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Near Southeast DC Past News Items: 20 M
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A Few Tidbits From Bisnow's Capitol Riverfront Shindig
To prove (to myself) that I am not completely out of commission, I attended this morning's Bisnow event focusing on current goings-on development-wise in the Capitol Riverfront.
Here are a few bullet points of the development-type items I found of most interest:
* Dock 79 is 92 percent leased, and MRP Realty expects to begin construction on the residential building next door (71 Potomac) late this year or early next year--and that it is expected to have a lot more 2-bedroom units than Dock 79. I was also told that All-Purpose will probably open in the fall, and Dacha in the spring--and also that the planned small additional storefront for All-Purpose fronting Potomac Avenue has fallen by the wayside.
* One Hill South is 60 percent leased, and the developers have just begun design meetings for the project's second phase, another 300ish-unit building fronting South Capitol Street. That could get underway in a year or so.
* As the attendees were taking their seats at Arena Stage, a splashy video was played for the 25 M Street office building project planned by Brandywine REIT and Akridge. I can't link directly, but go to the (new to me) official web site at 25mst.com and scroll down to click on Property Video. Janet Davis of Brandywine did say that this building will not get underway until it's about 50 percent leased.
* Skanska's 99 M office building at 1st and M is expected to top out in about a month or so. Skanska's EVP Mark Carroll said that they expect to announce their first signed tenants soon, and that they are "not typical tenants." Both Carroll and Davis agreed that there has been a clear uptick in interest in Capitol Riverfront office space in the past six months or so.
* District Winery is crossing its fingers for a September opening. (Perhaps even earlier than September, but best not to get ahead of the permitting process.) Owner Brian Leventhal was on the Yards panel, and told the story of branching out from the original operations in Brooklyn without having any specific location in mind, and how once they narrowed to DC, everything about the lot at the Yards "was perfect, [so] we didn't consider any other space." (He also has moved to DC from Brooklyn, and said that living at the Yards is "like living in a resort.")
* 1221 Van is expected to begin move-ins later this year, and leasing should start in the relative near future.
* Forest City's Debbie Ratner Salzberg talked about how the Yards came to be, and said that "the minute Bluejacket opened [in 2013], we were on the map."
* And we definitely appear to be referring to the blocks immediately north of Nats Park as the "Ballpark District" once again.
* It was only mentioned in passing, but I should still officially note here that Cosmopolitan Nail Salon is now open in Arris at the Yards.
More posts: 1221 Van, 20 M, One Hill South, 99m, Development News, Florida Rock, West Half St.
Subway Cafe and the Big Stick: Updating the Historical Record
For some reason, visiting the neighborhood's newest eatery wasn't all that high on my list, but a mere month or so after it opened I did finally get to the new Subway Café in 20 M Street, and garnered the appropriate photographic evidence of its interior.
Then I popped in next door at the Big Stick to get some shots when the place wasn't packed, and when natural lighting could take the place of my flash.
With that, the historical record is up-to-date on these two places. Now, to tell my brain it can stop guilting me about this particular task....
More posts: 20 M, subway, thebigstick
Subway Cafe Now Open at 20 M Street
Reports from folks involved with 20 M Street say that the new Subway Cafe restaurant opened this morning at 10 am.
This is the "office building-oriented concept" from the company, with a full Subway menu but with a coffee-shop vibe, meaning that there's big cushy seats and premium caffeinated beverages in addition to the sandwiches.
If these reports are indeed true, has anyone ventured in?
This is in the same building where The Big Stick opened last week. It is on the northwest corner of Half and M streets, SE, kitty corner from the west entrance of the Navy Yard Metro station and one block north of Nats Park.
More posts: 20 M, Restaurants/Nightlife, subway
The Big Stick Restaurant Opening Today at 5 PM
Word has filtered my way that Justin Ross's new venture The Big Stick is opening for business at 5 pm today, Dec. 18, in the ground floor of 20 M Street on the northwest corner of Half and M, SE.
Justin tells me that it will be a limited menu for the first few days, and of course there's always some kinks to be worked out, but open is open. As we've found out, the menu will be centered around a beer-and-sausages lineup, with other European-type offerings as well.
Believe it or not, this is the first new (non-temporary) retail establishment to open on Half Street, SE since the revival of Near Southeast began in the late 1990s. If you had told me when the announcement of the site choice for Nats Park was made in September 2004 that it would take a decade to see the opening of just one restaurant on Half Street, well, it's fair to say I would not have believed you.
If you go, give a report in the comments.
More posts: 20 M, the Big Stick, Restaurants/Nightlife
Details on The Big Stick, Perhaps Opening in December
It's been a long time coming, but it appears that Justin Ross's second neighborhood venture, The Big Stick, is getting close to opening on the northwest corner of Half and M, in the 20 M office building.
The sign is now up (as captured by @CapCityChewy), and yesterday Eater DC had a peek at the designs for the space, saying that the restaurant "will aim to open in the first or second week of December" because Ross "wants things to be up and running smoothly before the Washington Capitals play the Winter Classic at the stadium January 1." Though, as always, let's all repeat the mantra that it will open when it opens.
As for the menu, Eater says that in addition to the sausage-based menu we already knew about, The Big Stick will "also offer some more hard-to-find dishes like raclette, the cheesy European dish," and that the beer menu will "emphasize European lagers and pilsners over hoppy American brews (though they'll still have some of those available)."
There's also some rough sketches of the interior design, which has hints of inspiration from ski lodges (tied in with the raclette, I guess), but "baseball also works its way into the design theme." It will be "bar-centric" as well, with plenty of TVs. So I guess there won't be 8,000 Teddy Roosevelts on the wall?
UPDATED 12/2 to add my own lousy photo of the signage.
Snapshots of the Latest Construction Goings-On
I fear I am going to be run ragged by the scope of construction 'round these parts over the next few years. Fitbit tells me I took about 15,000 steps across two outings to snag this slew of photos, and I still didn't quite get everything I wanted. But let's see what's going on. (As always, click on any image to enlarge it, and then page through the slideshow of all of them).
At 1015 Half Street, the new CBS Radio space along L Street is moving along, with a ticker now hung on the building (below left) and the ground-floor studio space being built out (below right).
There's four holes in the ground in various stages of construction, though alas I missed getting pictures of the Arris apartment building at the Yards, which has reached ground level and so should be starting the showy part of its progress within the next few weeks. The Lofts at Capitol Quarter are about at ground level on the east end of their not-at-all-level footprint at 7th and L (left), while digging down down down continues at 800 New Jersey/Whole Foods (right). (The third one, the new 1111 New Jersey apartment project, isn't all that much of a hole just yet.)
(Speaking of 800 New Jersey, I noticed that the rebuilt-but-not-open H Street has had its asphalt laid and is now a good nine inches or more higher than where it meets 2nd Street. Preparation for that intersection and Virginia Avenue to be bumped up with the construction of the Virginia Avenue Tunnel?)
Getting close to topping out is the Hampton Inn at 1st and N (left). And, apropos of nothing (but needed here for layout purposes), a photo of the signage for the Subway Café at 20 M Street, which sounds to not be too long from opening.
And wrapping up the tour, here are the two buildings nearest to completion, the Parc Riverside at 1st and K (left) and the Park Chelsea on New Jersey Avenue (right), seen from one block to the south because it's So Freaking Big.
Now, everyone chime in and tell me what I missed.
If you want more photos of these projects (and who wouldn't?), just follow the links to the project pages.
More posts: 1015 Half, 20 M, Agora/Whole Foods, 880 NJ/Park Chelsea, Development News, hamptoninn, The Bixby, parkchelsea, photos, WC Smith/Square 737, Parc Riverside Apts
Jun 2, 2014 9:32 PM
Break On Through to the Other Side, and More Views of Note
It's a lot of building to knock down, but a milestone of sorts was reached late last week at Building 213 when the demolition punched through from the west to the east, splitting the remnants in two and giving a peek at the vistas to come once it all comes tumbling down.
So I've added a bunch of new photos of the destruction to my Yards Parcel A page, and I also think the destruction is now far enough along to add the 171st entry to my Demolished Buildings Gallery.
In addition, I've scoured the archives and have come up with more than more than 40 vantage points where Spooky Central has been visible from and will be for just a bit longer.
But if you want a few more moments of the building not looking torn apart, go stand about halfway between M and N on first and look eastward above the "Event Parking" sign, as I did above. (I didn't even notice this quirk until I got home and looked at the photo.)
A few blocks away another man-made creation that won't be much lamented is being dismantled, as seen here in its before-and-after, with the Park Chelsea now looming:
Then there's some signage I have needed to officially record, that of the Subway Café and the Big Stick at 20 M (which got its tenant layout building permit approved recently), and the new Homewood Suites banner at 50 M. Plus there's now a tower crane at the Hampton Inn site.
To bring some green to the page, I'll close with this lovely photo of the increasingly lush Monument Valley just north of the ballpark.
And I'll have an even more interesting batch of photos coming soon.
(Click on any of these to launch a mini-slideshow of all of them.)
More posts: 20 M, Homewood Suites, the Big Stick, Monument Valley/Half St., photos, The Yards, Parcel A/Yards
Wednesday Tidbits: Spring Break Edition
The title of this post says it all (in other words, I am not in full blogging mode this week).
* PUMP IT UP: City Paper reports that DC Water is soliciting bids for the design of a new headquarters, which would move from Blue Plains to a new building atop the existing O Street Pumping Station. (NOT the beautiful Main Pumping Station just to the north!)
And, if one looks at the renderings that Forest City released during its quest for zoning approval to develop three blocks around the station, you can deduce that this idea did not crop up in the last few days. The rendering above shows the O Street station in the right foreground, and you can see how it does look similar to the description reported by City Paper: "[It] will have five stories of offices perched above the pumping station. The offices will be supported by columns; there may or may not be a small gap between them and the pumping station."
(Note that this is a separate issue from the stalled drive to move some of DC Water's operations before Forest City can start work on the proposed movie theater there.)
Here's the solicitation itself.
* THUMBS UP: The Zoning Commission has issued the final orders to allow veterinary hospitals in the Southeast Federal Center Overlay and for the Trapeze School to move to New Jersey and Tingey.
* BOTTOMS UP (OR NOT): An application for a Class C liquor license is now in the pipeline for the The Big Stick, the new restaurant coming later this year to 20 M Street, The application describes the venture thusly: "A sports bar featuring an alpine lodge theme and décor serving casual foods such as bratwursts, sausages and kielbasas, salads, sandwiches, wraps and crispy oven-baked macaroni and cheese. Occasional DJ. No nude performances."
That's all that's up with me. What's up with you?
More posts: 20 M, the Big Stick, DC Water (WASA), The Yards, Parcel A/Yards, The Yards at DC Water, zoning
Subway Cafe Coming to 20 M Street
When news of Justin Ross's new restaurant The Big Stick appeared a few weeks ago, it was the first new tenant for Lerner's 20 M Street since then-Wachovia, now-Wells Fargo moved in back in 2008.
But within the past day or so signage has appeared in the retail space next to Wells Fargo announcing that a Subway Cafe is now coming soon as well.
For those not in the know (like me until a few hours ago), this is the mega-chain's "office building-oriented concept," with a full Subway menu but in a coffee shop vibe, with gourmet caffeinated beverages and baked goods alongside the sandwiches. The interiors also apparently feature flat screen TVs, updated lighting, and comfy chairs where people can park themselves for hours at a time. Here's a short piece by Esquire on the cafes (with a photo!) from when the idea first began being tested.
If you want to check one out and can't wait for this one to open, there are at least three in downtown DC, including at 455 Massachusetts Ave. NW and 555 13th St. NW.
And if you like your Subways traditional, there's still the one on 2nd Street SE across from Canal Park.
There will no doubt be grousing about this space not going to something a bit less, um, chain-y, but for office workers at 20 M, 80 M, 55 M, and the soon-to-actually-be-occupied 1015 Half Street, this will allow for a short lunch trek, so they can get back to their desks more quickly to continue slaving for The Man.
New Restaurant by Justin Ross Coming to 20 M Street
The WBJ Top Shelf blog is reporting that Justin Ross, who took a gamble on the neighborhood when he opened Justin's Cafe in 2010, will be opening a beer-and-sausage restaurant called "The Big Stick" this summer at 20 M Street, within spitting distance of the Navy Yard-Ballpark Metro station's Half Street entrance, one block north of Nationals Park.
Quoting: "The Big Stick -- named for baseball bats as well as a reference to Nationals' running president Teddy Roosevelt -- will feature house-made bratwurst and other sausages. The beer list will vary from Justin's domestic, craft-heavy offering to some European selections and mass market American beers, Ross said."
(I had *just* seen a building permit application for a new tenant layout at 20 M about an hour ago, and wondered what it might be. Presto!)
The new restaurant will be 20 M's second retail tenant since it opened in 2007, joining a Wells Fargo branch. And this will be the first food offering (other than the Fairgrounds and food trucks) on Half Street.
More posts: 20 M, the Big Stick, Restaurants/Nightlife, Justin's Cafe
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