PoP reports here, with a hopeful picture that work is being done on this former Shiloh Baptist property. If I have the address right (1600 8th St NW?) the property was sold 12/30/2009, so if the new owner is starting now, three months later, the future is lookin’ good.
Tag: Development
A few things revisited
a grocery store in ne
On the Eckington listserv there is all this back and forth about the old Safeway and hoped for replacement. Please take the Harris Teeter off the list. According to an old press release HT is scheduled to open Winter 2010/2011. According to a recent DCMUD post (hat tip eckington blog), that date could be November 2010.
Honestly Eckington/Edgewood area, I don’t see what that area has to attract the kind of store y’all think you deserve. The two favorites according to Debbie Smith’s poll were Trader Joe’s (which tends to like small spaces with hidden parking) and Wegmans. What no Balducci’s? I left the Logan Circle are a few months after the Whole Foods opened, and from what I remember the civic authorities of that area showed how the population of Logan/Shaw (and Dupont) could support a Whole Foods. The Soviet Safeway, the O Street Giant, and the no-name grocery in the area were no competition for the kind of shopper that would support WF. If y’all can prove that a national or regional grocery chain can thrive there despite a Giant nearby that happens to be very convenient to a metro station with many buses, go for it.
and regarding sidewalks and the problems for those in wheelchairs (from Scott Roberts list)
See this 2/17/2010 message from ANC 5C04 Commissioner John Salatti:
Bloomingdale does it again: another resident is helped!
Once again, Bloomingdale residents have shown their concern for their neighbors and done it with more than just words. This past weekend I heard from Angela xxxxxxx who uses a motorized wheelchair to get to and from college in Rockville, MD. She makes that daily trip using Metro. That trip is long and difficult on the best of days (Angela has some hairy stories of having to drive her wheelchair down Michigan Avenue from the Brookland Metro Station when the buses have not run), her trip became impossible after the snow storm because she could travel barely 20 feet from her property before the sidewalk became impassable for her wheelchair.
After meeting with Angela and hearing her situation and what she needs to go back to school, I called on a number of residents for a major operation: get Angela from her home in the xxxx block of Flagler Place to the bus stop at North Capitol and W Street, about a third of mile. And once again Bloomingdale responded. Many, many thanks to Sara Kaufman and Mike McNeil of the Unit block of W Street, and Dodd Naiser, Alastair Pakiam, and Brandon Skall of Flagler Place for joining me to widen the path on the sidewalk and for chopping out a lot of ice so that Angela could make her way safely to the bus stop and back. We went with her on a test drive back and forth. She couldn’t believe that people would do so much to help her.
Thanks everyone!
Please clear the sidewalks.
Waltha Daniels Shaw Library
Slowly it is coming together.News from other blogs or Friday Misc.
Over in Bloomingdale The Yoga District is having a mommy & me, but with a more inclusive title of Family Yoga and Community Playtime.
The Great Scott Roberts also mentioned some tasty info he got from a Bloomingdale restaurant hopefully to come at NJ & R. According to WashBiz Journal, Beau Thai, a carry out, is due to open in March, hopefully, maybe, fingers crossed.
Speaking of restaurants on R, anyone know what’s going on with 6th and R for the proposed Toque Cafe? I’ve noticed a change of windows and the application of paper over the windows, so I hope there is something good going on behind the paper.
Over here in the TC, the BACA blog tells that there will be a grand opening of the Eckstine and Ellington Theatre at the Dorothy I Height Community Academy Public Charter Schools (CAPCS)school, also known as Armstrong, this weekend.
have a great weekend y’all.
Change in the corner of my eye
Last night I spent some quality time with the Help, the Help’s landlord, the landlords’ dogs, and another guest in Beltsville. The Help made some comment about the drug dealers on my corner, to which I responded that the dealers have cut back their hours and days of operation and laid off staff, and are hardly there [pause & sigh]”it’s the economy.” I got a chuckle from that. The friendly neighborhood drug dealers are less of a problem then in years past and that’s a change for the better, which only Spring can tell. Sadly they have been replaced by bored violent teens picking fights and robbing adults. Not sure which is worse.
I measure change by the situation I came into when I arrived on my block nearly 9 years ago. Drug dealers were at the corner or near the corner day, night, weekends, weekday, hot days, or cold weather, they were there. The Giant on O St was the best grocery option. There were quickie marts and liquor stores selling 40oz every 2 blocks and no decent wine.
But lately I have sensed another change, that is to come, and I see it out of the corner of my eye. Walking home I saw the Josephine (the recently built condos on Rhode Island Ave) off the side, in the background a tad, and I sensed a greater density has been added to my low density neighborhood. A density that the Monique, on the same block but on R St didn’t add on its own, but the two together seems to signal a change. Also, when peered at from the corner of my eye, off in the background the new Waltha Daniels/Shaw Library getting built. Now provided no bullets mar the shatterproof glass (that’s what I hear these modern architects are using for glass boxes these days) in the 1st 6 months, that will definitely signal a change provided that we see through the glass, a diverse library patronage that reflects the diversity of the neighborhood.
And the hope of change for the better is still alive and well. There is some excitement about a proposed bar near the Yoga District, and the SMD ANC/ businessman Stu Davenport is aware and seems positive. This is something new to think about while some still remain hopeful about Baraki (1st and T) and wonder what’s going with the old Bates Market, which seems to be chugging along. And speaking with the BAANC blog editor and Ray ‘o’ Sunshine, it seems I should keep an eye out this year for the O Street Market.
Where are the Warrenton Condominums?
Not too long ago we were informed of the Warrenton Group and their million + contract with the city to assist in the development of Northwest One. Then other bloggers noted that they had listed as their office the shuttered liquor store on 7th and Q here in Shaw. Then their website went down. Well now their website is back up and shiny and telling me to update my Internet Explorer. And they say their offices are on Wisconsin Ave.
Now I found some of their completed projects. Warrenton West is over on Missouri Avenue NW and the Taylor Flats on Taylor St NW. Both seem to be fairly small project compared to what is proposed for NW 1 and the other large projects.
Friday Misc
Good morning. As you can see it appears things are just chugging along at the Waltha T. Daniel-Shaw library. Sparks a flying, cranes and trucks blocking traffic, good stuff.
A few blocks over at 7th and Q is the location of the Warrenton Group, (apparently spelled with and ‘e’, occasionally spelled Warranton with an ‘a’) which according to DC Mud is joining developer William C. Smith and Co. to rebuild the Sursum Corda Area aka Northwest One. Problem is, as far as some of us can tell the Warrenton Group is a fake front, as they have been awarded million dollar contracts but haven’t built shyte. They own shyte, but haven’t built or developed anything so far that one can point to. Unless someone out there knows something that we can go look at, besides the senior wreck center that is the shuttered liquor store at 7th and Q.
On a personal note this week I discovered the importance of a dehumidifier when my cellar flooded with 4 inches of water.
Lastly, sort of because I swear I meant to write something else, trick or treaters. As common on my street, we give out candy to small people who knock on our door. I’m guessing the prime time will be 5-7pm, because around 7:30-8 the sullen teens knock on the door and that’s when I turn off all the lights and hide in the rear of the house, or go over to someone else’s house. So check with your neighbors if you’re new since last year and join in the custom.
Playground near Bundy & Middle Eastern Food
Shamelessly stolen from BACA blog, who got it from the CCCA-Blog.
Item #1- There is going to be a children’s playground at Scott-Montgomery. They broke ground, there is equipment awaiting installation, and even better…. a edible learning garden! I love edibles. I love it even better when other people, including small people with growing brains, get to learn that food does not come from the supermarket. It comes from the good earth. Yay! According to the CCCA, “Access to the outdoor tot lot in the small courtyard on 1500 Fifth St NW will be made available local families and age-appropriate children in the neighborhood outside of regular school hours.” I hope this means they can keep out cursing, dope smoking adults who tend to take over playgrounds. Yeah, I’m talking about the guys around the block, who used to haunt the basketball courts that where behind KIPP/Scott-Montgomery. And hopefully this space will appreciated by some of the anti-dog park people who say children need a park. Well it’s coming and that is a good thing.
Item #2- Toque Cafe- Middle Eastern restaurant to be at 6th and R. One word, falafel. Some more words- the former Chain Reaction space is going to serve food and G-d and city government willing, there may be outdoor seating. My only concern is the corner of R and the alley running behind it seems to attract bulk trash on a regular basis, I swear it is some dumping ground. I think today I saw a headboard and some other furniture. But that shouldn’t keep me from falafels. I pray they make good falafels with a decent tahini sauce. Last local mid-east place I went to (now out of business) put ranch dressing on the falafel. Bad. Bad. Bad.
Prevent a Pop-up
Well we can make this a test case. Can you kill a pop up without one of those pesky historic district doohickies?
Here’s the situation, there is to be a BZA hearing for 1721 4th Street, N.W. It’s the blue house that’s being worked on that’s across the alley from the Fourth Street Cleaners. Anyway, the owner, a nice guy I’m told, has an application #17934, for a variance from the nonconforming structure provisions under subsection 2001.3, to allow a third story addition to an existing flat (two-family dwelling) in the R-4 District. Third story addition, read Pop-up.
Now pop-ups can be cool, or they can be complete pieces of crap. It could be the house near the corner of R & 5th (cool) or the monstrosity on the unit block of P St NE, or the 1/2 done thing on the 300 block of P NW.
TRIVIA- 1721 4th St NW sits on the block that was owned by the Glorius family from the 1880s to the 1900s, which was later sold to Harry Wardman.
** Public Hearing***
Start Time : 7/28/2009 10:00 AM
AGENDA
Case Number : 17934
Case Name : Application of Behzad Hosseinkhani
Case Summary : (Area Variance) pursuant to 11 DCMR § 3103.2, for a variance from the nonconforming structure provisions under subsection 2001.3, to allow a third story addition to an existing flat (two-family dwelling) in the R-4 District at premises 1721 4th Street, N.W. (Square 516, Lot 54).
ANC : 5C01
1300-1600 blk of Hell, NW
Well it appears that North Capitol from New York Ave up to somewhere around Florida is doomed, doomed to heck. As far as commercial ventures go. From the BACA notes:
Comish Pinkney said the Urban Land Institute said that North Cap wasn’t suitable for development because developers would not want to invest in an area laden with so many social services.
There are several social services concentrated in that spot around NY Ave and North Cap. Because of their individual missions and management style some of those social services (not all) attracts a population whose acts are a negative force. I throw in management style because I remember the Emory Shelter on Lincoln Rd NE, which is still there. But a few years back it took in all kinds of men without checking sex offender status. It was a few feet away from the Harry Thomas Rec Center, where children congregated. Well a change was made so that only homeless men with jobs would reside at Emory and that cut down on the crowds of men just hanging out around the shelter.
A few block south of Emory back in our area, around NY Ave and North Capitol, you have several homeless services and a methadone clinic. S.O.M.E. is one of them and I do remember the really bad complaints residents had with some when I first moved around here. Homeless where littering like crazy and using neighbors’ basement apartment entryways for toilets. I’m hearing few complaints these days about meal related litter and poop at your basement door, and that has come with some back and forth between residents and S.O.M.E.
However, with the volume of people served by SOME and the other places there is a portion of that population that makes development along North Cap, ‘unsuitable’. These are the loiterers, the extortionists/ beggars, the window breakers, and the weirdos who wander up and down the street. I hear that men are begining to lay around in front of the new Subway sandwich shop. The police come and shoo them away and then they come back to block entry. Hopefully the Subway can survive and not suffer the problems that closed down Luciana Cafe with multiple window breakings, vadalism, and loitering (Jemal raising the rent didn’t help either).
It was brought up in the BACA meeting that the person who owns the building with the liquor store at FL and N. Cap, owns that whole corner of buildings on that corner, including the Subway. The owner was approached with the idea of matching funds to improve the facade, but refused because it would be like throwing money away.
So getting development along the NW side of North Cap is going to be hard.
Also forget about the old firehouse becoming a restaurant.