* WHALEY'S CLOSING: Tom Sietsema passed along in today's chat that Whaley's will be closing "before next month," 3 1/2 years after it arrived in the Lumber Shed at the Yards between Osteria Morini and Agua 301. (UPDATE: This statement from Whaley's says that their last day is Nov. 24 except for private events through the end of the year.) But...

* NEW RESTAURANT COMING: Whaley's will be replaced by the new restaurant by Maydan chefs Gerald Addison and Chris Morgan, which Sietsema teased a few weeks ago. No hints yet on what the "concept" will be. The new operation gets the keys to the space on Jan. 1, Sietsema says, and are aiming for a spring launch.

* ENCHANT: As if Nationals Park hasn't been enchanting enough this year, the huge Enchant Christmas experience begins its run on Thursday, Nov. 22, all the way through Dec. 29. It includes "the world's largest light maze," an ice skating trail, a Christmas market, and "seasonal" food and drink offerings. And Santa. Who I'm sure will be getting a lot of requests for stocking stuffers named Rendon and Strasburg. Tickets are on sale, with prices varying based on the time and date of your choosing.

First, there's Philz Coffee on Tingey Street, which already looks to be a popular addition to the neighborhood. (I'll leave it to folks who actually partake of this particular beverage to speak to the coffee itself.) The Conte's Bike Shop pop-up is next door through this weekend, though its permanent space will be around the corner on 4th Street when it opens in 2017.

Next I pressed my camera up against the windows at Whaley's, in advance of what I hope is a visit that involves actual eating before too much longer. (There's also this shot that better shows the high ceiling of the space.)

The Yards Park Marina is said to be opening in June, and the entrance to the slips is looking pretty close to ready. These three shots are a pseudo-panorama, showing the view from the entrance to the east (with a big hole in the horizon where the Barry should be), straight ahead down the ramp where vessels such as water taxis will be able to dock, and to the west. (The large gates will lock.) There will be 50 slips all told.

I did not take any photos of the other "news" in the Yards today, of some initial site work underway at the Parcel O site on the southeast corner of 4th and Tingey. Don't look for a big hole to open up just yet, though.

I also took what might be a final "before" shot of the lot at 4th and Water where construction is expected to start in coming weeks on the District Winery building.

But, dang it! I forgot to wander over to Spooky Park to check out the final landscaping touches! This mission was a failure!

UPDATED II: And here's a peek inside, from Washingtonian.

Original post:

It was a little circuitous, but this evening on Instagram Whaley's announced that it will be opening its doors on Saturday, May 14th.

(The folks on the Yards Instagram account "got too excited" and announced an earlier date, which the Whaley's Instagram account corrected in the comments, as seen in the screen shot.)

The official web site still says "Opening Soon," but the dinner and drinks menus are now posted and the menus are "coming soon" as well (UPDATED because I'm an idjit). The hours (which I'm guessing are not the permanent ones) are listed as 5 to 10 pm Sunday through Wednesday and 5 to midnight Thursday through Saturday, with the kitchen closing at 11 pm.

The seafood and raw bar is located in the Lumber Shed at the Yards Park, in the ground-floor space between Osteria Morini and Agua 301, facing the park's overlook and the Anacostia River.

The web site's About page gives the lowdown on the Whaley's theme, and that "there was indeed a man named Whaley," who was the commodore of the Maryland Navy early in the Revolutionary War, and then became the first casualty in the Maryland Navy in the Revolutionary War.

* HAMBURGLARY: Fresh on the news of its pending demise, the McDonald's at South Capitol and I was robbed early Saturday morning, with the three suspects jumping through the drive-through window to get to the cash. And here's MPD's Persons of Interest video. (WaPo, MPD)

* CSX DERAILMENT: The derailment in Northeast of a CSX train carrying hazardous materials has reignited {sorry} the concerns over both the city's need to boost its oversight of freight rail and the movement of hazmat through the Virginia Avenue Tunnel. (WaPo, plus a City Paper piece as well)

* TENANT NEWS: "Global public strategy firm" Mercury Public Affairs, LLC has signed a lease for the 8,020 square feet of office space in the upper levels of the Boilermaker Shops at the Yards, and will move in this summer. As for other Yards tenants, I hear that Whaley's could be opening Any Minute Now, with Philz not far behind. (Elsewhere, the Brig is probably still a couple of weeks away.)

* THE VERY MODEL OF A MINOR MODIFICATION: Forest City is back to the Zoning Commission with some changes to the design of the planned Showplace Icon movie theater. But you might need a microscope to spot the difference between old vs new on the exterior renderings. (And it's technically not a "minor modification," but I was feeling all Gilbert and Sullivan this morning.)

* WHY, A DUCK: Duck stops 11th Street Bridge traffic. (WaPo)

* BEHIND THE CURTAIN: DCist profiles a crazy blogger who has spent years taking photos of construction sites. I mean, honestly! Get a life!

It will have a 40-seat dining room and a 20-seat bar, and "will offer shellfish towers, crudos and seafood dishes," but won't focus exclusively on Mid-Atlantic seafood--but "will serve only sustainable seafood, wherever it may be found."

The timeline sounds surprisingly fast--"this spring"--and there's already a placeholder web site at whaleysdc.com.

This is not the first seafood raw bar attempted in this space--it was announced in the summer of 2014 that the Navy Yard Oyster Company would be opening there, but by July 2015 that venture fell by the wayside.

In the WaPo article, Whaley's owner Nick Wiseman speaks of Crisfield's in Silver Spring and its "personal neighborhood feel" as a model for Whaley's--but also is "not naive" about the "seasonal nature" of the Capitol Riverfront neighborhood:

"'It's a place that, in the summer, it's booming, and we have to be special enough that people want to come in the winter,' he says. 'We're trying to design a restaurant that can do that.'"

And, just as I hit the button to post this, I received the press release from Forest City confirming the lease. It adds that the name "honors the Revolutionary War hero Zedechiah Whaley, commander of the tiny Maryland Navy. History holds that Commander Whaley was a casualty during a storied Chesapeake Bay battle while single-handedly confronting a small squadron of British ships in an effort to protect the local watermen."

The Forest City press release also has these details on other Yards projects, for those itching to know: