August - Restaurant Nando's Peri-Peri and supplement retailer GNC both open in the Boilermaker Shops at the Yards.
Sept. 7 - A daylong festival marks the completion of the 11th Street local bridge and the new two-way traffic along 11th south of M.
April 8 - The Park Tavern restaurant officially opens for business in Canal Park at 200 M St. SE.
April 1 - Restaurant/brewery Gordon Biersch officially opens for business at 100 M St. SE.
February - Boxing/fitness club DCBFIT opens in the ground floor of Capitol Hill Tower at 1000 New Jersey Ave. SE.
Jan. 29 - Dry cleaning operation Wells Cleaners becomes the first tenant to open in the Boilermaker Shops at the Yards.
2012
Dec. 19 - The long-awaited ramp from the outbound 11th Street Freeway Bridge/I-695 to DC-295 northbound opens.
Dec. 5 - The 70 I Street apartment building sells for $165.7 million.
Nov. 29 - A new ramp opens from the 11th Street southeast to the westbound SE Freeway. At the same time, the westbound portin of old sunken portion of the freeway from Barney Circle closes.
Nov. 17 - A ribbon-cutting ceremony officially marks the opening of Canal Park, one of the neighborhood's longest-planned projects, on the three blocks between I, M, 2nd, and 2nd Place.
Nov. 9 - William C. Smith announces that construction financing has been secured and construction is underway on the Park Chelsea, a 432-unit apartment building at 880 New Jersey Ave. SE. Construction is expected to take about two years.
Oct. 11 - In a combined deal, Grosvenor and Skanska buy portions of the Willco property along First Street SE on Square 701, paying $25.8 million and $19.2 million for the southern and northern ends of the block, respectively.
Oct. 10 - The Washington Nationals play the first playoff game at Nationals Park, losing 8-0 to the St. Louis Cardinals.
Oct. 6 - After a slow, slow process of remediation, the trash transfer station at 900 New Jersey Avenue begins its final demolition.
Oct. 1 - Toll Brothers completes its second purchase on Square 699N, paying $14.5 million for the empty lot along Half Street.
September - Four city government agencies move into 200 I Street, after approximately 18 months of renovation from a windowless behemoth that was once home to Evening Star and Washington Post operations.
June - DDOT awards a $90 million contract to Skanska/Faccina for the second phase of the 11th Street Bridges project.
June - WMATA officially adds "-Ballpark" to the Navy Yard Metro station's name.
April 20 - Apartment buildings at 100 I Street and 909 New Jersey are bought by investors for close to $95 million each.
April 13 - Toll Brothers pays $24 million for the lot on the northeast corner of Square 699N, with the intention of building at 250ish-unit residential building.
March - DC's Department of Public Works moves out of its longtime location in the old "trash transfer station" at New Jersey Avenue and K streets, SE. This clears the way for both an eventual mixed-income apartment building on the site, and for WC Smith to take a small sliver of land from the DPW site that extends across what will become I Street SE for its Park Chelsea apartment building.
December 21 - Lot 38 Espresso Bar, the coffee and sandwiches outlet on the northwest corner of 2nd and L, has its Grand Opening, after giving out free coffee and other offerings the day before.
December 18 - First of the three spans of the new 11th Street Bridges opens to traffic at 11:38 am. The new inbound freeway span opened about a week ahead of the outbound span.
December 2 - Construction is deemed "commenced" for Twelve12 at the Yards, a 220-unit apartment buiding. The building is expected to open in 2014
November 3 - WMATA approves the renaming of the neighborhood's Metro station to "Navy Yard-Ballpark," to take effect in June 2012.
March 10 - Harry's Reserve Fine Wine and Spirits liquor store opens in a retail space at the 909 New Jersey Avenue apartment building, on the southwest corner of New Jersey Avenue and I Street.
February 28 - Chesapeake Lodging Trust announces an agreement to purchase the Courtyard by Marriott hotel at New Jersey and L for $68 million.
January - Work gets underway on the redevelopment of 225 Virginia, once home to the Washington Star and slated to become the headquarters for three city agencies when completed in 2012.
2010
October 10 - The 100 M Street office building sells at foreclosure for $57 million, bought by Northwood Investors.
September 28 - The 12-acre Maritime Plaza site at 12th and M changes hands again, this time for $119 million.
September 7 - A ribbon cutting marks the official opening of the 5.5-acre Yards Park on the banks of the Anacostia River.
August - The National Community Church, which operates the Ebenezers Coffee House near Union Station, purchases the Miles Glass site at 8th and Virginia, beginning a series of land purchases on the block to give them the space to build a combination coffee house, performance space, and office.
July 15 - After years of being boarded up, the old Star Market at 156 L Street SE (known at JDLand as the "Little Red Building") is demolished, to make way for a new similar building that will house a coffee house.
June 8 - Rookie pitcher Stephen Strasburg throws 14 strikeouts and walks none in his Major League debut in front of a sellout crowd at Nationals Park.
May - Construction recommences at 1015 Half Street, stalled for nearly a year thanks to the liquidation of original developer Opus East.
February 26 - The Washington chapter of Trapeze School New York opens for business on Fourth Street south of Tingey in The Yards.
2009
December 29 - DDOT announces the start of construction on the new 11th Street Bridges, a $300 million four-year project to build three new spans connecting the east and west sides of the Anacostia River.
November - Move-ins begin at the 200-unit Velocity condo building at 1025 First St., SE.
Oct. 13 - JPI loses the 47,000-sq-ft lot at 23 I Street in foreclosure; Ruben Companies, having bought the note on the lot from the holding bank a few months earlier, becomes the owner of the lot after no one bids at the foreclosure sale.
Sept. 23 - The city council approves a plan for the city to buy the old Post Plant building at 225 Virginia Avenue for $85 million, to get the city out from under a rental agreement. Three city agencies are announced as being slated to move to the building after a renovation.
Sept. 8 - The Potomac Riverboat Company begins the first water taxi service to Nationals Park, sailing from the Alexandria waterfront.
Aug. 11 - Cornercopia, a new deli and market, opens at Third and K.
July 28 - Domino's opens a franchise at 900 M Street, about 18 months after closing its location at South Capitol and M.
July 10 - Billy Joel and Elton Joel bring their "Face2Face" concert tour to Nationals Park.
June - Opus East files for Chapter 7 liquidation, and construction on the planned 400,000-sq-ft office building at 1015 Half Street comes to a halt.
August 27 - Akridge closes on its $46.5 million purchase of the WMATA Southeastern Bus Garage site, with plans to build a 700,000-sq-ft mixed-use development.
August - Onyx on First, a 266-unit apartment building, opens at First and L streets, SE.
June 16 - The first three floors and the clubhouse of 70 I Street/Jefferson at Capitol Yards officially open.
May 30 - The last required piece of financing closes that allows the start of construction of the first phase of townhouses at Capitol Quarter, the mixed-income redevelopment of the old Capper/Carrollsburg public housing complex.
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.
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 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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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).
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!)
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)
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)
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.
Aug. 9 - The Capitol Ballroom nightclub opens in the old Hurley Boiler building at 1015 Half Street, with the Ramones appearing as the first headlining act.
1991
Metro's Navy Yard subway station opens at Half and M and New Jersey and M.
1988
The Ellen Wilson housing project (north of the freeway) is closed.
1984
August 25 - A drunk driver plows into a bus stop on M Street SE between 2nd and 3rd streets, killing seven people.
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)
1977
Oct. 24 - Nine people die when a fire breaks out at the Cinema Follies gay movie house at 37 L St., SE, the deadliest fire in Washington, DC history up to that time.
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)