An electronic sign has appeared at South Capitol and I streets, warning of road work beginning on or about Nov. 6. There's been nothing about it announced yet anywhere on the DDOT web site, and I haven't heard anything about it through the grapevine; a correspondent reported earlier in the week that he had contacted DDOT to ask when the work would begin to remove the South Capitol Street viaduct between Potomac Avenue and O Street, and he was told that it wouldn't start before early next year, perhaps no later than April. I e-mailed DDOT to ask for confirmation, but have received no reply. There are plans for lots of streetscape improvements along South Capitol in addition to the removal of the viaduct, so perhaps this is the beginning of that work. Will post here as soon as I find out more. UPDATE: A correspondent passes along information received from DDOT that the signs are marking the beginning of the project to rehabilitate the South Capitol Street Bridge, which includes doing steel repairs and railings, and painting of the steel beams, which is what will begin Nov. 6, and which will necessitate lane closures. This DDOT communique with a resident also said that the lowering of the viaduct between Potomac and O would not start until July 2007, and which will see the entire bridge closed while the work is done. Will continue to keep my eye out for the official press releases from DDOT on the work.

Monday's DC Examiner reports: "The Transportation Planning Board added more than $1 billion in projects for the District to the region's long-range transportation plan, according to officials. The stratagem, called the Constrained Long Range Plan, estimates about $4.5 billion will be available each year for the next 24 years to complete projects in Maryland, Virginia and the District. Projects can only be added to the board's long range plan if there is a solid funding mechanism in place. " Three of the DC projects will impact Near Southeast: the rehabilitation of South Capitol Street including transformation of the street into an at-grade boulvard from I Street to N Street and the construction of a new Frederick Douglass Bridge (costing $625 million and completed in 2015); the reconfiguration and reconstruction of the 11th Street Bridges (costing $377 million and completed in 2011); and $3 million for the Anacostia Streetcar Study, which would run light rail across the 11th Street Bridges from Anacostia down M Street SE to South Capitol Street. (The first phase of actual construction of the Streetcar Project has been added to the CLRP as well.) Here's an explanation of the CLRP as well as the Transportation Improvement Plan, which describes the schedule for federal funds obligated to state and local projects.

There are projects immediately adjacent to Near Southeast that I won't be tracking with my usual level of obsessive-compulsiveness (no photos, dedicated pages, etc.), but I will mention big milestones if I hear about them. And so first is the announcement of a pending public meeting by the AWC on October 10 on the Poplar Point Site Development Plan process--this is the 70-acre on the Anacostia on the east side of the South Capitol Street Bridge, just across the river from Florida Rock, where possibly a new DC United stadium may be built. (Note that the transfer of this land from Federal to District control is still pending in Congress.) The other project is 1325 South Capitol Street SW, on the western side of the street between N and O (in other words, directly across from the stadium). GlobeSt.com reports (hat tip to reader RR) that Camden Property Trust is planning a 244-unit 210,000-sq-ft building on the site, with construction to start in Q2 2007. (I know, it's just across the dang street from Near Southeast, and maybe by the time the project starts I'll cave and decide to track anything that actually fronts South Capitol. Because there aren't enough projects for me to track :-).)

In June, The Lawrence Ruben Company added to the 24,000-sq-ft lot it has owned at the corner of South Capitol and L since 2004, paying (according to DC land records) $4.843 million to buy 9,000 sq ft of the St. Vincent de Paul church's parking lot. I'm told the Ruben Co. has hired the Shalom Baranes architecture firm (which is also working on the huge Southeast Federal Center project) to design a 330,000-sq-ft office building for this location (1100 South Capitol Street). Most likely, Ruben will not move forward on construction until they sign a tenant for the building. Check my North of M page (and it's spiffy new map!) to see what other projects are on the boards in this getting-ever-more-crowded section of Near Southeast.

The parade of alley closings and street closings/realignments this year in Near Southeast continues, as the National Capital Planning Commission has on its September meeting agenda the proposed closing of a public alley in Square 701 (the square bounded by 1st, M, N and Half Streets, SE--see my cruddy tax parcel map for assistance on where the squares are). I figured that this was going to be the alleys in the footprint of the Monument/WMATA properties, since Monument has made clear it's plans to move forward with developing the land along Half Street, but instead I find out that the alley closings being requested are on the east side of the Square, between Cushing Place and 1st Street, where the land is owned by the Cohen and Camalier families, who have said little about their plans for these properties. Does this mean we'll be seeing development coming to 1st Street south of M soon, too? And believe it or not, as I was writing this very entry, I received word that Monument has now filed it's application for alley closings on the west side of Square 701 as well as one small alley on Square 700 (behind the Amoco Station). Note that neither of these applications request closings of Van or Cushing. These applications follow successful alley closing requests already this year for Square 0743N as part of the 100 M and 1100 1st Street projects, the street/alley closings for the new ballpark, and the closed alleys and new streets for Capper/Carrollsburg--plus there are the still-pending requests to realign the streets in Square 737 in preparation for William C. Smith's big mixed-use project at 2nd and H and the Lerners' request to close a small portion of an alley in Square 697 as part of their 1000 South Capitol office project (no bills for these yet appearing in the DC Council legislation database).

Because I've been writing about Near Southeast for 3 1/2 years now, I admit to not always explaining every item in minute detail--I work under the assumption that everyone's been reading along from the beginning and has committed every iota of my prose to memory. (It's not at all a wise strategy, but you have to admit it saves space.) Anyway, I made mentions over the past few weeks of the demolition of the one nice structure on the ballpark site, which I referred to as the Ken Wyban house (after it's last owner). I didn't give much additional background, but you can go to Douglas Willinger's South Capitol Street Frederick Douglass Mall blog to get a bit more detail--it was actually the Alfred Richards House, built in the 1840s and named after it's original owner. (You'll recognize a lot of familiar verbage and photos in the entry, as Willinger quotes from my site--thanks for the hat tip.) The blog itself discusses the fate of South Capitol Street, which in 1990s planning documents was going to be transformed into a grand boulevard/promenade--the stadium has changed those plans, and Willinger is not happy...

Also from last night, the Zoning Commission worked on two Office of Planning proposed amendments to the Capitol Gateway Overlay, Case 05-10 (which was given first approval and will now enter a 30-day comment period), and Case 06-25, which was approved for setdown. Case 05-10 had its hearing in January (here's the transcript, as well as the draft of the changes requested), but has had a few deferrments. Case 06-25 is a proposed CG Overlay amendment to extend the CG boundaries to include properties on the west side of South Capitol Street from M Street south, so that the character of both sides of South Capitol Street matches.

Longtime readers know that I'm pretty militant about remaining within my Near Southeast boundaries--otherwise, folks would have me covering the entire city, and I don't get enough sleep as it is :-). But I do relent once in a while, especially when it comes to something that's all of about 30 feet outside my purview, and so I'll mention this Post item, "Development Buzz Crosses South Capitol Street," which says: "A Texas real estate investment trust, Camden Living, bought two lots totaling about 41,000 square feet in the 1300 block of South Capitol St. SW at the corner of O Street, just across from the baseball stadium site. [...] Camden Living, which specializes in residential rental properties, is expected to build apartments on the lots, which now house a taxicab company, a storage lot and a small office building." I won't continue to follow this project, but at least those of you who are interested can now do your own sleuthing....

The Exxon at South Capitol and I streets has apparently shut down--a correspondent reports that the building is boarded up, and their phone number has been disconnected. Their page on exxonstations.com says "Temp. Closed", but it would seem odd that a temporary closing would result in a disconnected phone number. I've heard nothing about a sale of that property, but certainly it could be considered a somewhat prime location (although that's a ghastly intersection). Will pass along more as I find out.

Comments (0) More posts: exxon697n, Retail, South Capitol St., Square 697n