I think I Twittered a few days back about a couple of Monument Realty-requested building permits recently approved by the city for construction of a three-story underground garage in the 1200 block of Half Street. I wasn't sure whether this was just Monument getting its bureaucratic ducks in a row, or if it's an indication of movement on the south end of Monument's Half Street project, where a hotel and 340 units of residential are slated to be built just past the getting-close-to-completed 55 M office building.

* Tonight is ANC 6D's monthly meeting. Alas, no agenda has been released yet, so I can't tell you what might be happening. (And I can't go, so I won't be able to tell you what happened.)

On the agenda for the Sept. 25 meeting of the city's Public Space Committee: an application by Monument Realty for 1200 Half Street (better known here as 55 M) to install various fixtures in public space around Half Street, described as 23 benches, 9 trash containers, 32 lights, 146 fountains, 8 bollards, and 18 bike racks. (UPDATE: I don't know what the deal is with "146 fountains"--that's what was in the meeting agenda.)

* Monday's Post has a couple of pieces on the state of the area's commercial real estate market, and looks specifically at how NoMa doesn't have tenants racing in despite the high-profile acquisitions of NPR and the Justice Department. It also compares NoMa to Near Southeast, and quotes Russell Hines of Monument Realty as saying that "although the slow economy has made leasing the building more complicated, the company had seen interest from some associations and other private companies looking to escape high rents downtown." Alas, the piece mentions "50 M" as Monument's 275,000-sq-ft office building scheduled for completion next year when it means 55 M. (50 M is Monument's project, too--a proposed 130,000-sq-ft office building on the old Sunoco station site, but they are looking for tenants before starting construction there.)

From WBJ (h/t to reader W), hints that a settlement may be close at hand between Monument Realty and Metro over the lawsuit Monument filed in October after WMATA awarded the sale of the Southeastern Bus Garage at Half and M to Akridge. This is the third Metro monthly board meeting in a row that has "Monument Legal Issues" on the agenda for an executive session, but maybe this time something will actually come out of it.

* 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."

From today's print edition of the Washington Business Journal (subscribers only): "Since announcing his takeover of GVA Advantis, Monument Realty co-founder Jeffrey Neal has remained mum about his future at Monument, one of the region's largest developers. [...] [P]rivately, several insiders said it is also an indication that Neal is parting ways with Monument, the 50-person company he formed with business partner Michael Darby in 1998. [...] For almost three months, Monument's equity partner in 15 transactions, Lehman Bros., has been seeking to sell its interest in the Monument projects it has backed, according to sources close to the deal. Lehman announced on June 9 it expects to lose $2.8 billion in its second fiscal quarter, its first loss since going public in 1994. Since April, Lehman has shed some $130 billion in assets to raise capital and to reduce its exposure to mortgages and loans used to finance leveraged buyouts, according to The New York Times. Lehman has invested about $620 million in Monument projects, according to Monument's Web site, including The Chase at Bethesda, a failed condo conversion. The Chase partnership's loan was 'transferred to special servicing on Feb. 4, due to maturity default,' according to Fitch Ratings." The article doesn't specifically mention any of Monument's Ballpark District projects.