Sidewalk at Patriots Plaza Reopens

Construction is wrapping up at phases II & III of Patriots Plaza, the massive office building complex being built by Trammell Crow. Last week, crews were installing curbs and the sidewalk in front of the new buildings. Today, the sidewalk along the north side of the 3oo block of D Street was reopened to pedestrians. While the entire sidewalk isn't complete yet, enough of it has been put in place that pedestrians can now walk by safely. While no tenants have been lined up yet at phases II & III of Patriots Plaza, I saw moving vans over the weekend at nearby Capitol View, the office building at the corner of 3rd & D Street, presumably for the Association of American Railroads (AAR), which is scheduled to move into the space in September, as Southwest...TLQTC posted back in March. Above is a photo of the entrance plaza to the phase II & III buildings, taken from D Street. The entrance to the phase I building is at far left, behind the tree.

Update: Below are some more updated photos of Patriots Plaza.

(Left) Here is a photo of the phase II building. Follow this link to a post from December to see what the site looked like as the building rose from the ground. The phase II building has frontage on D Street and is across the street from NASA headquarters.

(Right) Here is a view of the reopened sidewalk along D Street, looking east from Patriots Plaza to the Marriott Residence Inn next door.

(Left) Most of the phase III building fronts 4th Street. The sidewalk in front of the phase III building remains closed as construction appears to be less further along on this side than on D Street. When Trammell Crow was in the running for building the new Engine 13, a representative from the developer stated at the community meeting in February that there was a possibility that portions of phase II & III of Patriots Plaza could have ground floor retail space. It depended on the needs of the tenant. However, to me, the design of the buildings don't look like ground level retail could be accommodated, at least publicly accessible retail.

Saturday Night Movies at Lansburg Park

Screen on the Green on the National Mall is over, but tomorrow, Ward 6 Council Member Tommy Wells and the DC Department of Parks & Recreation (DPR) will host the inaugural of Saturday Night Movies at Lansburg Park, located at Delaware Avenue & L Street. This week's film is "Dreamgirls." Free popcorn and snow cones will be available, but moviegoers are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets. The weather forecast for tomorrow calls for a 30% chance of rain, so plan accordingly. Lansburg Park, at five acres, is an underutilized asset in our community, so it's good that DPR is starting to activate the space a little more. Back in March of 2008, CapitalSpace (a consortium of NCPC, NPS, the Office of Planning, and DPR) made a presentation to SWNA with recommendations to improve Lansburg Park, which included, among other things, showing films on the lawn. A summary of the recommendations from that meeting can be found here. SWDC Blog also has a post about the condition of the park.

Potomac Place Tower Back on Track

Renovations and sales at Potomac Place Tower (PPT) condos, located at 800 4th Street, will now continue since local developer Monument Realty has been able to find a new lender to finance the project, according to a press release on Monday. Swedbank, AB, a Swedish-based bank, is the new lender on the project. Back in December, Southwest...TLQTC first reported on the work stoppage at the condo conversion project, due to the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, and the subsequent liens placed on the property. The news of PPT restarting sales comes just a couple weeks after Waterfront Tower, a new condo conversion project nearby, began marketing. Perhaps the thought of having a competing condo project in the market helped negotiations move along for the developer and the lender. Natasha Stancill, Director of Marketing at Monument Realty, tells Southwest...TLQTC that the renovations at PPT should be complete by the first quarter of 2010. Approximately 15 units in the North Tower and 100 units in the South Tower are available for occupancy within the next 30-45 days. Another 100 units in the South Tower will be available for occupancy by year end. The final 35 units in the North Tower will be available in the first quarter of 2010. Prices range from approximately $180,000 for a studio to approximately $330,000 for a two bedroom. Below are a couple of photos of unit interiors in a model unit at PPT, courtesy of Monument Realty. To the left is a photo of the kitchen and on the right is a view of the living room with a balcony.

Safeway Town Hall Meeting Set

ANC 6D will hold a town hall meeting to discuss the liquor license application that Safeway is seeking for its new store at Waterfront Station on Thursday, September 10th from 7-9PM at Westminster Presbyterian Church, located at 400 I Street. Back in July, Southwest...TLQTC posted a story on Safeway's request for a liquor license from ARBA, and the ANC's decision to unanimously protest the request. The liquor license would allow Safeway to sell wine and beer, similar to their CityVista store in the Mount Vernon Triangle neighborhood in Northwest. If you want a say in how the ANC should deal with Safeway regarding the liquor license request, attend the meeting!

New Food Options Coming Soon!

- Over the next month, two new restaurants will be opening in the neighborhood. On Friday at 11AM, there will be a soft opening at Hogate's Cafe, which is located on 800 Water Street at the former H2O nightclub (and before that Hogate's). Kristina Noell, a former employee at H2O, will be opening the new restaurant (See a post from February for some background on the project). In this month's The Southwester newspaper, there's a neighborhood dining guide, which includes a description of the type of cuisine planned at Hogate's Cafe. The Grand Opening will be on Wednesday, September 9th at 10AM. Below are the hours of operation, starting on September 10th:

Monday - Friday: 6AM - 10PM

Saturday - Sunday: 9AM - 10PM

- Later in September, the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, according to DCist, will open a restaurant in the old Cafe MoZU space called Sou'wester. Back in March, Southwest...TLQTC posted about the new concept, which was tentatively called South by Southwest, but apparently, that name caused problems, since there's an annual festival in Austin, Texas with the same name. While we in DC are more accustomed to Nor'easters, the meaning behind the name Sou'wester is similar - it refers to a storm, or strong wind originating from the southwest.

A Couple Quick Items

- In yesterday's Real Estate Bisnow, there were two stories about Southwest. The first was an office building sale - 500 12th Street, which is located across from The Portals complex, was sold to a pension fund by Prudential Real Estate. 500 12th Street is fully leased to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The second story was about the increase in contracting by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), whose headquarters is located along Independence Avenue. The increase in government contracts (over $1 billion worth) has caused an increase in demand for office space near the FAA by contractors, such as Apptis, who will occupy nearly 15,000 SF of space at 370 L'Enfant Promenade.

- JDLand found out which boat operators will be permitted to use the new public pier at Diamond Teague Park, located near Nationals Park at the Capitol Riverfront. Most of the operators are currently based at the Gangplank Marina along the Southwest Waterfront. They include: Entertainment Cruises, which runs the Seadog speedboat (pictured above), the Miss Ann, the U.S.S. Sequoia (former presidential yacht), and Capital Yacht Charters. Water taxi service to the ballpark most likely won't start until next year, but these boat operators can offer charter service to the new pier. Do any of you plan on using any of these charters for an outing to a Nats game?

What's Next for SEU's Campus?

With Southeastern University set to lose its accreditation with the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools at the end of this month, it’s more than likely that the University will close or merge with the GS Graduate School. If SEU moves out of its current home at 501 I Street, what will happen to its campus? Would a charter school move in, or would DCPS expand Amidon-Bowen, which is next door? Perhaps UDC would open up a satellite community college campus as a part of their reorganization effort? Since some of the facilities at SEU have recently been upgraded as a part of The Campaign for Southeastern, all of these scenarios are somewhat plausible. Why wouldn’t a school or college want to move into recently remodeled classroom space, despite the unaesthetic “historic” exterior of the building IMHO? The campus is nestled in a residential neighborhood with row homes on one side, an elementary school on another side, across the street from Town Center Park, and is within walking distance of the Waterfront-SEU Metro, so a variety of uses could potentially work well at the site. If the future owner of the SEU campus decides to tear down the building for a non-educational use, what should be built in its place? (Above is a photo of SEU, taken today)

Coming Soon to a Metro Station Near You...

Mark October 16th on your calendars…starting on that date, 20 of the busiest underground Metro stations will be getting expanded cell phone service and three of them are located in Southwest. According to the WMATA press release, Smithsonian, L’Enfant Plaza, and Federal Center SW will be part of the first wave of Metro stations to receive service from Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, AT&T, and T-Mobile. From the press release:

This is the first phase of Metro’s effort to bring expanded cell phone carrier service to the entire Metrorail system by 2012,” said Suzanne Peck, Metro’s Chief Information Officer. “After we complete the first 20 stations this fall, the carriers will install service at the remaining 27 underground stations by the fall of 2010. Customers will be able to use these carrier-provided wireless services in tunnels between stations by October 2012.”

For a complete list of stations that will receive expanded cell phone coverage in October, check out the press release. As an AT&T customer, I’ll be very happy to soon have the ability to send text messages while waiting on the metro platform, since I’m a texting addict!

Real World Makes a Splash at Spike'd Cinema

Yesterday, I finally got a chance to check out a pool party at the Capitol Skyline Hotel. Sunday was the first Spike'd Cinema event (see my post from Thursday). I got there a little after 2PM and the place was packed! There were people of all ages - most of them appeared to be in their 20's or 30's, but there were also a few children and older people at the pool too. The lines were long all day at the bars, but the wait staff came around to take drink orders and delivered "complementary" burgers to guests. Specialty drinks, such as the Skyline Blue Margarita, are $5 and beer cost $4, which is pretty reasonable, compared to most trendy bars in the city. There was a DJ keeping the party going with a good mix of music. Coincidentally, it was the same day that cast members from MTV's The Real World and their camera crew showed up at the pool. They ended up setting shop right next to where my friends and I were sitting. Below are some photos of the pool area and hotel lobby.

Here is a view of the crowded pool at around 2:30 in the afternoon. One side of the pool had a pretty intense game of "pass the beach ball" while the other side was more tranquil with a few floaters.

Spike Mendelsohn (in the purple and black swimming trunks) from Top Chef and proprietor of Good Stuff Eatery on Capitol Hill, was chatting it up with some of the Real World cast members poolside. The ever present camera crew was there to get every last word.

Later on, some of the cast members got in the pool and started chicken fighting. Once The Real World DC goes on the air, be on the lookout for the episode when they venture to the Capitol Skyline Hotel in Southwest!

The hotel lobby was also redone during the renovation. The lighting in the room was wrecking havoc on my camera, but I did manage to get a decent shot of this corner area. The lobby and pool area look great...now if they only power washed the concrete exterior and did something about those worn blue panels by the windows (see photo at the top of this post).

The movie screen was set up at the far end of the pool. I didn't stay long enough for "Anchorman," so I don't know how many people ended up staying for the film, but there were still a good amount left when I went home a little before 8PM.

Arena Stage Progress Photos

Last Friday, I took some photos around the neighborhood, including the new Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. I'm just getting around to posting some of them now. The photo at the top of this post is a view of Arena Stage from Maine Avenue. On the left side of the image, the first glass panels have been installed, which will eventually wrap around most of the building. Even at this stage of construction, Arena Stage definitely has more of a presence now on the street scape than it did before the expansion began. The theater is scheduled to open in time for the 2010-11 season. Below are a couple more progress photos.

(Left) Here is a 6th Street view of the theater. All of the wood columns have now been installed, but the lattice work that will hold the glass panels have not gone up on this side yet.

(Right) Here is a close-up view of the glass panels being installed on the Maine Avenue side of the theater. The glass panels will allow the original Fichandler Stage to be visible to passersby, as well as eliminate street noise for theater patrons.