WASHPO | Lane closings affect Southeast Freeway commuters near Anacostia River

Go HERE for the full article by Robert Thomson.

Excerpt:

The District Department of Transportation closed the westbound Southeast Freeway between Pennsylvania Avenue and Eighth Street SE. This segment will stay closed for 18 to 20 months while workers raise the roadway and convert it into a boulevard, more connected with the neighborhood than the sunken freeway is. 

Commuters affected by the closing should use D.C. 295 South to reach the inbound freeway span of the 11th Street Bridge. That will lead them to the Southeast-Southwest Freeway and I-395.

WashPo | D.C.’s 11th Street Bridge: Local span opens, freeway ramps finishing up

Go HERE to read the full Washington Post article.

Exerpt:

The opening of the local bridge also marked the permanent closing of the 13th Street SE ramp, an important access point to the bridge on the Anacostia side. This begins a difficult time for many drivers, who will be using detours and enduring extra congestion. 

Inbound traffic from Anacostia will be directed to the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and Good Hope Road SE to reach the new local span. As drivers cross the river, they will arrive at the O Street SE intersection, where the Navy Yard entrance is to the left. If they turn right on O Street, then left onto 12th Street SE, they can reach M Street SE. 

WASHPO: Play favorites with...Beth Ferraro, creative director of Honfleur Gallery and The Gallery at Vivid Solutions

Beth Ferraro is one gifted and talented lady so it would be fitting that her playlist would rock hard.  :)

Go HERE to read the full article.

Photo courtesy of Washington Post
Photo Credit: Owen Franklin

Excerpt:

This week we spoke with Beth Ferraro, creative director of Anacostia-area galleries Honfleur Gallery and The Gallery at Vivid Solutions .

Ferraro, who “grew up listening to The Beatles and a lot of punk music,” has progressed into “...mostly surfy, reggae and a little indie-ish [music]. In the mornings, I still listen to some punk. Other mornings it’s pop or ’80s music or my chanting box from India.”

WASHPO: Anacostia building to get a new look

More exciting news! Anacostia just keeps getting better and better.

Go HERE to read the full article in the Washington Post.

Excerpt:

Located near Anacostia’s downtown area and its Metrorail station, the Shannon Place building overlooks Interstate 295, Anacostia Park and the Anacostia River. Shortly after the police department’s lease expires in September and the police move elsewhere, Curtis and Four Points plan a $25 million makeover that will turn the warehouse into a glass-and-steel-encased, LEED-certified four-story office building with a fifth-story penthouse.

Four Points, which is developing the mixed-use Progression Place project in the Northwest neighborhood of Shaw, began marketing the Anacostia building through Jones Lang LaSalle earlier this summer, said Stan Voudrie, a principal at Four Points.

Rendering of new office building
(courtesy of Four Points)

Anacostia featured in today's Washington Post!

Take some time to read about the progress in Anacostia and the community advocates who call it home in today's Washington Post article, "Black professionals leading the charge of gentrification across Anacostia."

Washington Post Express: A Growth Spurt With Plenty of Promise: New Residents Drawn to Anacostia

Go HERE to read the full Washington Post Express article.

Excerpt:

Photo Courtesy of Washington Post Express

One of Washington's most notable historical residences, the former home of Frederick Douglass, sits atop a grassy hill at the center of the neighborhood. The National Historic Site is not only the former living quarters of one of the nation's greatest abolitionists but also one of many neighborhood spots to offer an awe-inspiring view of the city.

Douglass, who was born into slavery but escaped to become an influential abolitionist, once said, "Without struggle, there would be no progress." The quote could easily describe Anacostia's recent history and some residents' fight to counter negative views of the neighborhood. It's also a phrase that's tattooed across the right side of the chest of new Anacostia resident Elijah Black. In March, he purchased a home in the Fairlawn Estates subdivision, which consists of 20 single-family homes on the northern edge of Anacostia. Black, 28, closed on his three-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom property for $365,000.

Across the neighborhood, the Department of Homeland Security, which is spread among 40 buildings in the D.C. area, is consolidating its headquarters at Anacostia's St. Elizabeth's Hospital campus (1100 Alabama Ave. SE). Construction is under way to renovate the facility; parts of it are slated for completion by 2013.