Giant Food and joint-venture developers CHR LLC announced yesterday that a long-awaited 63,000 square-foot Giant supermarket/pharmacy will open in the Camp Simms area of Southeast (near Alabama Avenue and 15th Street SE) in spring 2006. The supermarket, whose planned construction in Ward 8 dates back at least five years, will stand alongside 25 acres worth of commercial development, worth some $37.5 million, in an area notoriously short on retail options. Attracting Giant, to Ward 8…

Amid the media attention focusing on last week’s Inauguration, the Congressionally chartered home mortgage loan giant Fannie Mae announced it pulled out of its plans to move some of its staff to Southwest D.C. Hailed as one of the key pieces to spur redevelopment in the vicinity of the Waterside Mall on M Sreeet SW, a Fannie spokesman says “[t]he decision is one of several actions Fannie Mae has taken to reduce future costs in…

Baseball Deal Reached: Dust off those would-be Washington Nationals relics: Anthony Williams and Linda Cropp are friends again! The mayor and District Council chairman reached a deal last night that is putting the dream of returning Major League Baseball to the District of Columbia back on track. Cropp, who is pushing for a privately financed stadium, will yield on her demands somewhat. The Post reports: Under the new proposal, which the 13-member council is to…

Don’t get us wrong. DCist likes the bus. We ride it everyday. And we appreciate all that Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority does to get us around town. But we have to wonder whether WMATA realizes that when it tries to do good, it can create more problems for commuters. A case in point: Yesterday, DCist was waiting for a 90/92 bus at the corner of Calvert Street and Connecticut Avenue in Woodley Park. We…