Even though workers won't be moving into the new US Department of Transportation headquarters until spring (at least, that's the last I've heard), the work on the surrounding streetscapes continues. Over the past couple weeks both 4th Street and the "new" extended New Jersey Avenue south of M Street have been paved and striped--and now there are stoplights installed (but not yet operational) at 4th and M and New Jersey and M. So be on the lookout for those going live (and when they do, let me know). I don't know when 4th and New Jersey will actually open to traffic, I imagine it won't be until DOT opens. As for 3rd Street, which runs between the two DOT buildings, they've done a nice job with making it a pedestrian plaza--and in case you're a long-term visionary, you can note that 3rd Street is still up to the proper standards should it ever be decided to open it to vehicular traffic, in the hazy far-off future when the entire city isn't locked down to the point of ridiculousness.

Correspondent Erik reports that the Sunoco at Half and M, which closed over the summer and saw its underground storage tanks removed soon after, has now been completely demolished. Still no official word on what might be coming to that corner, the rumor of a hotel is all I've heard.... UPDATE: For passers-by wondering about the retro industrial brick building behind the Sunoco--now much more clearly visible from M Street--it's a US Government storage facility.

Tonight the Zoning Commission is having a public hearing on case 06-25, a text amendment to the Capitol Gateway Overlay that would include the west side of South Capitol Street in the CG Overlay and also establish a ZC review and approval process for new developments that abut South Capitol (as is currently the case for new projects along M Street). The Capitol Gateway Overlay spells out in extreme detail exactly what the requirements are for developments along South Capitol, M, and in the Ballpark District and over to Buzzards Point, and I suggest that anyone who is interested (or concerned) about the type of development that may be coming to Near Southeast should pour themselves 9 or 10 cups of coffee and read this document. (It's not a complete version because one doesn't currently seem to exist, I cobbled this together from various ZC documents.) The preamble is worth highlighting, to see how the city has spelled out what it envisions for the area:

From CrimeInDC.org (saw this a few days ago, sorry for being slow in posting), report of a carjacking on Sept. 19 at 6:16 pm at the Exxon at 1000 M Street: "c1 reports as she was putting air in her front left tire s1 approached her from the rear then pushed her. s1 entered her vehicle at which time s1 and c2 began to struggle with the door. as s1 drove off c1 was hanging onto the driver door."

Speaking of taking pictures, I've added some ones to my 100 M Street, 1100 First Street, Capper Seniors #2, and M Street photo galleries. 1100 First in particular has some striking before-and-afters now that trees have been removed along 1st and L streets. I also did some creative cropping of a Sept. 2000 photo of M Street to document (barely!) a solitary rowhouse that used to stand on the 100 M Street lot (where those steps-to-nowhere just west of the alley had been for the past few years, until meeting the wrecking ball over the past few weeks).

With construction getting under way at 100 M Street, the "Main Street" of Near Southeast is seeing yet another transformation. Since 1999, six office buildings have gotten underway in the short stretch between South Capitol and 4th streets. So I've (of course) added a new map to my M Street Overview page, detailing what's where and what's coming. And I've added a bunch of new photos as well.

It appears that the work being done at 1st and M (wrapping back toward L Street) is plumbing/pipe work of some sort under the street and sidewalks, not any-second-now demolition of On Luck and the other buildings (although I imagine that's not far behind, given that construction on 100 M Street is supposed to start "late summer 2006" according to Opus East). And the Sunoco station at 50 M Street is indeed now being dismantled. But still no announcement of any big deal for that lot.

A correspondent passed along an image from the paperwork filed with the Zoning Commission for the stadium hearing last month, which shows a concept rendering of the now-infamous condo- and hotel-wrapped parking garages on the north edge of the stadium site. I've put it at the top of my Stadium Renderings page, where you can scroll down to remind yourself of the plain parking garages originally planned for that location. Now I just have to figure out how I'm going to move all my discussions and photos of this land between N Street and N Place to my Ballpark District page without completely gutting my Stadium page :-). (I think I'll wait until the Ballpark District Master Plan is released.) In the meantime, I also added a couple of new photos to my M Street page, my Capper/Carrollsburg page (celebrating at long last the completion of above-ground demolition on the 3rd/4th/I/Virginia block), and the Capper Seniors #2 page (the 4th and M location is starting to look very different).

Big surprise this morning--a correspondent reported that the Sunoco at 50 M Street (Half and M) is being dismantled as we speak. (Waah, where will I track gas prices now?) There's been no record of a land sale in the DC Property Sales database (although that currently runs about 6 weeks behind and is only updated right now through late May). However, a call to the station's phone number revealed a change to a new number with a 703 area code, and the person who answered said that Sunoco had sold the land "to a hotel or something." So do we have yet another new development arriving on M Street? More as I get it.

(Apologies for the posting delays, which will continue for about another week) The DC school board has approved the superintendent's plan to close Van Ness Elementary, at 5th and M SE, as part of the plan to shrink the school system's unused space (see the short Post story on the vote). You can read my previous entries on the Van Ness closure here and here.