4/25/05: [99]
The concrete section of R St between 15th and 18th
will soon get a bike lane, completing the stretch from
8th St to Conn Ave. Will be expanded to Mass Ave this
summer.
Short stretch of Q St between 14th and RI Ave will
get a bike lane when it is reconstructed this year.
WP mentions soon-to-open Hank's Oyster Bar (1624 Q
St). See "The Weekly Dish,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56444-2005Mar22.html
See also "Lesbian faces opposition to new
restaurant: 'Group of six' files protest against
Hank's Oyster Bar,"
http://www.washblade.com/2005/4-15/news/localnews/faces.cfm
See "Ultra-Modern Canopy Coming to Dupont South Metro
Station,"
http://www.intowner.com/fr/issue/stories/story2.htm
Canopy will be constructed May 1.
WP looks at expansion of Brickskeller. See "Instating
the Draft,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53139-2005Apr14.html
See WP review "A Move to the Middle: Not too plain,
not too fancy, 21P aims for a spot in the center,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58593-2005Mar22.html
WP compares Nooshi and Singapore Bistro, both on 19th
St between L and M. See "Asian Tigers, Head to Head,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62980-2005Mar24.html
WP reviews Beacon Bar & Grill (17th & RI Ave) and
Circle Bistro (Washington Circle). See "No Vacancy:
Not just for tourists, these hotel dining rooms
attract plenty of locals, too,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48233-2005Apr12.html
A pedestrian was fatally struck by a truck in the
crosswalk at 16th & U on April 18. See "Man Wary of
D.C. Drivers Killed in Hit-and-Run,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64474-2005Apr18.html
See also "Police Charge Driver Allegedly Involved
In Fatal Pedestrian Accident,"
http://www.nbc4.com/news/4389269/detail.html
WE profiles mini boutique Junction (1510 U St). See
"Shopping - The crossroads of D.C. style,"
http://www.dcexaminer.com/articles/2005/04/11/features/dining%20and%20shopping/83shopping22junction.txt
Blade profiles farmers market. See "A peck of pickled
peppers: Dupont Circle market offers natural options,"
http://www.washblade.com/2005/4-22/arts/homefront/pickelhome.cfm
See "Dupont Circle Area Battles Homeless Problem,"
http://www.nbc4.com/news/4403439/detail.html
WP covers Merkado's pre-opening preparations. See
"Restaurant Staff Longs for Taste of Sizzling Economy:
String of Problems Puts Grand Opening On Back Burner,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4281-2005Mar27.html
Empire Video is closing its store at 1435 P St. Halo
will expand to the space below, perhaps by November.
Owner of Continental (1433 P St) has revamped his
restaurant, now open as P Sreet Bistro Cafe.
Church at 14th & T is expected to go condo, with
retail on ground floor. Two new floors will be added,
with top floor mostly glass, pending HPRB approval.
See [1] below regarding invite for more info.
WP writes up Sun on U (1301 U St). See "The Changing
Complexion of U Street: On Historic Black Broadway, A
Tanning Salon Sets Up Shop,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57609-2005Apr15.html
Teaching for Change will be opening a bookstore/café/
performance space in the U Street corridor.
Design Within Reach will soon open in Adams Morgan, at
1840 Columbia Rd. See http://www.kaloramapark.info/
See also
http://www.balarch.com/projects/commercial/proj_01/
Coffee and Crumbs now open at Columbia Rd and 17th St.
Ruby Tuesday's expected to open in Tivoli.
WP covers Georgetown's new cafe, Leopold's Kafe +
Konditorei. See "The Weekly Dish,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A903-2005Apr19.html
WBJ says 2 restaurants, a brew pub and a bakery
are coming to 9th St by the convention center. See
"Shaw thing,"
http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2005/04/04/tidbits1.html
See NoMA Condo Gossip, [2] below.
See "Battle Flag of the Pedestrians: Orange Banner Is
the Latest Weapon in the Conflict Between Walker and
Driver,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48350-2005Apr12.html
See "On the Brink of a Major League Makeover: Baseball
Stadium Helps Spur Plans to Transform Blighted S.
Capitol St. Corridor,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60284-2005Mar23.html
WBJ says DC is experimenting with using form-based
codes in place of zoning codes. See "New rule for D.C.
zoning: Throw away all the rules?,"
http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2005/04/04/story6.html
See also http://formbasedcodes.org/
See "Soaring View Of Tysons Centers on A Downtown: New
Coalition Wants Even More Growth,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7443-2005Apr21.html
See also
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/metro/daily/graphics/tysons_042205.html
NYT covers transformation of downtown Manhattan into
"a mecca for food shopping." See "A Destination for
Serious Eating,"
http://nytimes.com/2005/04/24/realestate/24sqft.html
Now playing: Cherry Red's new movie, at Warehouse. See
http://www.trappedbythemormons.com
See also "From Cherry Red, A Latter-Day Silent Film
Premiere,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51651-2005Apr13.html
Tuesday, April 26: Phillips Collection open house. See
[3] below.
Saturday, April 30: LGBT Citizen Summit. See
http://citizensummit.dc.gov/cs/site/
Sunday, May 1: Art Walk and Food Tasting. See
http://www.dupontcircle.biz/artwalk.htm
May 6 & 7: Flower Mart, National Cathedral. See
http://www.cathedral.org/ahg/fm2005.shtml
Tuesday, May 17: "Dupont Circle Meets Dupont Circle"
mixer at JET Artworks, 6-8. See
http://www.dupontcircle.biz/dcmeetsdc.htm
Best regards,
Michæl
------------------------------------------------------
[1]
Community Information Open House for the upcoming
mixed-use development (condo and retail) at 14th & T
(the church) Wednesday, May 4th 6:30PM-8PM @ 1840 14th
Street, NW
The announcement for the event says:
About the development:
• Large light-filled floor plans
• Private terrace and patios
• Live/work spaces available
• Prominent ground level retail space
About the open house:
• Speak w/project developers
• Hear about their vision
• Food and drink from Cafe St. Ex
------------------------------------------------------
[2] - NoMA Condo Gossip
Two new 9th & M condo projects. Walnut Street
Development has started making the rounds of community
groups (Logan Circle, Blagden Alley) and preservation
interests to drum up support for two new projects near
the Convention Center. 1212 9th, currently a parking
lot, would be mixed-use, with retail space at street
level and about a dozen condos above, about half of
which will have large roof decks. 917 M, currently a
parking lot with a (so-designated) historic alley
garage building, would be a condo building with about
40 units. The developer is looking at hip live-work
spaces in the old garage, with glass block and glass-
panel garage doors. Each building is planned with
underground parking at approximately 1:1 ratio (1
space per apartment).
Rondo at 555 Mass Avenue, AKA (for now) Sovereign
Square. This least-lovely of the crop of new Gallery
Place/Massachusetts Avenue behemoths is going condo.
("Rondo" = new building rental-to-condo conversion,
often occurring prior to building occupancy. Generally
not used to describe conversion of longtime rental
buildings.) Finished for almost a year, the building
has yet to achieve 30% occupancy, and financial backer
Prudential is pulling the plug. (In contrast, its
competitors Mass Court at 300 Mass, Meridian at 450
Mass, and the Avalon at 770 5th have 80%+ occupancies,
and the condo at 400 Mass is sold out.) Minuses: very
small apartments; proximity to the, shall we say,
loiterers at Louis the Rogue; bland-to-downright-ugly
architecture. Pluses: great rooftop pool, phenomenal
views from many units; up-and-coming location that's
already fairly convenient.
Condos at the Sonata, 301 Massachusetts Ave NW
(actually 301 H Street, but they've somehow wormed
their way to a Massachusetts Ave address). This 10-
story building (the building at the left of the
welcome page rendering at www.mountvernonplace.com)
will be the first installation in the 14-building
Mount Vernon Place development. Released for
preconstruction sales about 2 months ago, it is
already fully sold out. As a result the developers
(Quadrangle and the Wilkes Companies) are releasing
pre-construction sales at the Madrigal Lofts, the
"second movement" in the "symphony that will be Mount
Vernon Place." All signs are that sales will be brisk,
notwithstanding that, to those of us raised with
certain euphemisms, the use of the term "movement"
forces a snicker.
Rondo at The Jefferson, 1200 13th Street. All the
focus on the massive development site at 13th & M is
on the wacko brothers who refused to sell their 8'x10'
alley lot and now sit and guard it every day, even as
the concrete engulfs them (see the City Paper
article). But the behind-the-scenes story is that the
developer, Texas-based JPI, is worried about DC's
rental market. They have floated an RFP to sell the
building for condos. The price they want would force
average condo prices well over $600 per square foot--
not record-setting, but stratospheric for run-of-the-
mill new apartments. The condo development community
has responded with skepticism; no offers have been
received as yet.
------------------------------------------------------
[3]
Dear Neighbor,
Jay Gates, director of The Phillips Collection,
cordially invites you to the museum's spring Dupont
Circle Neighborhood Open House on Tuesday, April 26
from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. This event will offer you
an opportunity to see our stunning exhibition
Modigliani: Beyond the Myth. Amedeo Modigliani, the
quintessential bohemian artist in early 20th-century
Paris, was also a serious and gifted painter and this
exhibition probes the rich cultural and religious
heritage that informed the Italian-Jewish artist's
work and inspired his singular style of portraits with
elegantly elongated features and sensuous nudes. We
are the final destination for this acclaimed
exhibition, with comprised of nearly 100 paintings,
sculptures, and drawings on loan from U.S. and
international collections-including 25 works exclusive
to this presentation.
Associate Curator Elsa Smithgall will lead a tour of
the exhibition, starting at 6_p.m. Two docents also
will be available to answer questions and provide
insight on the artist's accomplishments.
Please meet museum staff at the entrance to the museum.
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