is on four licenses in the city, according to Kline, plans to hire private security staff, and there will be one main entrance to the festival site. There will be no cover for admittance, and there will be a separate tent where alcohol is served where staff will check IDs. Their preliminary proposal indicates a trailer will be used to lock up liquor when there's no game."
UPDATE: Further information in a WashPost piece on food and drink options near the ballpark: "And the real estate firm Akridge, which plans to eventually turn the space of a former Metrobus garage at Half and M streets into shops, offices and residential units, is hoping to convert the now-empty lot across from the centerfield gate on N Street into something of a block party this season. 'The concept is a tented event space -- partially tented, mostly open -- with live entertainment, food and beverages," says Akridge Development Manager Adam Gooch. 'Half Street is supposed to be the entertainment area.... We're trying to get some life down here.' Permits, schedules and most of the details of the project have yet to be finalized[.]"
 

What's New at the Ballpark for 2009
The Nationals invited the media (and a few others) in today to show the changes at the ballpark for this year, in advance of tomorrow's exhibition against the Orioles. This press release gives plenty of specifics, and there will no doubt be stories by most media outlets, so I decided to focus on taking pictures--I've thrown them together in a What's New at the Ballpark quick gallery, while I try to decide how to incorporate them into my main Nationals Park pages. You'll see changes like the new garage-style windows and seating area at the Red Porch (above), new seating on the field-side of the Porch, new seven-foot-tall president bobbleheads for kids to pose with in the "Family Fun Area," a newly branded Exxon(TM) Strike Zone, and some new signage.
There was also a showcasing of the new food being offered by Levy Restaurants, the new concessionaire. To quote the release: "Four new concessions concepts will be introduced at the park including a Healthy Plate cart, featuring healthy wraps, fresh salads, vegetables and hummus and fresh fruit; The Pit at the Red Loft, opening mid-season and serving traditional pit barbeque prepared on a charcoal grill; a barbeque concession stand, also opening mid-season on the main concourse, serving ribs, pulled pork and brisket; and the Triple Play Grill, located in the Left Field V and offering a pulled pork sandwich and foot-long Crab Louie sandwich."
I'll update with links to the media coverage as it comes in.
UPDATE: Hmm, not much coverage that I'm seeing. Here's the Post's Nats Blog (which later posted a list of all the concession locations).
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More posts: Restaurants/Nightlife, Nationals Park
 

Nats Announce Deal with Levy Restaurants
This news has already come through here as a rumor, but the Nats announced it officially today (via WBJ): "The Washington Nationals have chosen Levy Restaurants to run concessions at the team's ballpark, just one of many changes planned for the 1-year-old stadium's second season."
The article also describes the changes in store for the Red Porch Restaurant, which have also been in the media previously but are worth reposting in case you haven't been following along: "The Nationals are also working with HOK Sport, the ballpark's architect, to replace the center field restaurant's fixed glass wall with sliding glass to develop a better connection to the game, said team President Stan Kasten. The plan is to remove the last row of 32 fixed seats in center field in front of the restaurant, called the Red Porch, and add more tables, seating 44 people in the space. The concrete back wall will be removed and replaced with roll-up garage doors that open up that side of the building, creating 88 outdoor seats facing the center field plaza. [...] Other changes to the center field plaza include installing a stage for live music, building a larger pre-game set for local broadcasters to use on game days and erecting statues honoring Washington baseball legends Walter Johnson, Josh Gibson and Frank Howard."
And, there's this, which might be of interest to residents and workers desperate for food other than Five Guys and Subway: "The Nationals would like to open the Red Porch for lunch and dinner on nonevent days when the team is on the road, but nothing is definite for extended hours, Kasten said. 'We may experiment,' he said. 'We'll see.'"
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More posts: Restaurants/Nightlife, Retail, Nationals Park
 

Roundup: NatsFest, Wendy's, Yards Park, Teague Park, Lower Barracks Row
Pulling together some reminders and other recent Twittered tidbits:
* This Sunday is NatsFest at the ballpark, from 1 pm to 5 pm. It's being held indoors in the various club areas, so if you've never gotten to see some of the lounges, or the conference center, or the clubhouse, this might be a good opportunity. Season-ticket holders get four free tickets; for the rest of the world it's $10 for adults and $5 for children under 12.
* Last week a raze permit was issued for the defunct Wendy's on I Street. No word on when demolition will actually occur. This is where JPI is planning its fourth Capitol Yards apartment building, 23 I Street, but there's been no recent intelligence on when they might decide to get underway.
* Construction hasn't yet begun on the Park at the Yards, but some additional information and more detailed renderings should be coming to light over the next month. Forest City is scheduled to make presentations to the National Capital Planning Commission on Feb. 5, and the Commission on Fine Arts on Feb. 16, and possibly ANC 6D on Feb. 9.
* A reader is reporting this morning that a derrick crane is going up at Diamond Teague Park--perhaps that's to begin work on the water taxi piers. (Though note that there was already a crane of some sort there back in December when I took these photos.)
* Apparently the various property owners surrounding the section of Eighth Street south of the freeway have gotten together along with the Capitol Riverfront BID to start working on plans to perk up the area, using the Connect Barracks Row report by University of Maryland Urban Studies and Planning students as a jumping-off point. Look for public meetings in February-ish.
 

The Drag Queens of Near Southeast
The Sunday Washington Post magazine has a long story about the drag queens who for years called the clubs of Near Southeast home. It talks about how things used to be at the clubs, and the difficulties the clubs (and the queens) have had finding a new home since the wave of ballpark development closed places like Club 55 (above left, on what's now the north side of the Velocity block) and Ziegfield's (above right, now home to shallow right field).
Here's some quotes from a conversation with Carl Rizzi, who long performed at Club 55 as "Mame Dennis": "He is still holding out hope that the Dicksons can find a place to reopen Club 55, so that they will again have a permanent home. He faults the gay community for being caught so flat-footed; they took for granted that they'd always have Southeast, he says. 'I guess we never in our wildest imagination thought anyone would tear that down because it was such an undesirable area.' The city benefits from having a ballpark, says Rizzi, 'and that's all well and good. But [a long-standing gay community] was all torn down and torn apart and scattered, and we had no place to go and no help.' " The online version of the story has an accompanying video about Rizzi and the clubs.
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More posts: Restaurants/Nightlife, Nationals Park
 

Wendy's Now Closed
Not sure exactly when this happened, but sometime within the past few days the Wendy's on I Street between South Capitol and Half streets, SE, has finally closed down, after being rumored to be coming Any Minute Now since May. JPI has announced plans for its fourth Capitol Yards residential building on the site, a 420-unit "loft-style" building called 23 Eye that would also have ground-floor retail. Previous statements from JPI had pegged the start of 23 I's construction this fall--I haven't heard whether that's still the plan.
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More posts: One Hill South, One Hill South, Restaurants/Nightlife, jpi, Square 697n
 

Wendy's Not Dead Yet - Now End of July?
The fine folks working the Wendy's drive-through window this evening at South Capitol and I tell me that their closing date is now the end of July. At this point (this is the third date I've now heard, starting with end-of-May, then end-of-June), I'm just going to not say anything more about it until I see locks on the doors. The property is part of the footprint for JPI's fourth Capitol Yards apartment building, 23 I at Capitol Yards, which JPI has said would be starting constuction this fall. We shall see....
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More posts: One Hill South, One Hill South, Restaurants/Nightlife, jpi, Square 697n
 

Late Night Roundup, and Some Wondering
* Sorry I missed this until now: the Post reported that on Saturday evening "[a] motorcycle was headed west on M Street SE about 6:30 p.m. when a car traveling south on Seventh Street began to turn onto M Street. The car and motorcycle collided, and the motorcyclist was fatally injured, police said."
* The Post's Grounds Crew blog has only now discovered that there's a Five Guys just around the corner from the Navy Yard subway station east entrance (on Second Street north of M, if you haven't discovered it yet, either).
* The PSA 105 mailing list announced yesterday that they are having a "Summer of Safety Ice Cream Social" at Capitol Hill Tower "to show unity with the citizens of Capitol Hill and the Metropolitan Police Department by sharing some nice and cool ice cream while sharing information." The message said that the social is from 2 to 5 pm on June 25. A Wednesday afternoon? I wrote asking for confirmation, but haven't heard back. Anyone out there with the {ahem} scoop?
* Washington City Paper and WBJ both note layoffs at MacFarlane Partners through the prism of how it might affect the drive to put a soccer stadium at Poplar Point; I see the news and wonder about the capital that MacFarlane is supposed to be investing in both The Yards and Monument Realty's Half Street.
* Is the report in the July Southwester that Monument Realty and the Corcoran Gallery have received zoning approval to delay to 2015 (from 2011) their planned redevelopment of the the Randall School site at Half and I SW something to wonder about, too?
* And, while I'm heading off the reservation with all of this wondering, did anyone else read this Post story on fuel prices causing problems for school districts' transportation budgets and ponder whether buses would have to drive farther to and from their daily routes from a parking lot at DC Village as compared to one at Second and M, SE?
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More posts: Canal Park, Capitol Hill Tower, Restaurants/Nightlife, Monument Valley/Half St., The Yards
 

Hey, Ladies! (June 5 Ballpark Night Out/Happy Hour)
From the Nationals: "The Washington Nationals will host the first of two Ladies Night Out and Home Run Happy Hour promotions on Thursday, June 5 when the Nationals take on the [St. Louis Cardinals] at 7:05pm. The happy hour will take place at 5:00pm in the Rooftop Party Zone, located on top of Nationals Park Garage B and will include live entertainment, happy hour drink specials, complimentary hors d'oeuvres, wine tasting, massages and manicures. Demonstrations and product samples will be offered by 20 exhibitors and guests will have the opportunity to meet Nationals players. The Savvy Girls of Summer will present and sign copies of their new book, It Takes More Than Balls, a female's guide to understanding and enjoying the game of baseball. Tickets may be purchased for $30 by visiting nationals.com/ladiesnight. A ticket to the event includes admission to the Home Run Happy Hour as well a Scoreboard Pavilion game ticket for the evening's game. Scoreboard Pavilion Seats are located on the Mezzanine Level in Sections 240 through 243 and are valued at $27 apiece." Exhibitors include Anheuser Busch, Cantina Marina, Honest Tea, Jewelry By Paula, Kysela Pere et Fils, Ltd w/ The Curious Grape, Nail Taxi, Noah's Pretzels, Potomac Massage Training Institute, Slumber Parties by Beth, and Washington Sports Clubs.
(This is the first I've heard of the Garage B "Rooftop Party Zone." And the team name is in brackets because of a boo-boo in the Nats press release. But the game is indeed against the Cardinals.)
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More posts: Restaurants/Nightlife, Nationals Park
 
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