I don't quite know what to make of this, but here goes, from NBC4: "The fast-redeveloping Southeast Waterfront next to the Navy Yard and near the new baseball stadium is being turned into new offices, condos and shops. But, the area will now be called 'The Yards,' in honor of its nautical history." Putting aside for the moment why they didn't instead choose a catchy name like "JDLand", I'm trying to divine from this piece actually what area they're talking about. My initial thought is that this is just for the 44-acre Southeast Federal Center land, which is indeed next to the Navy Yard and near the stadium, and is in the hands of a single private developer (Forest City Washington) and also the Feds, which dovetails with the spot being described as a "federal entity" at one point in the article. If I'm guessing correctly, I actually don't mind rechristening the SFC as "The Yards." But if they're trying to rename all of Near Southeast, including the Ballpark District and everything, we might have a problem. Anyone out there (with CB Richard Ellis or with the city) have any light to shed? And, if I pegged it correctly as being the Southeast Federal Center, does this mean that they're about to get moving on their first phase? UPDATE: A little birdie passed along this link to (not quite launched) dcyards.com, confirming that "The Yards" is indeed the Southeast Federal Center. And construction apparently will begin in 2007. Man, I'll tell ya, NBC4 had to work pretty hard to make sure that almost no useful information was in that article, seeing as the who/where/when (Developer? Location? Timeline?) were all AWOL.

Yet another Near Southeast-related bill has been introduced to the DC Council--this one is B16-0932, the "Square 770, Lot 802 Securitization Act of 2006." My not-so-learned reading of the bill tells me that this bill is authorizing the issuing of bonds not to exceed $140 million (principal), $40 million of which will go toward funding a portion of the costs of the five-acre Anacostia Waterfront Park planned along the river between 2nd and 4th Streets (within the Southeast Federal Center land), as well as the infrastructure improvements needed to allow for public access to the site. An additional $75 million will help fund other (unnamed) Anacostia Waterfront Initiative infrastructure improvements. The bill also sets up the DOT HQ's parcel (Square 770, Lot 802) to now be exempt from property taxes and instead have those payments go into the new Anacostia Waterfront Park Fund, to be used to repay the financing of the bonds and other expenses related to the park. You can read more about this PILOT plan in this June 2 post. UPDATE: There is also now PR16-1004, which appears to be amending the earlier DOT PILOT bills a touch. There is also a DOT PILOT technical amendment being voted on as emergency legislation at the Oct. 18 city council session--might be the same as PR16-1004, but I can't tell for sure. UPDATE, 11/2: Here is the actual resolution that was passed on Oct. 18 on an emergency basis, PR16-1039, The "DOT Pilot Revision Emergency Approval Resolution of 2006."

Now that the tiff over the 1,200 on-site spots required by the Stadium Lease Agreement seems to be heading toward some sort of settlement, attention is turning to the lack of additional parking. WTOP reports ("Not Enough Parking Planned at New Stadium, Critics Say"). I've heard of plans for temporary surface parking at the Southeast Federal Center until that project gets more built out, and of course there's plenty of underused land at Buzzards Point that I might guess could be converted to temporary parking lots (which would also funnel more people toward the open South Plaza and away from the northern entrance by the garages), but people used to 10,000 surface spaces at RFK (the same people who have no interest in taking Metro) are getting antsy. Then again, how many on-site spaces are there at MCI Center (especially in comparison to the acres of parking lots at the old Capital Centre)? But, as Adrian Washington of the AWC is quoted as saying, "Almost every development that will go in there on other parcels -- that either we control or private developers control -- will have a substantial amount of underground parking." This handout from a Nov. 2005 community meeting mentions on page 15 the surface lots on undeveloped land, noting that they estimate a need for around 4,000 spaces.

This week's Washington Business Journal has a cover story ("Seeing the Future") about the coming Ballpark District, and the challenge of creating from a blank slate something new and vibrant that works but isn't "Disneyfied." There's a lot of comment from architects and planners about which design cues the area should take (Navy Yard and Southeast Federal Center, not the stadium itself). A little bit of news: Monument Realty is planning its first two buildings in the Ballpark District, on the east side of Half Street between M and N, a residential project designed by Shalom Baranes (one of the firms working on the SEFC) and an office building designed by Davis Carter Scott. (UPDATED to add the link now that the story's posted.)

A press release from the office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development celebrates the city council's passing of the two bills requesting Pilot Funding for infrastructure at the Southeast Federal Center (PR16-0795 and PR16-0796). From the release: "The Council approved two resolutions authorizing $230 million in Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) bond issuances to pay for critical infrastructure on the Anacostia River. Approval of the resolutions enables the District to issue and deliver bonds for the purpose of financing or reimbursing Forest City Washington for $88 million in infrastructure costs related to the Southeast Federal Center Development and provide infrastructure funds for Anacostia Waterfront Initiative projects."

The agenda for the City Council's June 6 session has been updated, and the votes are now officially scheduled for the two resolutions having to do with the Pilot Funding for infrastructure at the Southeast Federal Center (PR16-0795 and PR16-0796). And I see now that the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation voted on a resolution about this funding at its May board meeting--my eyes glazed over when I tried to digest the draft resolution, but I did pick out that as part of this resolution there is supposed to be delivery by Forest City Washington of a design for the planned 5.5-acre Waterfront Park by Jan. 1, 2007, with completion of the park required by January 1, 2010. (The park is a big part of this Pilot funding initiative.) If you're interested in this, I suggest you read all these documents more closely than I have, I'm just skimming.

This week's Washington Business Journal has an article on a proposal for a $230 million bond package to help prod along development at the Southeast Federal Center. The mayor and the two developers of the 55-acre site--Forest City Washington and JBG (which is building the new US Department of Transportation HQ on 11 acres of the SEFC)--are proposing two "payment in lieu of taxes" (aka Pilot) financing plans "for the roads, parks, and sewers." Because the Southeast Federal Center is currently federal property, the developers are not paying property taxes to the city--so the city would sell the $230 million in bonds and then "use a portion of the future payments in lieu of property taxes to cover the debt service for up to 15 years." The Pilot programs would then generate about $88 million, which would be used to cover the costs of roads and sidewalks and the 5.5-acre waterfront park that Forest City envisions. Forest City is saying that this infrastructure deal must be in place by June 15 to honor their agreement with GSA, and that city subsidies are "absolutely necessary" to ensure that the SFC is developed as a mixed-use project, according to the Office of Planning. The Pilot packages also include about $75 million for the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation's infrastructure projects--the AWC says specific projects "are not really well defined at this point" (but gee, aren't folks looking for a couple million to pay for those underground stadium parking garages? Just a thought.) WBJ says that the DC Council is expected to vote on the legislation (PR 16-796) on June 6 (although this is not yet on the Council calendar). (UPDATED to add link to article, now online.)

Short notice, but on May 25, the DC Historic Preservation Review Board will be doing a "Section 106 Review/Master Plan Review" of the Southeast Federal Center/Washington Navy Yard Annex, as part of the HPRB's May meeting. The meeting notice lists this as "General Services Administration and Forest City Washington, Programmatic Agreement, Master Plan, and Historic Preservation Design Guidelines." I can't tell you much more--after perusing the "Citizen's Guide to Section 106 Review"; I imagine this review is to make some determination about the five old buildings remaining on the SFC site, and how they will be handled during the redevelopment of the Federal Center (which should be getting underway later this year, according to various published accounts).

UPDATE: Whole Foods is *not* coming to the Blue Castle--I've confirmed this with Preferred Real Estate Investments, Inc., the owner of the Blue Castle.

More posts: Blue Castle, 8th Street, Navy Yard, Retail, The Yards