This is the 324-unit apartment building planned for 1111 New Jersey Avenue, where site clearing work has been on-going since the demolition of St. Matthew's church a few weeks back. (So don't feel bad if you thought it already was underway.)

There will be three levels of underground parking, 11,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, and a lineup of amenities that are now more or less standard in new "luxury" developments: a penthouse clubroom/pool/deck, a second clubroom and lounge on the ground floor, a courtyard on the second floor, a fitness center, a pet spa (!), secure bike storage, and private balconies.

The Gallery won't have the Metro station built into its ground floor like, say, 55 M, but there will be a landscaped pedestrian plaza running the 125 feet from the building's front door to the subway entrance at New Jersey and M.

Delivery is expected in the summer of 2016.

This project was a long time in coming, and spent a number of years designed as an office building until the notion to switch to residential began to percolate in 2012.

It now joins the cavalcade of residential projects in the neighborhood, with Twelve12 open, River Parc/Parc Riverside leasing, and the Park Chelsea, Arris, the Lofts at Capitol Quarter, and 800 New Jersey in various stages of construction. That's a smidge over 2,100 new rental units coming from 2014 through 2016.

And who will be next? {eyes glancing furtively toward Florida Rock and 82 I.}

City Paper says "the menu will have some carryover from Southern Hospitality, including the fried chicken and chicken and waffles. But there will also be new stuff like pizzas and flatbreads. Drinks will include specialty cocktails and a large wine by the glass and beer selection." There will be about 100 seats, plus another 75 on the huge patio outside the space on the northwest corner of New Jersey and K.

(By the way, CP, it's not actually directly across from the Whole Foods site. Basically two blocks away.)

This will be the second tenant at the 909 apartment building, which was completed in 2009. Harry's Reserve Wine and Spirits opened there in 2011.

A December or January opening date is cited, but We Shall See.

The Washington Business Journal reports that the lot was purchased by Greystar with plans for a 234-unit apartment building, with what they say is an October 2014 start date, though they'd better start filing building permit applications soon to meet that date.

WBJ also has a rendering of the building, designed by R2L and echoing its neighbors, the 70/100 I buildings and 909 New Jersey,

If it does start this year, it joins a number of other residential projects underway, including its neighbors-to-be across the street the Park Chelsea and 800 New Jersey, along with River Parc one block to the south, Arris at the Yards, the Lofts at CQ at 7th and L, and (presumably) 1111 New Jersey down the block (with Twelve12 now considered substantially completed, as move-ins have begun).

I do wonder if at some point we'll hear the story of the deeds exchanged between the previous site owners and CSX earlier this year for small plots of land, in what appears to be the wake of a lawsuit filed by CSX.

(And I'm irked because I had been hearing rumors of this for weeks, and had been checking public records religiously looking for confirmation. Then as soon as I leave town, boom.)

Yes, demolition has started on the smokestack at the DPW/Trash Transfer station at New Jersey and K. It'll take a few days, I was told, so you have a little more time to say goodbye.

Check back in a few, when I'll have some additional photos in the main photo archive (UPDATE: here's a few, from New Jersey and K). But here's a couple more showing the first bite taken out of the top of Ye Olde Smokestack:

More as I get it.

(If you haven't scrolled down the main JDLand page in a while, don't forget about the Crime Reports feed and map, which comes directly from MPD data.)

* New Jersey Avenue Underpass Art: The Capitol Riverfront BID gave an update on the "Water Pylons" art installation, which is now moving forward after being "dormant" for about a year. This is the project partially funded by a grant from the DC Commission on Arts and Humanities that will paint and light the pylons holding up the Southeast Freeway in a "modern representation of water that announces New Jersey Avenue, SE as a gateway to the Capitol Riverfront community." The reflective blue paint should go up in July, followed by light fixtures in August, and the installation should be dedicated in September, which will be right around the time that DCCAH moves into its new nearby digs at 225 Virginia/200 I. Passers-by may note that new fences and LED overhead lighting have already been installed along New Jersey as part of the transformation of the underpass. The BID's presentation to the ANC, with more information about the project, is here.

* Parking Parking Parking: There was a discussion about issues with game-day parking in the neighborhood, specifically the prohibition of parking along K and L streets, as well as other restrictions that have made residents unhappy. Damon Harvey of DDOT says that the agency is "reassessing" the current configuration, to figure out how to provide better access to residents while not allowing stadium-goers to then hog all the parking. He expects that changes will be announced in a month or so that will allow for "greater residential protection during games." One other non-game day change for residents has already gone into effect: meters are now turned off at 6:30 pm (but still 10 pm on game days).

However, those who came to the meeting hoping to hear about changes in the Residential Parking Permit system that would allow residents in the high-rise buildings west of Canal Park to park on the street throughout Ward 6 were disappointed, as DDOT continues to hold that large residential buildings in mixed-use neighborhoods will not qualify for RPP. (Harvey used the Ellington on U Street as a specific example of this being the case elsewhere in the city, but there are more buildings in this situation than just that one and the Near Southeast ones.)

Also, in somewhat related news the ANC unanimously passed a resolution protesting the plan in the mayor's new budget to redirect most performance parking proceeds to other areas, such as Metro, rather than their being used as originally intended, to fund non-automotive transportation improvements in the neighborhood.

WCS isn't ready yet to release renderings of the building, though they did show me an early design by Esocoff and Associates (who also designed Onyx and who are working on Akridge's Half Street residential building), showing a brick/masonry structure with a lot of "articulation" (i.e., not a big flat box) and with double-height windows. Some anticipated amenities include an indoor pool as part of its fitness center (which could also have spinning and yoga rooms), in addition to the now-all-but-standard rooftop pool, and a bicycle entrance to a sizeable storage room separate from the three levels of underground parking. There will also be an interior courtyard that the building wraps around.

One amenity that this building won't have is a Whole Foods Grocery store, after that plan collapsed earlier this spring. There will be a small amount of "convenience" retail (1,500 square feet), on the southeast corner of the building.

There are a couple of items that need to happen before construction can get underway, starting with the move of the Department of Public Works out of their site at New Jersey and K to a new location on Okie Street in Northeast, the construction of which can now proceed thanks to the council passing last week emergency technical legislation allowing a portion of Capper PILOT monies to be used for off-site construction (though another bill still has to pass to actually allocate the funds). Then the DC Housing Authority needs to demolish the trash transfer building (a raze application permit having been filed last week), at which point WC Smith will purchase the portion of the trash transfer site that juts across and north of the I Street footprint, as seen at right; the Smith site is on the right side of the photo.

It is hoped that DPW will relocate by early fall and that DCHA will get the site cleared by the end of 2011; WCS is targeting April 2012 for the start of construction on the building itself, with the project expected to take 24 months. (It should be mentioned here that this is not the apartment building planned for the trash transfer site itself; that will be a Capper mixed-income building, with no current start date announced.)

WCS will also be building the new stretch of I Street that will run between 2nd Street and New Jersey Avenue, as well as punching H Street through to New Jersey on the north end of Square 737. (And no, this won't drive out the horse stables nestled under the freeway just north of H.) They are expecting that the new block of I Street will have two travel lanes, two bike lanes, and two parking lanes. And this stretch of New Jersey Avenue will get the wide landscaped sidewalks that are seen in front of the other new developments on the street.

This is the first phase of Smith's plans for Square 737, seen at left from above, back in 2008. While originally the plan had been for two residential buildings and two office buildings, the current realities of both markets have the company looking toward filling the block with apartments, totalling around 1,200 units in four buildings. (And note that the entire four-building project is "matter of right," so there will be no zoning reviews or PUDs.) They are anticipating greater amounts of retail in the two buildings that will front 2nd Street, near Canal Park and across from 225 Virginia.

If you want to see more photos of Square 737 and get additional background, check my project page and previous posts. And, given that Smith's representatives say that they are "very excited to get started" on the development, hopefully renderings of 880 New Jersey and additional details will be available in the next few months.

While this will be William C. Smith's first apartment project in Near Southeast, they have been committed to the neighborhood for a number of years, having constructed 1100 New Jersey Avenue in 2004 (which is where their offices are). They have also been a big player in the creation of Canal Park, and are part of the Capper PUD team as the developers of the planned 250 M Street office building.

Now, this is a draft report, but assuming it becomes final...:

Revenues from the parking program have been able to provide $812,100 for "non-automotive transportation improvements" in 2011, which will include a new Capital Bikeshare location at the Yards Park and $135,000 for a new fence along New Jersey Avenue by the railroad tracks (presumably it won't hide the "Water Pylons" public art coming to the freeway underpass). There will also be two or three other new bikeshare stations somewhere in the Ballpark District parking zones (Near Southeast, Southwest, and southern Capitol Hill), but those haven't been announced.

There will also be a $70,000 grant to partially fund a Capitol Riverfront BID Transportation Study, which the page 25 of the report says will happen during this fiscal year and will look at: