A rumor that's been floating around for the past few weeks is apparently true--sources are telling me that the St. Matthew's Baptist Church, on the southwest corner of New Jersey and L, is being sold. The sale hasn't been finalized yet (though there is a contract), and there's no word on what the sale price is or when the church would vacate; they're now looking for property in Prince George's County where they can build a new church. The property is assessed at just under $4.5 million, though the person I talked to cited problems with parking for members of the congregation (and knowing that it's only going to get worse) as the reason for leaving, not some sort of big payday.

Adding to the projects that look to be starting in 2007, it appears that the 1111 New Jersey Avenue office building being developed by Donohoe is moving forward--they've recently applied for a zoning special exception ("for a waiver of the rear yard requirement"), which has been added to the Bureau of Zoning Adjustment's May 8 agenda. This is slated to be a 146,000-sq-ft, 12-story project with ground-floor retail, and I've heard tell that they're planning a mid-2007 start date. It will be on the land between the Navy Yard Metro station entrance at New Jersey and M and St. Matthew's Baptist Church at L Street (St. Matthew's is not being demolished)--and no, it won't be built up on the grassy hill, they'll dig down to street level! This will make the third project underway on what is known as Square 743N, along with the 100 M Street office building and the Onyx on First residential tower on the other side of the block, along 1st Street.

Donohoe appears to be continuing to move forward with its office project on New Jersey Ave., now christened 1111 New Jersey (just north of the Navy Yard Metro station at New Jersey and M). A page on the Donohoe Real Estate Services web site describes the project: 146,000 sq ft, 12 floors, designed by WDG (who've also designed a pile of other buildings in Near Southeast), and delivery in 2008 (which would mean that construction would need to start by early 2007). At this time, the project doesn't include the land still occupied by St. Matthew's Baptist Church at New Jersey & L--I've heard through the grapevine about negotiations over the past year or so, but apparently no deal has been reached. (I haven't yet created a page for this project, I'm waiting a bit to see if anything changes with the church.)

Thanks to a tip from an eagle-eyed correspondent, I can pass along that a sign has materialized on New Jersey Avenue just north of the Navy Yard Metro entrance at M Street that says: "Donohoe Real Estate Servies / CORFAC International / Office Space for Lease / 150,000 to 250,000 SF." A bit of poking around the Donohoe web site finds this "What Have We Been Doing Lately?" page, which includes this lot, and gives "late 2008" as a delivery date (and also says that the project will include retail). Donohoe paid $6.2 million in early 2005 for 10 lots (totalling about 16,000 sq ft) along New Jersey north of the Metro entrance, up to but not including the St. Matthew's Baptist Church. I know that the church has had developers knocking on their door, but I don't know whether Donohoe has bought the property (no such transaction appears in the DC land records through early April). With this project now appearing to move forward, that makes at least eight high-rise projects (maybe 10, maybe more) that are looking to start construction in the next 12 months. Between all that and the stadium, you might want to start wearing a mask to protect yourself from all the dust that will be flying in Near Southeast.