Jonathan O'Connell has a piece in Monday's WaPo Capital Business
about Artomatic's search for a 2012 home, and how the organization wants to replicate the success of
the 2009 version at the then-vacant
55 M St., SE: "This year's search is down to about four buildings, two near Nationals Park:
1015 Half St. SE, an empty 414,000-square-foot building being purchased by Prudential Real Estate Investors; and the former offices of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, at
101 M St. SE. Artomatic also is considering the People's Building in Northeast, and another location in Crystal City."
1015 Half Street (left), on the site of the old Nation nightclub, is currently home to more than 400,000 square feet of Class A office space emptiness right now. The
NGA recently departed 1st and M (right), and while I would love for Artomatic to come to this spot merely for the chance to finally get inside the formerly armed encampment before its inevitable demolition as
The Yards moves forward, I wonder how excited the organizers would be to have a building with almost no windows, except on the top floor. (I know that 55 M's
large windows and great views of Nationals Park, Near Southeast, Southwest, and north to the Capitol were a big hit with 2009 Artomatic attendees.)
It was
in December 2008 that word first began to trickle out on the 2009
Artomatic location, so perhaps the decision one way or the other won't be too long in coming.