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.

Southwest is Most Like Which Other Neighborhood in the U.S.?

DCist had a story today about comparing DC neighborhoods to other city neighborhoods using a tool from Homethinking. When I pulled up Southwest (they have it listed as South West), the website listed the city neighborhood most like Southwest to be Bay Colony Club in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with a score of 87 out of 100. Really? The scores used on Homethinking are calculated using demographic data from the Census, such as age, marital status, number of kids, and frequency of arts and culture activities. People can also make reviews about the results and those reviews can change the overall score for a neighborhood. Let's take a look at the two neighborhoods. On this website about Bay Colony Club, here's the neighborhood description: "The Bay Colony Club is a gated waterfront community that lets you unwind amidst a busy city. It is looked at as one of the most prominent island enclave. Balconies overlook the Intracostal Waterway of Fort Lauderdale. You will feel as if you are on vacation when you are here! The entrance into Bay Colony Club is guarded by a 24-hour security gate, once through the gate you enter the with beautiful tree lined streets. The Bay Colony Club offers superb amenities all throughout the property. There are three clubhouses each with sparkling pools and one has a Cabana bar with a pool located on the Intracoastal. They also feature meeting rooms, bathrooms, recreation rooms and workout equipment. The fitness club features state of the art workout equipment as well as sauna and showers. There are also six state of the art clay tennis courts on the property. Boaters can slip their vessels into one of our slips. They can accommodate vessels 50 feet and under, however the size is subject to change at any time. Condos in the Bay Colony Club feature large eat-in kitchens with stainless steel appliances, balconies that overlook the Intracostal Waterway, large French doors and stylish ceramic tile floors. The Club is conveniently located minutes away from the beautiful beaches of Fort Lauderdale. You can enjoy some of the finest shopping and dining the area has to offer a few minutes down the road. Many people come year round to enjoy the comfort of Bay Colony Club and its surrounding area." Now let's compare this description to Southwest. We are not a gated community, although the Southwest Freeway does act like a barrier to isolate us from the rest of DC. SW isn't an island, but we do have condos and co-ops that look over the Washington Channel. Whenever I go to Cantina Marina, I do feel like I'm on vacation, with the fake palm trees and all. We do have some nice tree-lined streets - G Street comes to mind. We have three swimming pools - Randall Recreation Center, Waterside Fitness Center, and East Potomac Park. Lots of apartment and condo communities also have pools. We have marinas and a live-aboard community, the only one I know of in the District. We can accommodate tall ships and yachts, like the Sequoia, the former presidential yacht.

We can enjoy some of the finest dining and shopping that DC has to offer just down the road - like Georgetown or Capitol Hill, but it's too bad we can't currently do the same in our own neighborhood. We have people who come year round to enjoy our quadrant of the city, especially in the spring during the Cherry Blossom Festival.

Here are some other neighborhoods in major U.S. cities that are supposedly most like Southwest:

New York (Manhattan) - Midtown

New York (Brooklyn) - Carroll Gardens

LA - Westwood

San Francisco - North Beach

Boston - South End

Chicago - O'Hare

Denver - Golden Triangle

Miami - North Coconut Grove

Baltimore - Canton

What do you think about these neighborhood comparisons?

Updated Photos of Arena Stage

Over the weekend I took some photos of development projects around the neighborhood. First up is Arena Stage, which began construction back in January of this year. The expanded Arena Stage Mead Center for American Theater, designed by Bing Thom Architects, is scheduled to open in time for the 2010-11 season. This first photo is of construction along 6th Street. In the foreground is the existing Fichlander Stage and in the background is the Cradle, a "black box" theater.

This is a close-up photo of the Cradle, which is beginning to take shape.

Here is a photo of construction along Maine Avenue.

Here's a link to my original post about Arena Stage.

Bids Come in for Firehouse Site

Yesterday, according to this press release from the DC Government, three teams responded to the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) office's solicitation for a partner to redevelop two sites in SW, including the fire station at the corner of 6th Street & School Street and a second site at the corner of 4th Street & E Street. See the Google Earth map above for the location of the two sites. The three teams are: a partnership between JLH Partners, Chapman Development, and CDC Companies; the team of Trammell Crow, CSG Urban Partners, and Michele Hagans; and E Street Development Partners (a combination of Potomac Investment Properties, CityPartners, and Adams Investment Group). At least two of the development teams have members that are currently involved in other projects in SW. Trammell Crow is building Patriots Plaza, a three-building office development cattycorner to the 4th Street site. They are also redeveloping St. Matthew's with CSG Urban Partners at 222 M Street. CityPartners is on the development team of the Southwest Waterfront. From the press release: "The responses call for rebuilding Engine 13 and building between 102,000 – 465,000 square feet of office space and a potential hotel with between 130-208 rooms. All offers proposed neighborhood-serving ground floor retail. Two of the [offers] proposed community space and one proposed an 11,000 square foot atrium-covered public indoor park." As a part of the deal, the DC government will get a new firehouse for free. It's also good that all of the proposals include ground floor retail, as I made a plea for retail in my first post on this topic back in June. The city hopes to choose a winner by the end of the year and construction could begin by the summer of 2010.

Ward 6 Bans Single Sales

According to this press release from Ward 6 Council member Tommy Wells, the DC Council approved the ban of sales of single containers of alcohol, including beer, malt liquor, and ale, as well as spirits in bottles of half pint or smaller in Ward 6.