Despite the bleccch weather of the weekend (hazy and humid does not make for pictures that "pop"), I did make the circuit around the ballpark on Sunday and so have updated my Stadium Exterior Construction Photo Gallery. And we need to enjoy the pictures from the raised portion of South Capitol Street between the river and O Street, because I've only got one month left to stand at those vantage points until the viaduct gets closed and the makeover begins. Waah! (Though I'm willing to sacrifice those perches if it results in a cleaned-up South Capitol Street.)

Last week, I posted about a Call for Artists posted on the web site of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities to "design and create a suspended public art installation along the main concourse of the new Washington Nationals baseball stadium," with a budget for the project of $200,000. Well, according to today's Examiner, it turns out that back on May 15, when the city's budget was approved, the $850,000 originally included for spending on various stadium art-related projects was zeroed out because, you guessed it, the council determined that this money if spent would violate the $611 million spending cap on All Things Ballpark, even though a plan had been hatched earlier this year where "art was to be purchased with general obligation bonds, permanently owned by the commission and leased to the team at no cost, which put the works outside" the cap. And note that, rather than now being able to spend that $850,000 on other arts projects in the city, the commission doesn't have access to that money at all. The Examiner says that the Fenty administration is "still is negotiating to revive the projects."

Today's Post Business section has "A Neighborhood Rises at The Yards," which gives a quick overview of the plans for the old Southeast Federal Center, as well as a profile of Deborah Ratner Salzberg of Forest City Washington. The article mentions a lot of what I posted back in March, that the infrastructure work at the Yards will begin soon (sewer lines, paving streets, putting up street lights and planting trees) so that it can look a bit more presentable when baseball arrives across the street in 2008. (It's expected that surface parking for stadium-goers will be available on lots at The Yards not slated for immediate redevelopment, but no announcement has been made yet.) The article also confirms my previously posted information that the brown-and-white Building 160/Old Pattern/Joiner Shop will be rehabilitated as a residential building, with an expected completion date in 2009. The article also mentions that Building 173/the Old Lumber Storage Shed (the terra cotta-colored building at the north end of the site of the planned five-acre waterfront park) will be remade into a restaurant pavilion; the first phase of the park is expected in 2010. Additional near-term projects not mentioned in the story are the planned renovation of Building 167/the Old Boiler Maker's Shop just to the rear of the new DOT HQ into a retail building and the redevelopment of Building 202/the Old Gun Assembly Shop at 5th and M into another residential block in a joint project between Forest City and PN Hoffman.

More posts: Boilermaker Shops/Yards, Foundry Lofts/Yards, The Yards, Yards Park