According to a sign I saw in the window on Saturday, the cleaners known as Dryy was to be opening today (Feb. 3), in the ground floor of the 55 M office building, on top of the Half Street entrance to the Navy Yard-Ballpark Metro station. According to its web site, the store offers free pickup and delivery valet service, custom tailoring, and "Dryy drop lockers."

Meanwhile, just a few steps to the east, the Wells Fargo Express Center is now open, next to Bluestone Lane in the ground floor of 99 M. And a bit to the northwest, next to BonChon, signage has sprouted for Hill Spirits Unlimited, coming soon to 1015 Half Street SE, for all of your fine wine, spirits, and cee-gar needs. (A peek in the window leads me to believe that Hill Spirits is probably still a couple of weeks away from its debut.)

I also wandered over to 8th Street for the first time in a very long time (oops), and feel the need to officially document Ovation Eye Institute and Navy Nails and Spa, even though they've been open a while (I think the nails place actually was briefly in the space that Ovation is now in). And I admit to knowing nothing about Ti Coffee--no evidence of it anywhere on the Barracks Row or Capitol Riverfront web sites, or Google, for that matter. And I don't know about the barbershop, either--another competitor for Wrenn's and Fuller's?

Finally, in the interest of fulfilling my fiduciary duty, here are photos of Congressional Cleaners 2.0, in its spot in the ground floor of the Park Chelsea on I Street west of 2nd (no signage yet), and because I can't believe I never got a photo of it, here's Steadfast Supply in its not-really-new-anymore location in the ground floor of the Foundry Lofts on Water Street, across from Ice Cream Jubilee. And, along those lines, I'm sneaking in one food-related photo, to officially add the signage of Taco City on 8th Street to my repository.

* DRYY: The long-empty retail space fronting M Street between the 55 M lobby and the subway station now has funky new signage, announcing that Dryy, "full service garment care," is coming soon. This will bring the number of garment care options in the neighborhood back to two, along with Wells Cleaners at the Yards.

* WISEGUY: Intrepid JDLand commenter JES tweeted these photos of the Wiseguy space at Canal Park, showing both the pizza operation and the gelato operation. I had not thought about Wiseguy's pay-at-the-counter setup, which actually might be a better use of the space than previous incarnations. As for when it will open, We Shall See.

* PAVING: CSX announced that paving of the 200 and 300 blocks of Virginia Avenue is next on the tunnel-wrapping-up agenda (and I saw that the 200 block got its blacktop yesterday). Also coming this week, weather permitting, is the paving of the "specially designed permeable bicycle lane surface." This side path will run from the 200 block all the way to 11th Street (along the north side of Virginia Avenue Park).

Other than that, I got nuthin'.

Enjoy the fresh comment thread!

According to ANC 6D commissioner Meredith Fascett, DDOT is wanting to occupy its new space by early 2021, which would mean construction would need to start in early 2019.

This location is directly across from the US Department of Transportation, which means that I'll be forced to call this stretch the DOT block of M Street, SE. It also will share the block known as Square 769 with the currently under-construction mixed-income apartment building on the north end of the block.

There are ANC and zoning approvals to be had, including giving the okay to WC Smith's desire to lower the building height to nine stories (as, ahem, illustrated at right), cut back on the ground floor retail space, and drop the expected parking spaces to 177 on three underground levels (instead of 197 on four).

This building is actually part of the Capper-Carrollsburg PUD, and it was 10 years ago this month that the plan for an office building on this site received its preliminary zoning approvals. Then the Great Recession came along, building office buildings without substantial amounts of space pre-leased became a relic of another time, and WC Smith had to file for four two-year extensions to that zoning approval, the last in late 2016.

As for DDOT's current home, it was in May 2010 that the rumor first came out that the agency would be moving to 55 M, which was a big get for that building and for the neighborhood in general at the time.

And, this lot also is dear to my heart because it was the subject of one of the first photos I ever took in the neighborhood, with my film camera (with bad film in it, dammit) in the fall of 2000. And I thought when I first really started tracking the neighborhood in 2003 that it took what seemed to me to be for-eehhhhh-ver for that little gas station to be demolished, nine whole months after I started watching, one month after the photo at right was taken in August of that year. Little did I know.

* NAVY YARD DENTAL OPENS: Now open and accepting appointments in the ground floor of the 55 M Street office building at Half and M (the one on top of the Metro station entrance) is Navy Yard Dental, where Chad Jones, DDS is available for all your toothy needs. (Sorry I don't have a current photo. Will update with one when I get there.) But maybe don't race across the street to Shake Shack right after getting your teeth cleaned.

* BISCUITS POPPING UP: Commenter Ampersand reports that Eater DC reports that next week Ice Cream Jubilee will partner with the Mason Dixie Biscuit Co. to offer savory biscuit sandwiches and shortcake-like strawberry sundae sandwiches during afternoons through the end of May.

* CLOSING THE ROOF: The Virginia Avenue Tunnel construction team reports that the final roof panel of the entire two-tunnel project was placed this week. Still a lot of work to do, but CSX says that the project remains "on time" and expected to be completed this fall.

* SPEAKING OF CLOSINGS: I mentioned this in my last post, but that was forever ago so I'll mention again that in order for the tunnel project to continue along toward completion, CSX is expecting to temporarily close both the 4th Street and 5th/6th Street intersections next week, possibly as early as March 14. The closures are expected to last 3-4 months, and it means that the now-once-again-two-way 3rd Street will be seeing a lot of extra traffic.

* VAN NESS SILENT AUCTION: Sorry to mention this with only a day left to go before it finishes (I did mention on Twitter and Facebook, at least), but the Van Ness Elementary PTO is having a silent auction fundraiser, and among such items as tickets to see Pink, dinner at Rose's Luxury, Nats tickets, and other highly enticing offerings is the chance to take a neighborhood walking tour guided by none other than yours truly this spring. (Or, if I haven't recovered sufficiently, the chance to pull me around the neighborhood in a little red wagon.) There are ten bidding slots to win two tickets, with the bids right now ranging from $45 to $75 with 24 hours to go.

I have been out of town, and so apologies for the pre-opening photo accompanying this post, but you can check out Chix's Facebook page (or this photo from JDLand reader @JRogers202) to make up for my failure. (And I hope to make up for it myself before too long.)

Here's the menu for your perusal. Hours have not yet been posted, but I have asked and will update this post whence they arrive. UPDATE: Per this tweet, hours are 11 am to 9 pm daily.

This is now the third restaurant right near the corner of Half and M SE, joining The Big Stick and the aforementioned BWW. The offering expected to arrive next at that central location is Shake Shack, which is targeting a spring 2017 opening in the ground floor of the Homewood Suites on the northeast corner of the intersection.

If you want to catch up with all of the nearby restaurant offerings (like Tom Boswell told you to!), the JDLand Food Map is at your service.

UPDATE, 24 HOURS LATER: For the historical record.

It's the restaurant's third location, and will be serving the same chicken and vegetarian dishes as at the other spots. Chix describes itself as "a green eatery that is committed to providing natural, healthy, delicious, affordable, quick, Latin-flavored meals in a casual environment." The press release says that all of Chix's chicken is "naturally raised, certified antibiotic free, hormone free, halal and locally sourced from Shenandoah Valley Organic Farms in Harrisonburg, Virginia." And their motto is "Eat Responsibly."

It will be open seven days a week, with dine-in, takeout, and delivery service for lunch and dinner.

The neighborhood is becoming quite the poultry destination, with Chix joining B-Dubs next door, Bonchon up the street, and Nando's Peri-Peri a few blocks away.

Ward 6 council member Charles Allen was on hand to cut the ribbon for the restaurant, which is employing about 130 DC residents, including many whom live very close by in Southwest or Southeast.

It opens daily at 11 am, and stays open until 1 am Fridays and Saturdays and midnight the rest of the week.

Here's a few quick photos of the festivities, with the full batch in this gallery.

* B-DUBS: The latest BID newsletter says that Buffalo Wild Wings "anticipates" opening its location on Half Street SE just south of M Street on Monday, Nov. 16. The BID also says that the first 100 guests will each receive 52 coupons good for once-a-week orders of snack-sized traditional or boneless wings. The restaurant's space is in the ground floor of the 55 M Street office building, just south of the Navy Yard-Ballpark Metro station entrance.

A tenant layout permit for a restaurant in 55 M has recently been applied for, referencing an occupancy of 233 seats/260 total, but my understanding is that no lease agreement had yet been signed with the owners of the 55 M Street office building where the space is located.

If this all does come to fruition*, retail space that has sat empty for five-plus years while millions of people trekked past may be finally getting a tenant.

* Exercising my normal amount of caution, given the lack of a signed lease or official announcement.