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Near Southeast DC Timeline
Upcoming Events Calendar
See also overhead shot of Near Southeast in the late 1990s.
2008
March 29 - The first major league baseball game is played at Nationals Park, an exhibition between the Nationals and the Orioles, won by the Nationals, 3-0. The game was played before about 25,000 season ticket holders, construction workers, and other invited guests.
March 28 - The west entrance of the Navy Yard Metro station reopens after 14 months and a $20 million upgrade to its capacity, increasing the customers per hour from 5,000 to 15,000.
March 22 - The first baseball game is played at Nationals Park, between George Washington University and St. Joseph's University; GW won 9-4. The game was played before about 2,500 students and alumni.
March - Work begins on 1015 Half Street, a 410,000-square-foot office building on the site of the old Nation nightclub.
2007
Nov. 7 - Demolition begins at the old Capper Seniors building at 601 L Street/1011 Seventh Street, the last standing building of what once were the sprawling Arthur Capper/Carrollsburg public housing projects.
Nov. 1 - The first rolls of turf arrive at Nationals Park.
November - The 139-unit Capper Building #2 for low-income residents opens at 400 M Street SE.
Oct. 22 - The Capitol Riverfront Business Improvement District officially kicks off with a ceremonial bill-signing by Mayor Fenty.
Oct. 7 - Ceremonial groundbreaking at The Yards, the 44-acre redevelopment of the old Southeast Federal Center.
Aug. 30 - The South Capitol Street/Douglass Bridge reopens after its two-month "Extreme Makeover", demolishing the viaduct north of Potomac Avenue and lowering 200 feet of the bridge north of the Anacostia shoreline to bring the bridge down to grade level at Potomac Ave.
July 20 - Mayor Adrian Fenty signs legislation abolishing the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation (and the National Capital Revitalization Corporation) and folding their functions into the office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development.
July 10 - The city council approves the creation of the Capitol Riverfront Business Improvement District, covering all of Near Southeast and Buzzards Point in Southwest.
July 6 - The South Capitol Street/Douglass Bridge closes for a two-month "Extreme Makeover", demolishing the viaduct north of Potomac Avenue and lowering 200 feet of the bridge north of the Anacostia shoreline to bring the bridge down to grade level at Potomac Ave.
June 6 - JPI holds a ceremonial groundbreaking for its four projects along I Street, dubbed "Capitol Yards."
April 19 - The first staff move-ins begin at the US Department of Transportation Headquarters; eventually nearly 5,000 DOT employees will work at the building on M Street.
April 12 - DRI Development Services (a subsidiary of Transwestern) pays just under $64 million for the entire block bounded by I, K, Half and I, with plans to build an office/retail development.
April 3 - Demolition begins on Square 699N, the block bounded by 1st, K, L, and Half, in preparation for a development that will eventually include 800 condos and an office building.
March 21 - The Capper/Carrollsburg Community Center at 5th and K streets is demolished.
March 18 - Lerner Enterprises announces that its 190,000-sq-ft office building at 20 M Street is "substantially" completed.
March - Site clearing and demolition begin for Monument Realty's Half Street office/residential/hotel/retail project, one block north of the Nationals ballpark.
Jan. 8 - The last low-rise Capper/Carrollsburg building is demolished, leaving only the Community Center and the old high-rise Capper Seniors building still
standing out of what had been a 50-plus building complex.
Jan. 2 - The west entrance of the Navy Yard Metro station closes to start the $20 million-expansion of its capacity from 5,000 to 15,000 patrons an hour.
2006
Dec. 31 - The era of Near Southeast as a nightclub destination comes to a close, as the Nexus Gold Club goes out of business with a New Year's Eve bash. It will be demolished to make way for 909 New Jersey Ave., a residential project by JPI.
December - Construction is completed on the 160-unit Capper Seniors #1 apartment building for low-income senior citizens.
Nov. 14 - The DC City Council passes a procedural resolution that clears the way for simple non-reinforced free-standing parking garages on the north end of the Nationals ballpark site, ending months of wrangling over how to build the required parking spaces in time for Opening Day 2008 while wanting to also develop the land. The door is left open for the garages to some day be demolished and replaced with mixed-use offerings.
Nov. 1 - Ceremonial groundbreaking for both the Onyx on First residential project and the 100 M Street office building next door.
September - Construction begins on: the 260-unit Onyx on First residential tower at 1100 First Street; the 240,000-sq-ft 100 M Street office building; and the 70 and 100 I Street residential projects, with 448 and 246 units, respectively.
September - Nightclubs Edge, Wet, and Club 55 on Square 699N close.
July 15 - Longtime neighborhood nighclub Nation closes its doors, to eventually make way for 1015 Half Street, an office building.
July - Residents begin moving into Capitol Hill Tower at New Jersey and K.
May 4 - Ceremonial groundbreaking at the new Nationals baseball stadium.
April 1 - The gay nightclubs along O Street SE (Ziegfield's, Follies, Heat, Secrets, and others), which had operated for 30 years in that location, close their doors, having been taken over via eminent domain to make way for the new Nationals ballpark.
March 30 - The Courtyard by Marriott at New Jersey and L opens for business.
Feb. 7 - The DC City Council passes by a 9-4 vote the stadium lease agreement as negotiated by Major League Baseball and the city, amended to include a $611 million cap on city spending for the project.
2005
Late December - Construction begins on Capper Building #2, the wraparound addition to the Carroll Apartments for low-income seniors at 4th and M. This new construction will add four stories and 130+ units to the 64 units in the Carroll building.
December 12 - The Anacostia Waterfront Corporation names two teams of development companies to "enter into exclusive negotiations" to develop mixed-use projects on two sites in the ballpark district. Forest City Washington (developers of Capper/Carrollsburg and the Southeast Federal Center) and Western Development Corporation (Herbert Miller's company, responsible for Potomac Mills and many other projects) lead one team, and Monument Realty LLC (which has purchased many parcels of land along N and Half Streets) and The Cordish Company LLC (developers deeply involved in the Baltimore Harbor) lead the other. What does this mean? Not as much as it sounds right now--the Forest City/Western team will be negotiating with AWC to develop the 6 acres of excess land at the WASA site on 1st Street, and Monument/Cordish will be negotiating for the 3 acres of WMATA parcels along Half Street. However, at this time AWC does not own either of these properties. The teams will be working together (coordinated by Forest City/Western) to create a Development Strategy for the entire ballpark district, which is due to the AWC in draft by March 15, 2006 and in final version by April 15, 2006. The teams have committed to provide payment to the AWC through a combination of up-front payment, annual base rent, and participation in development profits. he Anacostia Waterfront Corporation names
Sept. 22 - Bethesda developer Ron Cohen pays $55 million to purchase the entire Square 699N block, an 82,000-sq-ft site bounded by 1st, Half, K, and L streets, announcing plans for a mixed-use project to include condos, offices, and a hotel.
Late Summer - The last residents move out of the Capper/Carrollsburg public housing project; the site will be demolished and replaced with Capitol Quarter, a mixed-income development by EYA Urban.
August 26 - Clark/Hunt/Smoot, A Joint Venture wins the construction contract for the new Nationals stadium.
Aug. 11 - Residential developer JPI pays $35.9 million for 82,000 square feet at 70 I Street, announcing plans to build two residential towers totalling 700 units. At the same time, they announced that they were working to purchase 24,000 sq ft one block away, at New Jersey and I (on the site of the Nexus Gold Club), to build another residential project, with 238 units.
July - Construction begins on 20 M Street, SE, a 190,000 sq ft office building offered by Lerner Enterprises.
June 2 - The GSA and Forest City Enterprises have at last signed their
development agreement, and yesterday Forest City was handled a symbolic
key to the 44 acres of the Southeast Federal Center, the first time the feds have ever allowed private development on government land. Plans are to turn this area on the Anacostia waterfront over the next five years into a "vibrant new neighborhood destination with up to 1.8 million square feet of office space, 2,700 residential units, 250,000 square feet of retail and a five-acre waterfront park with a promenade along the Anacostia River, as well as other public amenities." Construction is currently slated to start in 2007.
March 31 - DC Sports and Entertainment Commission chooses HOK Sport as chief architect for the new baseball stadium. (Press Release)
March - Construction begins on the new four-story apartment building for low-income seniors at 5th and Virginia; construction estimated to last 12-18 months.
Jan. 11 - Local real estate company Donohoe pays $6.2 million for 16,500 square feet in the 1100 block of New Jersey Avenue. Not until well over two years later did they officially announce plans for a 150,000-sq-ft office building (1111 New Jersey) would be built on the site.
2004
December 21 - After much wrangling, and a Dec. 15 amendment requiring a certain amount of private financing that nearly scuttled the entire deal, the DC Council voted 7-6 for a bill to finance a stadium for the Washington Nationals, thereby meeting the terms of the agreement with Major League Baseball. While the financing plan calls for a $400 million stadium ready to open in April, 2008, observers were already expecting the price to edge closer to $500 million, and that the target opening date might be considered a bit optimistic. (Bill info page)
December 10 - Mayor Williams announces Gustafson Guthrie Nichol Ltd of Seattle, Washington as the winner of the Canal Park Design Competition.
December 3 - Major League Baseball owners approve the move of the Expos (now called the Nationals) to DC. Baltimore's Peter Angelos is the only dissenter.
November 30 - DC Council votes 6-4-3 in favor of the DC Baseball Stadium Funding bill, in its first reading. (Bill info page)
Early November - Demolition begins on the first "ribbon" of Capper/Carrollsburg Public Housing Complex, between 5th and 4th Streets and M and I Streets. These will be replaced with townhomes, both low-income and market rate.
September 29 - Major League Baseball awards the Expos to Washington.
September 21 - DC announces that it has chosen the Anacostia waterfront location as the site for a new baseball stadium, should the Expos come to Washington.
Summer - Construction completed on the Marine Bachelors Enlisted Quarters at 7th and K, SE.
July 14 - The DC City Council approves the creation of the Anacostia Waterfront Development Corporation.
June 7 - Federal and local leaders sign an agreement to pledge to rebuild the Frederick Douglass Bridge and to redevelop the South Capitol Street corridor as a grand gateway into the District from Prince George's County (more).
May 16 - The Canal Park Development Association is created, tasked with seeing through the design and construction of Canal Blocks Park.
March - Construction begins on Capitol Hill Tower, at New Jersey Avenue and L Street.
February - Construction begins on the Department of Transportation HQ at the Southeast Federal Center.
January 29 - Forest City Enterprises Inc. is chosen as the developer for the 44 acres of the Southeast Federal Center still held by GSA. (Post article)
January 27 - Demolition begins on the last Capper Apartment buildings at 5th and Virginia.
2003
September - Construction is completed on the Federal Gateway office building (140 M Street/1100 New Jersey Avenue).
September - The old gas station at 3rd and M is finally demolished.
September - Clark Construction is named as general contractor for the Department of Transportation HQ at the Southeast Federal Center; Clark signs appear at the SFC entrances.
July - Phase I of the Capper/Carrollsburg tenant relocation program gets underway; 166 families altogether will be relocated from the Carrollsburg Dwellings during this phase. The Capper Carrollsburg Community Development Corporation is providing the counseling, training, and other information necessary to help families meet the criteria for re-entry to return to the community when the new residences have been built.
July 11 - The DC City Council gives tentative approval to $11.5 million in Tax Increment Financing for the development of Capitol Hill Tower, at New Jersey Avenue and L Street. The project mixes a 344-unit apartment tower (including 128 affordable housing units), underground parking for 232 cars and a 200-room Courtyard by Marriott. Groundbreaking is initially scheduled for September 2003, with delivery summer 2005. (WBJ article) The project would eventually be delayed by one year, and the affordable housing component was quietly dropped.
June 5 - The South Capitol Gateway and Corridor Improvement Study is released. The study explored five general options for South Capitol Street toward improving transportation infrastructure, handling increased commuter trips, and foster the rebirth of adjacent neighborhoods, and endorses the option calling for a new bridge on South Capitol Street, which would serve as an at-grade boulevard, along with a tunnel constructed under the river to handle high-speed through traffic, at an estimated cost of $1 billion. Construction would not begin before 2011 or end before 2015. (Oh well, I'll need something to celebrate on my 50th birthday!)
January - JD's Near Southeast Revitalization site is launched - see Web Archive version of the original site.
2002
Construction begins on 1100 New Jersey Ave. ("Federal Gateway"), and on the new Marine Barracks at 7th and K Streets, SE.
September - City officials name five potential locations for a new baseball stadium in DC should Major League Baseball decide to relocate the Montreal Expos. The sites are identified as the site of Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, the area east of Mount Vernon Square, sites both to the north and west of Union Station, and a fifth site on the Anacostia River waterfront, near the Washington Navy Yard.
2001
October - HUD awards a $34.9 million HOPE VI grant to the District of Columbia Housing Authority (DCHA) to replace aging public housing units with 1,562 new housing units at the Arthur Capper and Carrollsburg projects. (DCGov)
July - The General Services Administration selects JBG Cos. to develop a 1.4 million-square-foot headquarters for the Department of Transportation at the Southeast Federal Center. (WBJ)
March - 4,100 Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) employees begin relocating to the Navy Yard, as Navy Yard construction finishes. (Ribbon Cutting Ceremony)
Construction on both 80 M Street (Navy Yard Metro Center) and 300 M Street completed.
2000
March 22 - 20 federal and District agencies that own or control land along the Anacostia River sign the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative (AWI) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). (more)
Nov. 1 - Federal legislation passes allowing the General Services Administration to partner with private developers to develop the 55 acres of the Southeast Federal Center. (Text of Bill)
Three of the four five-story Capper apartment buildings on Virginia Avenue and 7th Street are demolished.
1999
March 24 - DC Housing Authority and the Marine Corps sign an agreement to transfer (for $500,000) approximately 13 acres of the Arthur Capper Dwellings site at 7th and K Streets, SE, for the development of Bachelor Enlisted Quarters, parking, personnel support and recreational facilities. Eventually 6 acres are transferred, in late 1999. (see NCPC Commission Action document)
Construction begins on both 80 M Street (named the Navy Yard Metro Center building, and the former site of the "Tracks" nightclub) and 300 M Street.
The long-vacant Ellen Wilson housing project buildings at 6th and I Streets are demolished to make way for the Townhomes on Capitol Hill. (more about the Ellen Wilson project)
1998
December - The Washington Post shuts down its printing presses at 225 Virginia Ave., SE (a building formerly housing the Washington Star). (the building would be sold in Dec. 1999)
March - DC Housing Authority closes the last open Capper high-rise, at 6th and Virginia.
1997
Dec. 5 - The Naval Facilities Engineering Command awards a $124 million contract to Turner Construction, Arlington, Va., for construction of the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA). The NAVSEA Headquarters Project consists of three office buildings, one parking garage, and a new chilled water plant. Building 197 is a combination of renovation of high bay industrial building (197) and new construction (197E) to create a five story 638,000 square foot building with two atriums, a computer center, an auditorium, and a food service area. Building 104 involves demolition down to the existing façade, then building a new four story 186,000 square foot office using and restoring that existing façade. Building 201 is a new four-story 182,000 square foot office building with an atrium. (more)
1991
Metro's Navy Yard subway station opens at Half and M and New Jersey and M.
1995
Congress approves spending $200 million to convert historic buildings at the Washington Navy Yard into a modern office center. The major beneficiary of this effort is NAVSEA, largest of the Navy's five systems commands.
1988
The Ellen Wilson housing project (north of the freeway) is closed.
1982
September - The Washington Post purchases the former Washington Star printing plant at 225 Virginia Ave., SE.
1981
November - The 292-unit Arthur Capper Seniors apartment building at 1101 7th Street opens, six years behind schedule. This is the renovation of the Capper apartment building closed in 1973. (WPost)
1973
The DC government boards up the Capper apartment building at 1101 7th Street, with plans to renovate it for use as housing for the elderly. (WPost)
1964
The Carroll Apartments at 4th and M open, with 60 one-bedroom units providing low-income housing for senior citizens. (WPost)
1963
A year after the Navy Yard's weapons plant is closed, the Yard's 60.5 western acres are transferred to the General Services Administration, this bulk of this area being the Southeast Federal Center. (History of the Navy Yard)
1958
January 21 - The first family (the Keeseckers) moves into the 13-acre $10 million Arthur Capper public housing project, the first low-cost complex built in Washington after World War II. It is also the first in DC to include "elevator apartments." Rents range from $27 to $93 a month. (WPost, 1/2/58; 1/22/58)
1956
September 19 - The National Capital Housing Authority awards a contract to Standard Construction Co. to build the 612-unit Arthur Capper dwellings; the project includes an eight-story apartment building, four five-story apartment buildings, two-story houses, and the already built Carrollsburg Dwellings. (WPost, 9/20/56)
September - The newly constructed Van Ness Elementary School opens at 5th and M streets, replacing the orignal Van Ness school one block away at 4th and M.
1944
With its final expansion, the Navy Yard stretches from First Street, SE to 11th Street, SE. (History of the Navy Yard)
1941
The Carrollsburg Apartments public housing project opens.
1909
The original Van Ness school at 4th and M streets opens.
1814
Much of the Navy Yard is destroyed when the yard's Commandant set fire to the installation, rather than see the facilities fall into the hands of the invading British. (History of the Navy Yard)
1799
October 2 - The Washington Navy Yard is established. (History of the Navy Yard)
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