The view from Capitol Riverfront's 55 M Street, which just signed its first tenant.

The Capitol Riverfront hastened its slow trickle of tenants and businesses during the last few weeks. On Friday, Mayor Adrian Fenty announced that the city would be taking over a building, located at 225 Virginia Ave. SE on the northern border of the neighborhood. In two years, Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA), Office of Chief Technology Officer (OCTO), and District of Columbia Commission on the Arts and Humanities (DCCAH) will move into the newly renovated, 350,000-square-foot LEED Silver certified office building.

Yeah, city agencies! Just what a neighborhood needs to generate buzz  and inch onto people's radars! Thankfully, there have been other new signs of life: As I previously noted, Harris Teeter signed a letter of intent to open a new location in the Capitol Riverfront. More recently—as in last week—the Washington Business Journal reported that a new Italian pizza/salad/sandwich joint will move into the recently completed Velocity Capitol Riverfront condo building.

Justin Ross, formerly of Austin Grill, is the owner, and he says he hopes to open in two months.

In addition, 55 M Street, SE—which hosted Artomatic this summer, introducing thousands of visitors to the neighborhood's gaping holes and empty spaces—signed its first tenant in late October. "Sayres, a government services contractor providing engineering, technical, acquisition and program management, business financial and IT, and security analysis support to DoD, DoT, Homeland Security and other federal agencies, will locate its 20,000 SF headquarters in the new building," according to a press release from Monument Realty.

The great thing about Artomatic is that it often introduces people to construction-heavy neighborhoods where there's not much going on otherwise.

Last year, the event was held in NoMa. This year, it's in the Capitol Riverfront, home to Nationals Park and...that Five Guys that President Barack Obama visited recently.

Personally, I can't wait for this neighborhood to become more than it currently is. Sometimes, one forgets that there are miles and miles of waterfront in Washington D.C. This neighborhood seems to be our best hope for District residents actually spending time near the water—and not just to wait in traffic to cross a bridge.

But alas, the Capitol Riverfront is far from complete. Here's a short tour.

Ta da! The riverfront. This year, crews broke ground on two parks by the water: Diamond Teague Park at First and Potomac Streets and, very recently, The Park at the Yards to the east around 3rd and Water Streets.

Out this window, we see the Nationals' Bullpen. Judging from this Capitol Riverfront map, it appears this site will be developed into a office/residential/retail building by Akridge.

Alas, I didn't take a good shot of the depths of that big tan thing toward the bottom of the shot.

That's a humongous hole. This lot belongs to Monument Realty's Half Street project slated to become office, retail, a hotel, and housing. Monument has relied on Lehman Brothers heavily in the past, and with this project as well.

Yeah, I'm not sure how to react to that number either. I mean 1,584 residents...Is that just super? Or is that terrible? The Capitol Riverfront Business Improvement District says that this is the estimated population within their boundaries, as of their latest newsletter dated May 7, 2009.

On the one hand, the neighborhood's being built from the ground up. On the other hand, that's not a lot people to consider a base for drawing more businesses. The BID has had its triumphs (landing Artomatic, opening soon), and its disappointments (having Dogfish Head Alehouse lose interest in the neighborhood.)

It's not exactly a hobby of mine to contemplate the neighborhood's demographics. But, as you can see below, The Capitol Riverfront has about 2,000 existing/completed residential units.  The majority of the planned housing is just that: Planned, not currently under construction. Looks like the area's going to be relatively quiet for a while longer.

Image by Joe Schlabotnik, Flickr Creative Commons