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Near Southeast DC Past News Items: Nationals Park
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25 M
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Chiller Site Condos
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1333 M St.
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New Marine Barracks
Nat'l Community Church
Factory 202/Yards
SC1100
Completed
Thompson Hotel ('20)
West Half ('19)
Novel South Capitol ('19)
Yards/Guild Apts. ('19)
Capper/The Harlow ('19)
New DC Water HQ ('19)
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Virginia Ave. Tunnel ('19)
99 M ('18)
Agora ('18)
1221 Van ('18)
District Winery ('17)
Insignia on M ('17)
F1rst/Residence Inn ('17)
One Hill South ('17)
Homewood Suites ('16)
ORE 82 ('16)
The Bixby ('16)
Dock 79 ('16)
Community Center ('16)
The Brig ('16)
Park Chelsea ('16)
Yards/Arris ('16)
Hampton Inn ('15)
Southeast Blvd. ('15)
11th St. Bridges ('15)
Parc Riverside ('14)
Twelve12/Yards ('14)
Lumber Shed ('13)
Boilermaker Shops ('13)
Camden South Cap. ('13)
Canal Park ('12)
Capitol Quarter ('12)
225 Virginia/200 I ('12)
Foundry Lofts ('12)
1015 Half Street ('10)
Yards Park ('10)
Velocity Condos ('09)
Teague Park ('09)
909 New Jersey Ave. ('09)
55 M ('09)
100 M ('08)
Onyx ('08)
70/100 I ('08)
Nationals Park ('08)
Seniors Bldg Demo ('07)
400 M ('07)
Douglass Bridge Fix ('07)
US DOT HQ ('07)
20 M ('07)
Capper Seniors 1 ('06)
Capitol Hill Tower ('06)
Courtyard/Marriott ('06)
Marine Barracks ('04)
 
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A reminder that on Friday (Jan. 11) at 10 am there's a public oversight roundtable by the city council's Committee on Economic Development on parking and traffic plans for the stadium. Note that this is not the official hearing on the legislation introduced this week by Tommy Wells to regulate on-street parking in areas around the stadium and Capitol Hill, though I would imagine it should get touched on. But there's plenty of other issues to talk about as well--parking lots, traffic and pedestrian flow, Metro, and so many other items that fans and neighbors are waiting to hear about. It's going to be broadcast live on DC Cable 13 (and on the web simulcast), but I'm expecting this hearing to be so lively and informative that I'm actually going to shut down the laptop, take off my fuzzy slippers, and attend in person. (For less brave souls, the hearing should be available via both replays and on-demand viewing within a few days.) Watch for my summary of it all later Friday afternoon.
UPDATE: I have indeed survived the hearing, but will need some time to pull together a summary. In the meantime, the one headline worth passing along immediately is that Nationals season ticket holders should expect to get their parking information in the mail next week. A package showing lot locations and prices is at the printer as we speak, and recipients will choose their preferred location and cost and return it to the Nationals; they'll then receive their parking pass and exact parking location after that.
More to come.
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More posts: parking, Nationals Park
 

In the past few days I've mentioned the start of construction on the first of the temporary surface parking lots at Capper and the transformation of an existing lot at 1100 South Capitol into a monthly lot managed by Colonial Parking. Today I see that the dirt is being dug up at 1000 South Capitol, which had a public space permit approved a few weeks ago for the construction of a parking lot. This property is owned by Lerner Enterprises (yes, the same Lerners that own the Nationals) and they have eventual plans for an office building on the site, but it shouldn't be a surprise that they would give this land over at least temporarily to the Ballpark Parking Cause.
Additional dispatches from today's drive-around:
* Equipment has arrived on site at 1345 South Capitol, presumably for the start of excavation for this 276-unit residential project across the street from the ballpark.
* The DC Foreign Car Shop at 31 K Street and the buildings along First Street and N north of the ballpark are still standing;
* A very affable-looking "Hospitality Ambassador" from the Capitol Riverfront BID was answering questions with a smile at the Navy Yard Metro entrance;
* The amount of construction and roadwork from New Jersey Avenue west to South Capitol really is unbelievable. (I rarely drive through the neighborhood during the day on weekdays, so most of you long-suffering residents and commuters are already well aware of this.) But seeing it in full swing just reinforces my New Year's resolution to restrict my photo treks to Sundays, when the commotion is taking its Day of Rest.
UPDATE: One more tidbit: a permit has been approved to remove the underground storage tanks at the BP Amoco at South Capitol and N. I had thought that maybe it was only temporarily closed because of the construction on N Street, but this probably means it's gone for good. As for what might appear in its place--the land is part of Monument Realty's vast holdings north of the ballpark, but no development plans for the site have been announced. In the meantime, I bet it would be a handy spot for a parking lot!
 

I haven't seen it with my own eyes yet, but reports are trickling in that work began yesterday to hang letters on the southwest side of the ballpark that presumably are on their way to spelling NATIONALS. I'll try to retrieve photographic evidence of it today.
UPDATE: Pat, I'd like to solve the puzzle:
UPDATE, 1/13: All done.
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More posts: Nationals Park
 

January's Hill Rag is now online, with a number of articles on Near Southeast-related issues (most of which I've covered here in recent weeks). There's a big piece on Tommy Wells' Performance Parking Pilot Plan, though it was written before yesterday's official introduction of the legislation. Their Loose Lips-type anonymous columnist "The Nose" also talks about the parking plan, dubbing Tommy Wells "The Pimp of Parking." (Lovely.) There's also a piece spelling out the Capitol Hill Restoration Society's objections to DDOT's plans to renovate the 11th Street Bridges. And there's a wrapup of the December ANC 6D meeting, where representatives of the Nationals pledged much cooperation with the neighborhood and the ANC voted to support the ballpark's liquor license (I wrote about this meeting here).
 

As expected, Tommy Wells just introduced to the city council the "Performance Parking Pilot Zone Act of 2008", which would create a three-year pilot project to "better manage curbside parking, especially around the stadium and the impacted area." Wells said the goals of the bill are to protect residential parking in neighborhoods and to support local business, and commented that "it is clear that a couple thousand well-managed curbside spaces are better than two-to-three times as many unmanaged spaces." Council chair Vincent Gray co-introduced the bill, and council members Catania, Brown, Barry, and Bowser signed on as co-sponsors. I should have a link to the text of the bill itself later today, but if you can't wait, read my entry from a few weeks ago describing the plans, since I'm too lazy this morning to re-summarize.
UPDATE: Here is Tommy Wells's press release, which is a handy overview of the new legislation, and the bill itself. Some bullet points:
* The areas to be covered by the pilot include all areas south of the Southeast-Southwest Freeway from 10th Street SE to 12th Street SW and from the freeway north to East Capitol Street between Washington Avenue, SW and 11th Street, SE.
* Fines would start at $50 for parking overtime and would just upward if needed "to dissuade ballpark patrons from parking illegally in neighborhoods";
* Sixty percent of the meter revenues would be used to repay the cost of the new multi-space meters (pictured at left) and related signage, 20 percent would be deposited in the city's Transportation Unified Fund, and the rest would be used for "non-auto transportation improvements" within the zone, such as streetscape upgrades for pedestrians, biking infrastructure improvements, and better bus and rail signage.
* A "pay-by-cell phone" zone could be created to allow for electronic payments for parking. (Cool!)
Specifics still to be spelled out:
* Designations of streets as residential, retail, or ballpark-adjacent, which will govern which type of parking restrictions a street has;
* Rates for the meters;
* Days and hours of meter operations;
* Parking time limits and Residential Permit Parking restriction hours;
* A guest-pass system to allow residents to better handle visitors.
Two community meetings have been scheduled, on Jan. 22 at 401 I Street, SW, and Jan. 23 at 301 North Carolina Ave., SE. Both are from 6:30 to 8 pm. There will also be a hearing at some point by the council's Committee on Public Works and the Environment, chaired by Jim Graham. And it will also no doubt come up for discussion at this Friday's council Committee on Economic Development oversight roundtable on "Parking and Traffic Plan for the Nationals' Stadium" (Jan. 11 at 10 am).
Here's a Tommy quote from the press release: "Some of the best thinking in the country has gone into this proposal. Parking is already at a premium in our neighborhoods, but giving free curbside parking to ballpark visitors isn't managing the problem, it's only inviting more congestion and traffic."
I imagine this is just the beginning of a flood of information on the plan. Stay tuned.
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More posts: parking, Nationals Park
 

Two quick items to start the day:
* Nearby neighbors who've been concerned about recent early morning work at the Onyx/100 M construction site (before the allowed start time of 7 am) should note today's Public Space Permit feed, showing that a permit has been approved for 100 M that allows work from 6 am to 8 pm Monday through Friday until March 4.
* Miss Chatter of Just a Nats Fan took a boat ride up the Anacostia to the ballpark, and posted both video and photos.
More news expected later, since the city council meets in a few minutes and it's expected that Tommy Wells will introduce his "curbside management" bill (what those of us who are a bit slow on the uptake would better know as "on-street parking"). Live video here.
UPDATE: If anyone working at 80 M Street, or living in Capitol Hill Tower, feels like peeking out the window and looking over at the old Nation site today, let me know if you see that last remaining building being demolished. A reader reports talking to folks on-site yesterday who said that the building could be coming down today....
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More posts: 100 M, Onyx, Square 743N, Nationals Park
 

Tuesday's Post has the first details emerging about Pope Benedict XVI's April 17 mass at Nationals Park: "At first, the decision was made to put the altar at second base, which is where Yankees Stadium places the altar for papal Masses." But "organizers realized that they could fit in 4,000 more seats -- for a total of 45,000 -- if they placed the altar at centerfield." If you're going, plan to get up early: "The doors will open about 6:30 a.m. for pre-Mass activities, including music and videos." As for tickets? "Plans for distributing tickers have not been completed. But, in the past, tickets to major Catholic events have been distributed through parishes and Catholic organizations." Who gets to go? "The archdiocese has been asked whether non-Catholics can attend (yes) and whether the Mass is part of the Nationals baseball ticket package (no). The archdiocese is trying to keep the free tickets from popping up on e-Bay and falling into the hands of scalpers."
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More posts: Nationals Park, Stadium Events
 

It was time this weekend to catch up on photos for a bunch of locations, including the most aged batch of them all, the views of the ballpark's northern footprint along N Street, which haven't been updated since September, so you can now have your fill of photographs of imposing parking garages. The curbs and historic streetlamps are now in, and N Street has been paved from South Capitol to Half, and it looks like the paving east to First isn't far behind. So even though the half-shadow half-sunlight conditions weren't the best to work with, I took full updates of the First, Half, Cushing, and Van intersections along N, all of which you can see here.
One thing that really struck me today for the first time is just how wide First Street is becoming, as you can see in this batch of northward-looking photos. I also saw that all the businesses on the west side of First south of M have now vacated--as you can see above, it's odd to see those old about-to-be-demolished buildings with sparkly new sidewalks and streetlamps in front of them.
I also trudged around the road construction along First Street north of M as best I could to update photos of 100 M, Onyx, and 70/100 I, and also got a good new batch of 55 M photos as well as the always showy views from the freeway at South Capitol. And I finally got the last set of old Capper Seniors photos to show that the building is indeed gone. And heaven help me I even took a photo of the new sign advertising the Square 696 project, and also a few shots barely showing that work started this week on the first Capper parking lot at Third and I (because there's nothing more exciting than documenting the construction of a parking lot). There's just too much change, and I couldn't stop until it had all been documented! Aaaiiiieeeeee!!!!
For those of you brave enough to try, here's all the photos from the past two days on one page. (Thank heavens I've done a lot of work over the past year or so to automate the update process as much as possible.) Don't forget to click on the icons to see all photos of a location over the years....
 

The Washington Business Journal has a huge "Looking Forward" piece in today's print edition, and its first prediction is this: "The place to be in D.C. in 2008 will be the Southeast waterfront." It then gives a quick run-down of what's going on (some baseball stadium project leads the list), and references the expected lack of amenities near the ballpark until Monument Half Street opens in 2009. Also: "Real estate insiders will be watching to see when the first major private office tenant lands in Southeast. Both CNN and National Public Radio have short-listed sites, but no company has committed to pioneering the private office sector yet." And: "Major work is expected to get under way in 2008 at The Yards, which Forest City Washington is developing in the area formerly known as the Southeast Federal Center. The first offerings at the 42-acre project will be residential and retail, with projects slated to open in 2009." But JDLand readers knew all this already....
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More posts: Metro/WMATA, Monument Valley/Half St., staddis, Nationals Park
 

A hearing had been scheduled for today in front of the Alcohol and Beverage Control board about the ballpark's liquor license application; but I've been told that no one filed a protest about the application, so the public hearing was cancelled. The ABC board still must review the application and rule on it, presumably in the near future. For a little more background, read my post from last month about the ANC's decision to support the application--there were concerns that a protested ABC license might spur either the city council or the DC Sports and Entertainment Commission to enact a license outside of the ABC's regulatory reach.
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More posts: Alcohol/Liquor Licenses, ANC News, Nationals Park
 
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