If this goes through, it would be the third time the site has changed hands since construction on the second office building was completed in 2003, with Bernstein Cos. selling it for $92 million in 2004, and then Brickman Associates reportedly paying $115 million in October of 2005. The site, which has two completed office buildings, has included plans for two additional 175,000-square-foot office buildings and a 250-room hotel; leasing is handled by Lincoln Property Company. The land beneath the buildings and plans, however, continues to be owned by Washington Gas, as it has been since pretty much the dawn of time.

A chunk of that change is coming from the first official assessment of Nationals Park, valued at $999,982,800 (geez, Mr. Tax Assessor, just round it to $1 billion and be done with it), a rise of nearly $650 million from the assessed value of just the land last year. Blocks that saw projects get completed in 2008 (70/100 I, 100 M and Onyx, and 55 M) got hefty bumps in their valuations, while other spots (20 M, the Capper blocks, USDOT, Maritime Plaza) saw their assessments go down.

I created a report comparing 2008 and 2009's numbers overall and by block, though I wouldn't swear to the exactness of each number down to the penny (but they're probably close enough).

As for the trend of the overall valuation of Near Southeast over the past nine years, it's still *up*:

2001: $221,096,652

2002: $428,312,487

2003: $640,209,280

2004: $771,006,345

2005: $894,123,520

2006: $1,781,481,650

2007: $2,539,618,280

2008: $4,467,137,880

2009: $6,004,334,490

UPDATE: Here's a link to a map of the square numbers, in case a bit more visual assistance would be helpful.

* Per Dr. Gridlock (because I forgot to check myself), tomorrow the WMATA board will be voting to discontinue the N22 line that runs between the Union Station, Eastern Market, and Navy Yard Metro stations. The city will be replacing it with a Circulator bus that is also supposed to stop at the new Capitol Vistors Center (but will not include the daytime loop over to Maritime Plaza at 12th and M). You can read the report to the board for a summary of the public comments received on the proposed change.

* Another Anacostia Waterfront Forum is being held, on March 17 from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm at the MLK Library. This month's topic is "The Economics of Developing the Anacostia Waterfront" and will feature Deputy Mayor Neil Albert, Alex Nyhan of Forest City (who works on the Yards), and others. Here's DDOT's release on the February forum.

* I mentioned a few days back the summer concert series being put on by the BID; they've now released a flyer with the lineup of acts (so you can see them all on a single page rather than browsing through their events calendar).

* Potholepalooza! And it's also a good time to mention that DDOT has started its own Twitter feed.

* I've been remiss in not mentioning the city's new web site, consumer.dc.gov, devoted to consumer protection issues, with a focus right now on targeting unlicensed towing businesses, auto repair shops, and home improvement contractors. And DCRA has been Twittering for a while now (if you follow them you've gotten to read my pleas to get the building permits feed flow unstuck, which they took care of yesterday. Thanks!).

And another new sign has popped up on the beige two-story building at 900 M Street, advertising lease or sale of this 9,624-sq-ft lot, with Lincoln Property Company, owners of Maritime Plaza at 12th and M, as the contact. Assessment records show the owner as "Paramount Investments," but I don't know if Lincoln manages the property or if they've purchased it or what (the public version of the property sales database runs about six weeks behind actual sale dates). It was assessed in 2007 at $2.651 million.

If anyone knows anything more about these sales, drop me a line.

Here's what Office of Property Management director Lars Etzkorn said in his opening remarks about 225 Virginia: "While initial plans focused on co-locating several police functions in this leased building, a review of estimates revealed that total improvement costs exceeded the $100 million provided for in the lease. Hard costs alone were estimated to exceed $150 million. In addition, there were issues with compatibility in implementing the full program in the neighborhood. These include MPD's 24-7 operations and parking demands for 658 vehicles. Currently, we are examining potential alternative uses for the space, including the possibility of using it as office space for government agencies."

During questioning by Tommy Wells, Etzkorn said that he anticipates being able to come to council members by the end of October with recommendations on uses for 225; Wells remarked that the city needs to make sure that "we don't stack a bunch of uses" in the building without thinking of their impacts on the surrounding area.

There was a lot of back-and-forth between Etzkorn and Phil Mendelson about whether the police move to 225 is in fact called off--I don't think it's too much of an editorial statement to comment that Etzkorn clearly embraces bureaucracy-speak and well-parsed statements, which frustrated Mendelson to no end during the hearing. When Mendelson asked if everything that was planned to go to 225 is now not going there, Etzkorn's response was "the recommendation is that they not go there." Mendelson pressed repeatedly on 225 remaining an option for various police agencies, given that there are currently no other viable alternatives on new locations coming from OPM (though lots of possible locations are being reviewed). And there were disagreements between Etzkorn and Mendelson about whether the 225 landlord has indeed been told to stop work on the buildout plans, which Mendelson said he'd been told had not been stopped but which Etzkorn said were in fact stopped but that the landlord had been asked to do some pricing of potential other uses for the space.

One other tidbit mentioned in the hearing I had never come across before--there were apparently plans late in the Williams administration to move the headquarters of the Office of Corrections to leased space at Maritime Plaza at 12th and M, SE, but those were called off earlier this year.

And, as I'm finishing up, I see that Voice of the Hill has posted its piece on the hearing (on their newly redesigned web site!), which also covers the issues surrounding the possible move of the MPD 1D headquarters in Southwest, since the hearing did cover more than just the issues surrounding 225 Virginia.

If you're interested in not only the content of the hearing but also in watching the thrust-and-parry between Mendelson and Etzkorn, keep an eye out for any replays of the telecast (look for a Sept. 20 oversight hearing replay).