I’ve written quite a bit about the Eckington/Bloomingdale area since starting this blog.

Housing Complex has covered such topics as fear and anxiety over affordable housing to joy over the latest neighborhood speed bump. One article featured a man that evoked the KKK when talking about new, white, upwardly mobile residents in the area. Another piece bemoaned the possibility of more cheap chicken joints.

The area’s going through growing pains. At the McMillan meeting last week, even Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr. referred to oldies and newbies—with that phrasing exactly, if I’m remembering correctly.

But a group of civic leaders is trying to fix the divide with technology by installing a free wireless system in their area. The group includes Ted McGinn of the Eckington Civic Association, and ANC commissioners John Salatti and Stu Davenport (who is also the owner of Big Bear Cafe.)

Read More “Will a Wireless Network Bridge the Oldie/Newbie Divide in Bloomingdale, Eckington?” »

It’s just a Capitol Riverfront kind of week, I guess. Some neighborhoods you hear nothing about for months, and then all of sudden, the news comes pouring in. Here’s more information about Diamond Teague park, from the city’s Office of Planning and Economic Development:

The park will be built at First Street and Potomac Avenue SE. It will connect the ballpark to a pair of public piers and a 20-mile network of waterfront trails. A 250-foot pier will be built to host commercial vessels such as water taxis and charter boats. The pier will also include slips for the ECC and the District’s fire and life safety vessels. The park will feature a separate 200-foot environmental pier for educational groups, kayaks and canoes. The piers are expected to be complete by baseball’s Opening Day, April 13, 2009. Read More “More on the Capitol Riverfront’s Diamond Teague Park” »

Well, this is no good.

Harvard University has a new study out today about vacancy rates: One in nine properties is now empty, a record number, according to an article in USA Today.

Read More “Report: One in Nine U.S. Homes Vacant Now” »

Last year, Artomatic was held in an empty, half-developed neighborhood north of the Capitol. This year, it’s bouncing to an empty, half-developed neighborhood south of the Capitol.

Today, the Washington Business Journal reports that Artomatic will be held in the Capitol Riverfront neighborhood, at 55 M St. SE, “a building still under construction on top of the Navy Yard Metro station.”

The annual D.C.-area arts event draws thousands of people to hang out in spaces that normally would be closed-off by chain link fences and padlocked doors, in neighborhoods people have no reason to visit at night. Or ever really. Read More “Capitol Riverfront Lands Artomatic” »

Well, this is a blow.

The Washington Post reports this morning that D.C. United owner Victor MacFarlane wants to build a stadium—correct that “urban stadium”—in Prince George’s County, not the District.

In late January, Clark Realty and the city ended their partnership to transform Poplar Point, a 110-acre section of Ward 8, into a huge new mecca for futbol-watching, plus shopping, mixed housing, parkland, and office space.

Read More “D.C. United Not Moving to Poplar Point” »

Right now, the Capitol Riverfront is not the kind of place you want to dog-walk after dark. Last time I visited, the only pedestrian traffic I encountered was security guards and a man visiting the local storage warehouse. M Street Southeast had a few people walking around. But they all seemed to be on their way out, heading down into the Navy Yard Metro station.

If all goes according to plan, that will change though. The Capitol Riverfront Business Improvement District has a plan for four parks to be built in the area. Tomorrow will see the groundbreaking for the first one: Diamond Teague Park, for which developer Florida Rock donated $800,000.

Read More “Groundbreaking for Diamond Teague Park Tomorrow” »

A week ago today, I attended an auction downtown for a prime piece of property in Tenleytown, at the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and Brandywine Street, N.W.

After a tension-filled bidding war with a representative from American University, developer Doug Jemal came away with the win. For five million dollars, he strolled out of the building with rights to the property and a thick roll of architectural plans within his possession (though someone else was carrying them, so Jemal was free to glad-hand).

Read More “What’s Doug Jemal Going to Do With the Maxim?” »

The McMillan Sand Filtration Plant site is a 25-acre plot of land north of Bloomingdale. In the mid 1980s, the plant closed, leaving the city to determine how to redevelop the land. In December, Vision McMillan Partners, a group of developers, unveiled plans to transform the parcel into a mixed-use community with housing, retail, office space, and park land. Since that time, rumors, conspiracy theories, and chatter about the project have sparked huge debates about the project.

CONSPIRACY THEORY NO. 4: The developers can’t finance this project.

As the crowd swelled to roughly 115 on Saturday, resident Gwen Southerland, wearing pearls, stepped up to the mic with some pointed inquiries. “I want to know, do you have the money to pay for this? EYA? Jair? Do you have the money?”

“Good question, good question,” responded EYA representative Aakash Thakkar before launching into an explanation of the project’s economic feasibility.

Southerland wasn’t getting it and cut him off about 15 seconds in. “OK, you make a good con man. I’m not trying to be funny. Can you slow up? With the money: You said EYA had the funds?” Thakkar then interrupted her: “If you could let me finish…”

Read More “McMILLAN THEORY NO. 4: The Developers Can’t Finance This Project” »

The McMillan Sand Filtration Plant site is a 25-acre plot of land north of Bloomingdale. In the mid 1980s, the plant closed, leaving the city to determine how to redevelop the land. In December, Vision McMillan Partners, a group of developers, unveiled plans to transform the parcel into a mixed-use community with housing, retail, office space, and park land. Since that time, rumors, conspiracy theories, and chatter about the project have sparked huge debates about the project.

CONSPIRACY THEORY NO. 3: Developers may be paying off the local ANC commissioner.

Barrie Daneker is the Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner for an area that includes all the residential areas bordering the McMillan site. He’s among those responsible for shielding his constituents from high-rises that threaten to puncture the Bloomingdale bubble of tranquil Victorian row houses, neighborhood barbecues, and quiet dog-walking. But is Daneker properly executing his duties or simply a pawn in the hands of Vision McMillan Partners?

Former ANC commissioner Allison Defoe, for one, finds his behavior distrustful. In the two years she’s served with him, Defoe says her colleague repeatedly rebuffed her on questions about the development. She’d ask him about gatherings of the McMillan Advisory Group. He’d provide less than illuminating responses, like “‘It was a private meeting,’” end of discussion, recalls Defoe.

Read More “McMILLAN THEORY NO. 3: Developers May Be Paying Off the Local ANC Commissioner” »

The McMillan Sand Filtration Plant site is a 25-acre plot of land north of Bloomingdale. In the mid 1980s, the plant closed, leaving the city to determine how to redevelop the land. In December, Vision McMillan Partners, a group of developers, unveiled plans to transform the parcel into a mixed-use community with housing, retail, office space, and park land. Since that time, rumors, conspiracy theories, and chatter about the project have sparked huge debates about the project.

CONSPIRACY THEORY NO. 2: Developers have “plants” in the audience.

Last Saturday’s meeting started with a presentation by EYA representative Aakash Thakkar and Jair Lynch, whose company is part of the development team. After the usual rounds of diagrams, photos, plans, and explications, the meeting opened to community inquiries.

Following some back-and-forths, a slender, blond woman in a red V-neck sweater stepped up to a centrally located mic. She then loosened the mic from its holder and, with the wire dangling behind her, turned away from the developers and faced the other half of the room. Her name was Robin Buck, and she had a message to deliver: “This is called a community meeting but this is clearly a developer-led meeting. The developers are presenting the information, and then they are allowing us to speak.”

Read More “McMILLAN THEORY NO. 2: Developers Have “Plants” in the Audience.” »