- There was an article last week in
Sporting News that gave an update on the prospects for DC United’s
push for a new stadium.
The new
ownership group is starting to have conversations with the city to get them on
board with funding infrastructure improvements and assembling land for a soccer
stadium. Buzzard Point remains the likely site in the District for the new
stadium, although DC United is also in talks with Baltimore officials to
possibly relocate to that city. The Buzzard Point site is only a few blocks
southwest of Nationals Park and the two facilities would be linked together by
Potomac Avenue.
- Vornado is selling two office buildings it owns near the
Federal Center SW Metro and one of them – The Washington Design Center at 300 D
Street – will most likely be the new home of a bible museum, according to the
Washington Business Journal (subscribers
only).
From the article:
An affiliate of The Museum of the Bible, a nonprofit
organization, has a contract to buy the design center to display its
multimillion-dollar collection of sacred texts, artifacts and other items known
as the Green Collection, according to sources familiar with the deal…It could
take four or five years to open the museum because a large portion of the items
to be displayed are now part of a traveling exhibition and will not be
available for display immediately.
- Constitution Center, the massive 1.4 million SF office
building on top of the L’Enfant Plaza Metro that went up for sale last year is
close to finding a buyer. According to
citybizlist,
MetLife is nearing a deal to purchase the building for somewhere in the
vicinity of $750 million.
- According to an article in
Capital Business, an equity stake in L’Enfant Plaza is up for sale
by JBG, the owner of most of the complex. The equity stake for sale is only for
the existing office buildings, not the improvements underway and planned. Those
improvements include a new Homewood Suites extended-stay hotel planned for the southeast
corner of 9th & D Street, an expansion of the existing retail center, as
well as an office building planned on the southeast side of the complex.
Eventually, another office building is planned for the plaza area.
- The proposed
American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial has received over $6 million in grant money from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Public Lands Highway Discretionary Program according to the
BeyondDC blog. The 2.4-acre memorial is planned for the triangle formed by Washington Avenue, 2nd Street, and C Street.
Back in 2010, the
National Capital Planning Commission approved the design of the memorial, but infrastructure funding was still needed. With funding now in place, construction will begin next year with dedication planned in early 2014.
Rendering courtesy of the National Capital Planning Commission
.JPG)
At the National Capital Planning Commission's upcoming meeting on July 1st, it is expected that the agency will approve final site and building plans for the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial (AVDLM), planned for the intersection of 2nd Street and Washington Avenue. The memorial is being built by the Disabled Veterans' LIFE Memorial Foundation, Inc. and was designed by Michael Vergason, Landscape Architects, LTD. Currently, the two-acre site serves as a pathway between Capitol Hill and the SW Federal Center. The AVDLM will contain the following components: a star fountain with eternal flame, triangular reflecting pool, granite paving, stone and glass walls, sculptural elements, trees, landscaping, lighting, and parking on the south side of the site.
The glass walls planned at the memorial (also known as the Voices of Veterans) will include quotes of disabled veterans and seven images showing wounded and disabled soldiers and veterans and images of care givers. The "Wall of Gratitude" that will run along the middle of the memorial will contain quotations from George Washington and Dwight Eisenhower when they were generals. A full description of the components of the AVDLM can be found in NCPC's Staff Recommendation. Utility work is supposed to get started this summer, with construction of the memorial to begin in June 2011, and construction complete in mid-2012.
