Results tagged “nearsoutheast”

The area around the new baseball stadium isn't much more than a construction site so far, but the promise of a bustling entertainment district in what was formerly a bleak industrial sector is enough to leave developers and city officials frantic for a new branding. According to a Post article published today:

Despite appearances, this is just the way District leaders hoped it would be: a ballpark set amid a vast Southeast Washington neighborhood in the middle of one of the biggest overhauls in city history. Some 500 acres are to be transformed, spreading south from Capitol Hill to the Anacostia River, sweeping away an accumulation of old auto body shops, sex clubs and debris-filled lots -- so dramatically that officials want to give the area a new name: Capitol Riverfront.

Capitol Riverfront? That's right. No longer will the area be referred to as the Navy Yard, much less Near Southeast. Like many other up-and-coming neighborhoods -- think NoMA, spanning the area north of Massachusetts Avenue between First Street NW and Second Street NE -- the moniker Capitol Riverfront was thought up by the developers responsible for the area around the stadium, most of whom are looking forward to brushing away any memories of what used to exist there. Late last year the Capitol Riverfront Business Improvement District (BID) elected its first board of directors, and their snazzy-yet-generic website gives a glimpse of what the area may eventually grow to be. (If you watch the images scroll across the header on the main page, you'll notice a graphic showing what looks like a big bookstore called "Berdors." Simple spelling mistake or creative way to avoid paying a bookseller money to use their name? We report, you decide.)

>> There's a new webcam available showing the progress of Monument Realty's Half Street project, which includes the expansion of the Navy Yard Metro station. [Near Southeast DC Redevelopment] >> Georgetown student pleads not guilty in hate crime investigation. [WJLA/AP] >> Members of the Metro board representing D.C. are pushing for higher parking fees at suburban stations in order to avoid increasing bus fares. [Examiner] >> A bunch of streets will be closed this...

>> Via Mid-Atlantic Art News, nearly every one on the Washington Post arts staff has been slammed over last Thursday's article on art in the White House Green Room. The Seattle Post-Intellgencer blog calls Post writer Jacqueline Trescott's race labeling of Jacob Lawrence as "the greatest African-American artist of the 20th century" a "disgrace," the staff photographer inept, and most hilariously, Blake Gopnik, who gets skewered though he wasn't even involved with the article,...

Good morning, Washington. Last night's Unbuckled concert at DC9 was a huge success, having sold-out in under an hour and providing a rocking good time for all those who made it inside -- thanks to all of you who came out! We couldn't be happier, and we'll have some photos and other details to share later on, to be sure. In the meantime, the Washington Post has some video of yesterday's topping off ceremony in...

Former Editor-in-Chief Ryan Avent writes a weekly column about neighborhood and development issues. It isn't particularly surprising, I suppose, that in Zachary Schrag's Metro history The Great Society Subway the role of central city savior is played by, you know, Metro. What is somewhat surprising, even to an unapologetic transit supporter like me, is how convincing his case is; faced with riot scarred neighborhoods and a downtown abused by suburban office and retail growth, the...

>> Is the Rock and Roll Hotel haunted? While John Edward (not Edwards) or a similarly qualified expert has yet to confirm it, the staff says they've seen and heard a few eerie things. The owner explains that the club stands on the site of an old funeral home. Maybe they couldn't get prime Indian burial ground real estate. [via Wonkette] >> The D.C. Sports & Entertainment Commission hosts a community meeting tonight to discuss...

Last Sunday, Michael Grunwald took to the pages of the Post to discuss, and malign, the District's building height restrictions. His piece is an interesting read, but Grunwald's analysis of how the restriction has affected the city is fairly spotty, as Mark Jenkins notes in a City Desk post from yesterday. For one thing, it's difficult to say that height restrictions have created a space crunch in the city, when for so long so much...

This week featured a little bit of everything. We debated whether a man should be safe in his home, defended Washington sports fans, checked in on the National Zoo's elephants, and checked out Tilly and the Wall at Black Cat. We wondered where the Smithsonian's electric car went, visited and reviewed SILVERDOCS, took a look at the new development plans for Near Southeast, and looked on as D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams took control of Metro. We reported on a cab scam in the making, finally saw the Georgetown Waterfront Park take a step forward, de-mystified corkage policies, wrote on Vegetate's continuing battle to serve alcohol, previewed Scientology's new digs, and opined on GPS monitoring of cab zones.

Good morning, Washington. Today will be mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of thunderstorms. Stadium Planning Process Contentious: What do you get when you mix the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission, Major League Baseball, the fragil egos D.C. government, and a red-hot real estate market in Near Southeast? The answer is a convoluted planning process described by the Post in an article today where the architect has conflicting instructions and city leaders can't seem...

Good morning, Washington. We were happy to see today will be partly cloudy and slighly cooler than recently - highs in the upper 80s, and a 30 percent chance of rain. We thought this photo of Georgetown at dusk, snapped and Photoshopped by DCBlogs' Patrick Thibodeau, captures D.C.'s August haze and heat. Reader Services Department: A reader wrote to us last week asking us to post a link to a Craigslist posting about his stolen...

OK, here's another photo by DCJohn from his Flickr photostream, via DCist Photos. He notes that he doesn't see many sunrises. Nor do we.

With the city's red-hot housing market showing no signs of easing, dozens of luxury condominium projects are either under construction or opening soon throughout the city, especially downtown and near Metro stations. On the web, DCGentrification.com has listings of projects along U Street and in Columbia Heights, JD Land's Near Southeast webpage contains an impressive compendium of information about development in that region, and DCLofts.com has an exhaustive listing of "Lofts, loft-style, and urban condo living in Washington DC, Northern Virginia, and Maryland."

We have a favorite saying about the current housing market in D.C.: "Never have so many paid so much, for so little." In the last several years, changes in D.C. government, combined with D.C. area residents growing weary of long commutes, have led to an influx of people moving into the District; people who are looking for a taste of urban life, and who have money to spend.

(Written by DCist contributor Martin Austermuhle)

The price of the District's proposed baseball stadium is going up and up some more. While D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams has said the cost of a new baseball complex on South Capitol Street would cost $440 million, an analysis conducted by the Post seems to indicate that the price tag could be actually much higher -- as in $174 million more. The Post contends that William's price tag neglects to leave out necessary infrastructure improvements,...

Now that the proposed baseball stadium in Near Southeast is getting a lot of attention, other projects along the Southeast and Southwest waterfronts are being highlighted. The Post gives an update on the plans of Fannie Mae, the home mortgage giant, to consolidate its downtown and Upper Northwest offices into one large new headquarters building near the Waterfront metrorail station. Fannie Mae plans on moving into new quarters at the Waterside Mall on M Street...

Today in Milwaukee, Peter Angelos, the owner of the Baltimore Orioles, will face down a number of Major League Baseball officials who think moving the Montreal Expos to Washington is the best thing for the ailing team. The Post, which titled its article "The Showdown Begins," said that "informal overtures" between the MLB's relocation committee and Angelos have gone nowhere. The Post's baseball sources say that despite offers to compensate the Orioles franchise, Angelos has...