ANC Reviews Projects Near Stadium

Ballpark and Beyond is adapted from Jacqueline Dupree's blog on development in Near Southeast, an area between Capitol Hill and the Anacostia River that is being transformed by the construction of the Nationals baseball stadium.

Last week, Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6D took a brief break from the baseball stadium and its related traffic issues to hear about three development projects in the blocks surrounding the ballpark.

First up was Donohoe, looking for the ANC's support for a redesigned development at 1111 New Jersey Ave. SE, in advance of next Thursday's Capitol Gateway Overlay Review at the Zoning Commission. The project was expanded after Donohoe acquired a 5,000-square-foot lot atop the Navy Yard Metro station's east entrance at New Jersey Avenue and M Street. Plans now call for 220,000 square feet of office space and 5,700 square feet of ground-floor retail space in a glass-facade building.

Although it uses a smidge of the new Metro land, the project would not be built atop the station entrance. The glass canopy would remain, and there would be a large public plaza lined with trees, stretching up New Jersey Avenue. No date for the start of construction was mentioned.

Beyond planned Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, retail and public spaces, the developer offered no community benefits package to the ANC. Donohoe considers the project a matter of right that requires no additional offerings, a stand that reopened wounds from April, when the earlier iteration of the project came before the ANC. Once again, the ANC voted not to support the project.

Next, Monument Realty requested support for the closing of a 2,417-square-foot alley between South Capitol and Van streets SE, just north of N Street. Monument owns lots on both sides of the alley. Christy Shiker of Holland & Knight said that if the alley can be closed and the lots combined, the developer would build a residential building with approximately 185 units and 14,000 square feet of retail space. No date for the start of construction was mentioned.

In return for the loss of this public space, Monument's benefits package includes a $50,000 contribution to a community fund, preferences for local, minority and disadvantaged businesses and workers, and an affordable housing component to meet the city's inclusionary zoning mandates when they're finalized.

That became a sticking point. Commissioner David Sobelsohn was concerned about supporting the project based on promises to make agreements later. Shiker said that Monument has made such agreements before for other ballpark district projects and that the ANC will have another crack at the project when it undergoes a mandatory zoning review. Sobelsohn said the ANC was being handed a "take it or leave it" proposition.

Commissioner Robert Siegel moved to support the alley closing with further negotiations on the proposed benefits package as the project proceeds, but the resolution did not pass.

Florida Rock Properties was the final developer of the evening, requesting support for its latest design of RiverFront on the Anacostia. The site is on nearly six acres directly south of the ballpark, on the Anacostia River, and the developers have spent 10 years trying to bring about a transition from the concrete plant operating there to a 1.1-million-square-foot mixed-use waterfront destination. In February, the Zoning Commission unexpectedly sent the architects back to the drawing board, wanting a greater amount of residential space in the project, better views to and from the ballpark and a better "expression of place."

After consulting with city agencies, a revised design is ready for the Zoning Commission for approval. It includes 323,000 square feet of residential and hotel space, 80,000 square feet of retail space and 465,000 square feet of office space, along with a 75-foot-wide esplanade along the river, a glass-enclosed galleria and a large fountain and plaza surrounded by three of the four planned buildings.

Some of the ideas floated early in the redesign process have been modified or removed, most notably "the Pitch," a plaza directly across from the ballpark's grand staircase and adjacent to the planned Diamond Teague Park. That space no longer has pitcher and catcher statues but is instead an open area that will be more integrated with Teague, helping with the expected flow of ballpark visitors coming to and from water taxi piers, which someday might materialize by the old Capitol Pumphouse that sits just offshore.

Construction on the eastern office building could start in fall 2009. The entire project might take a while to complete, because two westernmost buildings can't be built until the construction of a new Douglass Bridge allows Florida Rock to use its land under the current bridge.

Community benefits include an estimated 25 units of workforce housing, anticipated LEED certification and preferences for local, minority and disadvantaged businesses and workers, as well as the more basic amenity of replacing a huge concrete plant with shiny, new buildings and access to the waterfront.

The ANC has been enthusiastic about the project and voted 5 to 2 to support the new design. The Zoning Commission hearing is March 20.

Dupree, a Post staff member, has been tracking the neighborhood's changes since 2003. For additional information and photos, visithttp://jdland.com.