Today I visited the Southeast DC neighborhood where the Nationals new baseball stadium is under construction. As you can see from this photo the form of the roughly $600 million stadium is taking shape. Fans can follow the project on this website created by the construction companies that features two webcams and a daily archive all the way back to last June, which also happens to be the last time I visited. JD’s Near Southeast website has a number of renderings of the stadium’s design and information about the rapid changes in the neighborhood.

JD land estimates that since 1999 in “near southeast” DC (southeast west of the Anacostia) there has been 1.2 million square feet of new office space and 500 apartment and condos constructed. Another 1.7 million square feet of office and 1,000 residential units are currently under construction in the area. The massive wave of investment has many causes, many predating the stadium decision: increased staffing at the Navy Yard, Navy contractors expanding offices in the area, construction of a huge new U.S. DOT office building, demolition and replacement of public housing under the HOPE VI program, the Navy Yard Metro station, and the area’s proximity to the Capital. Check out JD’s site for more details.