MVT Safeway Photos

Last weekend I took a trip to the MVT Safeway and snapped some photos. The new urban lifestyle Safeway, located at CityVista on the corner of 5th Street & L Street, NW, is a model of what our SW Safeway may look like once it opens in 2010. The new SW Safeway will be 55,000 SF on the ground floor of the east office building under construction at Waterfront Station. The MVT Safeway is the same size and includes a Starbucks and a dry cleaners. As you can see from the following photos, the ceilings are much higher than the current SW Safeway, which makes the store feel more spacious.

This photo shows a fruit display near the main entrance to the store, including organic fruits.

The MVT Safeway has a bakery on-site and offers a variety of baked goods for sale.

They also sell beer and wine at the MVT Safeway, which the current SW Safeway doesn't offer.

The MVT Safeway also has a large meat section, a nut bar, and a cafe, but my favorite feature is self check out!

2010 can't come soon enough if this is what we will get at the new SW Safeway. In the meantime, the MVT Safeway is open and just a short drive away.

Monument Realty Pulls Out of Randall School Project

From today's Washington Business Journal (available for subscribers only): "In other news, Monument has pulled out of an agreement with the Corcoran Gallery of Art to redevelop D.C.’s Randall School in Southwest into apartments and 80,000 square feet of studio, exhibition and classroom space. 'The financial backing no longer existed,' but 'the partnership dissolved in an amenable manner and only ended due to an unfortunate set of circumstances,' Jocelyn File Adamoli, the Corcoran’s director of special projects, said in a statement. The contract does expose Monument to some liability for pulling out, but Adamoli declined to release any details. The gallery did say, however, that it does not plan to sue Monument. With its city approvals already complete, the Corcoran is meeting with other prospective developers and hopes to have a new development partner named by the first quarter of next year, Adamoli said." Before the Corcoran purchased the Randall School, it served as the Millennium Arts Center and a homeless shelter. Currently, the building's windows are boarded up and a security guard patrols the school complex. Hopefully the Corcoran will be able to find another development partner, but since financing is hard to come by these days for most developers, this site may stay vacant for a while. Rendering is courtesy of Monument Realty.

Constitution Center Update

In Tuesday's Biznow, there was an article about the progress being made at Constitution Center, located at 7th & D Street. David Nassif Associates is in the process of a $275 million renovation after the US DOT moved out in 2007. Construction is being led by Davis Construction and SmithGroup architects. The building has been stripped to its frame and is being rebuilt, with renovations scheduled to be complete by early 2010. As you can see from the above photo I took back in mid-October, most of the curtain wall has been installed along 7th Street. An entrance to L'Enfant Plaza Metro is located at the site and reopened on July 1st of this year - one year after renovations began. The article describes the superlatives involved with this construction project: "Largest privately owned office building in DC - by about 200%. 1.4M SF above ground, 690k below. Largest privately owned parking garage in DC. Largest private office building renovation in the US to be LEED Gold (pending). Most energy efficient office building in the District." A private one-acre courtyard will be built as well. Constitution Center is currently available for lease, but since it's being built as a Level IV security-rated facility, it will most likely attract federal tenants. Too bad no ground-floor retail is planned at this massive office complex, but mixing commoners and secure tenants wouldn't fly at a Level IV facility.

It's Election Day!

I got back from England in time to vote, which I did this morning. If you haven't done so yet, PLEASE VOTE! I'll start posting again about SW by tomorrow.

Zoning Analysis of SW to Begin in January

The DC Office of Planning will kick off their analysis of zoning in Southwest in January 2009 with a community-wide public meeting. It was originally scheduled to begin in late Summer, but apparently has been delayed. Read my post from July about this topic.

Street Closures for Marine Corps Marathon

The Marine Corps Marathon will be held tomorrow and according to this traffic advisory from DDOT, several streets will be closed, including many in SW. Here are the list of streets that will be closed in SW during the marathon from 4am to as late at 1:30pm:

- West Potomac Park

- East Potomac Park (Access to Golf Course and Tennis Courts will be Available)

- Maine Avenue, SW from East Basin Drive to Independence Avenue

- Independence Avenue, SW from Maine Avenue to Ohio Drive

- Ohio Drive, SW between Independence Avenue and Lincoln Circle

- Lincoln Circle from Ohio Drive, SW to 23rd Street, NW

- 23rd Street, NW from Lincoln Circle to Constitution Avenue

- Constitution Avenue, NW from 23rd Street to 15th Street

- 15th Street from Constitution Avenue, NW to Independence Avenue, SW

- 17th Street from Constitution Avenue, NW to Independence Avenue, SW

- Madison Drive, NW from 14th Street to 3rd Street

- 3rd Street, NW from Pennsylvania Ave, NW to Maryland Ave., SW

- Pennsylvania Avenue, NW from 3rd Street to E. Capitol Circle

- 1st Street from Pennsylvania Ave., NW to Maryland Ave., SW

- Maryland Avenue, SW from S. Capitol Circle to 3rd Street

- Jefferson Drive, SW from 3rd Street to 14th Street

- 14th Street, SW from Jefferson Drive to northbound HOV lanes

- HOV lanes from 14th Street, SW to HOV ramp at S. Eads Street

Scenes from Southwest

Here's a photo of a couple of bicyclists riding along M Street near Tiber Island on a recent Saturday morning.

This next photo is of the Francis Case Memorial Bridge, which crosses over the Washington Channel. Wouldn't it be cool if as a part of the redevelopment of the Southwest Waterfront that the bridge was lit up at night like some of the causeway bridges in Miami?

Here's a peek at a part of the SW waterfront from Banneker Overlook. In the distance you can see East Potomac Park and way off in the distance is the masonic temple in Alexandria and the control tower at Reagan National Airport.

Updated Waterfront Station Photos

Here are some updated photos of Waterfront Station I took back on October 11th. The first photo shows a SUV in the middle of the right-of-way of 4th Street, which should be reopened for the first time since the 1960s when the first phase of construction is complete in 2010.





The next photo is of construction on the west side of 4th Street.




This next photo is of the east side of 4th Street. It appears that construction is occurring a little faster on the east side of the street, since columns are already visible rising from the 1st floor.





The last photo is of the current Safeway, as seen through the Waterfront-SEU Metro entrance canopy.






A new urban lifestyle Safeway will be built as a part of phase one of construction, similar to the new Safeway that recently opened in Mount Vernon Triangle. I went to the new Safeway for the first time over the weekend and despite its awkward layout, it is light years better than our SW Safeway. The next time I'm at the MVT Safeway I'll take some photos, to give an idea of what our new Safeway may look like in 2010.

November Issue of The Southwester is Available

Here's a link to November's issue of The Southwester, a monthly newspaper dealing with local SW issues and events published by SWNA.

ANC 6D Business Meeting

Here's a reminder that tonight is ANC 6D's monthly business meeting at 7pm at St. Augustine's church on 6th & M Street. The agenda can be found on their website.