Photo of nearby Yards Park

First word of a shipping container market and now this. Nice! From a Capitol Riverfront press release:

Forest City, the master developer of The Yards, a major urban, mixed-use development project located in the Capitol Riverfront area of Washington D.C., and the Altamarea Restaurant Group of New York City today jointly announced that Altamarea’s latest location of their successful Osteria Morini restaurant concept will open at The Yards in summer 2013. The Altamarea Group currently consists of six New York-metro-area restaurants and one Hong Kong location by award-winning chef Michael White.

The new 4,250 square foot Osteria Morini will be located in the Lumber Shed, an adaptive reuse component of The Yards, located on the riverfront at the northern edge of The Yards Park. It is the first tenant to be announced for the Lumber Shed and the first DC-area location for Chef White and the Altamarea Group.

Featuring the rustic cuisine and convivial spirit of the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, Osteria Morini is a mid-priced, casual restaurant with lunch and dinner menus featuring innovative pasta dishes, grilled meats, fish and several regional specialties. Two current Osteria Morini ( www.osteriamorini.com) locations are in the Soho neighborhood of Manhattan and Bernardsville, New Jersey.

The award-winning Altamarea Group restaurants include Marea, Ai Fiori, Due Mari, Osteria Morini NY & NJ, Al Molo and the soon to be opened Nicoletta. Chef Michael White was named “Best New Chef” by Esquire magazine in 2002 and nominated “Best Chef, New York” in 2010 and 2011 by the James Beard Foundation. Marea was named “Best New Restaurant in America” in the 2010 James Beard Awards. Both Ai Fiori and Marea received three-star New York Times reviews, “Best New Restaurant” in 2010 and 2011 by Esquire, and ZAGAT New York named Marea “Best New Italian Restaurant” 2012 and Ai Fiori “Best New Restaurant” 2012. Osteria Morini was ranked in ZAGAT’s Top 10 “Best New Restaurants” 2012. In addition, Osteria Morini was included in Conde Nast’s Hot List 2011.

At The Yards, Osteria Morini will occupy the southeast corner of the ground floor in the Lumber Shed, offering expansive river and park views from both inside, as well as from its outdoor dining areas on the east and south sides of the building. With the signing of Osteria Morini, the Lumber Shed is now over 60% leased. The second level will be office space occupied by the offices of Forest City Washington. Space remains on the building’s first floor for additional restaurants/retailers.

Anyone ever visit the NYC location? You can see their menus here.

Photo by PoPville flickr user future pop attorney

Last night ANC Commissioner David Garber (@GarberDC) tweeted some exciting news:

“ Bayou and Surfside are coming to Half and M SE in #NavyYard for duration of Nats season as part of shipping container “fairgrounds.”

And JDLand has all the details:

After three years of operating The Bullpen(s) on one of the empty lots just north of Nationals Park, landowner Akridge and Bullpen/Georgetown Events owner Bo Blair are opting to try something new for the 2012 season: “Fairgrounds,” a combination food, market and events space that will be open seven days a week from the beginning of baseball season through October 1.

This space will open at 11:30 am every day; on game days, the market and food trucks will remain open until two hours after the game ends; otherwise, it will stay open at least through Happy Hour, or later if patrons are still around. There will be a “spectator” deck built on top of the shipping containers as well as a music stage, with plans to continue to have local and regional bands play on game days. And of course there will be 20 HD televisions and plenty of cornhole sets.

This sounds incredibly awesome to me. Read all the details from JDLand. Will anyone miss the Bullpen?

Dear PoPville,

Lot 38 in Capitol Riverfront is now open. They were giving out free drinks yesterday until 6 pm. [Ed. Note: Oops, sorry I didn't get that posted yesterday!] I believe the gentleman behind the counter is the owner, but I just snapped the pics and didn’t go for the full (or partial) interview…. The other two pics are from each end of the upstairs seating section. It’s nice to see this finally open as there seemed to be some sort of delay in the middle of the construction process, but I suppose that shouldn’t have surprised anyone.

Great addition to the neighborhood! Lot 38 is located at 2nd and L St, SE.

“Dear PoPville,

I saw this banner posted on a building at 2nd and L st SE that I probably passed a few dozen times without ever noticing the construction. It’ll be great to have an option for sandwiches other than subway.”

Very cool.

Just wait until you get the Boilermaker shops.

View Larger Map

It’s become a complete skeleton. See what it looked like in April ’11 here. And today below -totally wild:

More info on retail and restaurants coming to the space here.

Photo by PoPville flickr user Mark Brueggenjohann

“Dear PoPville,

I’m hoping you or your readers can help me save some money. My girlfriend and I are moving to Navy Yard later this month. While I would love to be car-free in the city, she needs a car to get to her teaching job across the river. The apartment building that we’re moving into rents parking spots in their undeground garage for $175 per month. This seems really expensive to me, and I was wondering if anyone out there has any tips about other places to park cars or free street parking in the area. We learned that Navy Yard is in a different zone from the rest of the Hill, so street parking on Capitol Hill might not be an option.

Any help/information for two people looking to save some money would be really appreciated! Thanks!”

“Dear PoP,

Just thought the readers might be interested in the demolition occurring down in SE Navy Yard. They’re finally tearing down the Market Deli building that’s been there for not even sure how long. Please see attached photos for before and during shots. The second shot was taken this morning about 8:45am.”

View Larger Map

From DCFireems sent around 11pm Friday night:

“shooting – M St & Howison Pl SW”

Photo by PoPville flickr user future pop attorney

From the MPD-1D listserv:

This incident occurred after the baseball game on Wednesday night- I have a young man staying at my place until the summer and he was terrorized by a couple of “young thugs” while walking home from the baseball game. Please see below:

“I was assaulted last night walking home from the baseball game. A group of guys tried to rob me. I took a pretty hard hit to the head. The same guys chased me to the apartment complex after I left the police station. I literally closed the gate on them. I don’t know what would have happened if I didn’t make it into the complex. I’m fine, have a pretty bad headache and a sore jaw, that’s about it. I didn’t go to work today and am getting checked out at the doctor right now just to be safe. Just wanted to let you know what happened, I’m okay- don’t worry.”

It’s very dangerous to walk home at night in this area. These young boys were hanging out at the park after they had assaulted this young man.

MPD Commander Daniel Hickson responded:

Unfortunately the SW and Nationals Park area experienced three robberies or assaults (with intent to rob) between Monday and Tuesday. The first event was a Robbery which occurred on Monday at about 10 pm in the 1100 block of New Jersey Ave SE, the second offense was the one referenced in the below email which occurred on Tuesday at about 10:25 pm in the Unit block of M St SW and the third was a robbery that occurred on Tuesday at about 11:45 pm in the 1400 block of 4th St SW. In each of these offenses, the assailants were described as a group of juvenile suspects, including 5 or more individuals.

A short time after the last robbery occurred, First District patrol officers assigned to Curfew Patrol observed several juveniles who were in violation of curfew laws. When they stopped these subjects they observed that several of them matched the description of the assailants from the Fourth St incident. The detectives were notified and subsequently two of the individuals were identified as participants in the last robbery and they were arrested.

We are investigating the strong similarities in all three offenses: time, location, method and description of assailants. The First District Detectives are conducting follow-up investigations focused on the two juveniles arrested, as well as others who were in their company. When an update is available, I will advise.

Photo by Capitol Riverfront BID

A few readers have inquired about last Friday’s Truckeroo located across from Navy Yard Metro Station, and billed as “a monthly festival held June thru October at the corner of Half St. and M St., SE showcasing food trucks from the Washington, D.C. area.” – unfortunately I was out of town – did anyone have a chance to check it out? Food Truck Fiesta wrote:

The event ran from 11am – 9pm and featured bands, picnic tables, cornhole (bean bag toss) games along with a selection of adult beverages. The lunch time crowd was strong, but it was the late evening crowd that eclipsed those earlier attendance numbers. The event is expected to be held monthly during the summer and fall seasons.

I’ll be sure to announce the time/date of the next one.

Photo by PoPville flickr user Takka-San

I finally had the chance to check out Yards Park located near Nationals Stadium. As expected, it’s pretty freaking awesome. However, I was shocked to see it nearly empty. I was reminded that it was Easter when I checked it out but Meridian Hill Park was smashed on Easter. I’m not saying I expected the park to be smashed but it just seemed sad that such a beautiful spot wasn’t really being used.

Does anyone know how much this park cost?

I think it would be awesome if/when a restaurant (perhaps a shake shack…) or concession stand opened up as well.

But let me say clearly that this park is awesome and I hope the neighborhood continues to grow so that people will actually use it on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

Das Bullpen is located across from the Navy Yard Metro:

Anyone check it out yet? How does it compare to the Biergarten on H St, NE? Before going to a game would you recommend the original Bullpen or Das Bullpen?

On a side note, it seemed a shame that this whole area (even the beautiful Yards Park) with the exception of a few souls, was basically a ghost town on that beautiful Sunday we just had. It’s too bad these places aren’t open on non game days.

I found a bit of info on a Web site called Showcase that says:

“The Yards is a development of Forest City Enterprises- Washington in partnership with MacFarlane Partners.

This retail heart of The Yards will be found at the corner of Tingey and 4th Streets SE in an expansive former industrial building known as The Boilermaker Shop where boilers for Navy ships were once manufactured. Now, as a part of The Yards, The Boilermaker Shop is being converted into an exciting, two-level, 45,000-square-foot retail center with opportunities for outdoor dining and more. All this will be nestled in the heart of the new, 42-acre riverfront neighborhood that Forest City is developing within walking distance of Capitol Hill in Washington D.C.
Retail shops and restaurants will gain additional character with the complex’s Classic American industrial architecture, complete with exposed steel girders and clerestory windows.”

Looks like they hope to open in Nov. 2011. Not sure how realistic that is but it sounds pretty sweet and some cool history as well.

View Larger Map

This is timely since the topic of tax breaks came up in the Park Road Facade Improvement project post below. This is the big news this morning from the Washington Post:

“Whole Foods Market and a D.C. real estate firm are interested in building a new store in Southeast Washington near Nationals Park, but the developer says that luring the grocer would require $8 million in tax breaks. William C. Smith and Co. is proposing a 39,000-square-foot Whole Foods for 800 New Jersey Ave. SE as part of a building that would include 375 apartments.”

Though another section from the article which I also found interesting said:

“In a recent study of economic development assistance provided by the city, the D.C. Office of the Chief Financial Officer found that Ward 6 had received by far the most aid in fiscal 2010: $129 million, followed by Ward 2′s $59 million.”

This rental is located at New Jersey Ave at K Street SE:

View Larger Map

The Craigslist ad says:

“Premier corner unit available on a high floor of the Capitol Hill Tower, conveniently located just steps from the Navy Yard Metro, Department of Transportation, Capitol office buildings, Nationals Stadium, shops and restaurants on 8th street, and with easy access to 395 and 295. Available partially furnished (bed, wall mounted 46″ LCD HDTV and bose speakers, etc) if desired. Condo is perfectly designed for roommates with two large bedrooms located at opposite ends of the unit. Minimum one year lease. Small pets ok with deposit.

Building is only 4 years old and this luxury unit includes:

- 1100+ square feet
- gourmet kitchen with gas stove, granite countertops and breakfast bar
- gorgeous blonde hardwood floors in main living areas, carpeted bedrooms
- huge master bedroom with floor to ceiling windows showcasing dramatic Capitol views, tons of natural light, walk-in closet
- open floorplan
- large second master w/ walk-in closet and Capitol view
- balcony with fantastic Capitol views and included grill
- in-unit full-sized washer/dryer
- built-in desk/office area
- custom paint and upgraded bathroom fixtures
- garage parking available for $175/mo

Building and area amenities include:
- heated indoor pool and hot-tub
- party room with pool table, bar, couches big screen TV
- in-building gym with TVs and new fitness equipment
- conceirge
- one block walk to Navy Yard metro
- three blocks to freeway onramp
- walk to work at the Washington Navy Yard, Capitol Hill, Department of Transportation, etc.
- just blocks to Nationals Stadium
- adjacent to Canal, Yards and Diamond Teague Parks”

$2650 sound reasonable for this 2 bed/2bath with balcony?