Georgetown - On the agenda for this months ANC meeting… a liquor license, Restorante Piccolo (pictured right), and the Kingdom of Sweden is expanding. [The Metropolitan]
Columbia Heights - DC council member extraordinare Jim Graham is on Twitter! Can we expect bowtie updates? [The Heights Life]
Bethesda - Donohoe’s 457-unit project in Woodmont Triangle is approved only days before the moratorium on residential development starts. [WBJ]
14th Street - A major uproar over a licensing change for local restaurants Cafe Saint-Ex and Bar Pilar which involved an ANC commissioner, intimidation, and videotaping. In the end though the actions to scuttle the agreement seem to have failed. [14th & You]
Anacostia - The Historic District is finally marked with long overdue signs on lamp posts giving more definition to the neighborhood. [And No, Anacostia]
MV Triangle - Douglas Development provides updates on Squares 450 and 451. Plans include curving the office building along K to let historic elevations and facades stand out and moving the old Waffle Shop to NY Ave. [The Triangle]
14th Street - Room and Board has finally decided to purchase the old Taylor building. Finally the future of this property is set! [14th & You]
Capitol Hill - The D.C. Council will be buying three recreation centers from the financially strapped Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington, including the shuttered Eastern Branch center. [WPost]
Logan Circle - The Q Street Cleaners has closed for good this weekend after over 30 years in business. The pealing blue sign (pictured right) had an endearing quality, but wasn’t enough to save the institution. [DCist]
Dupont - MTV’s show the Real World is coming to town next month and that means the producers have only a few weeks to trick out the new house with hot tubs and fish tanks. [Wonkette]
Southwest - Things seemed to be moving along smoothly for the new Consolidated Forensics Laboratory since the District announced the developer back in May, but now the award has been withdrawn since apparently the Mayor skirted city contracting laws. [Southwest, TLQTC]
Mt Vernon Triangle - With the majority of the retail space in the new 455 Mass building (pictured) being filled by super club Buddha Bar, and the UPS store, it’s surprising that there is still over 1,500 sq-ft of retail space available. Please don’t be a bank, please don’t be a bank! [The Triangle]
[Photo: M.V. Jantzen]
H Street - Have you heard? The H Street Country Club is open… time to get your mini golf on! [Frozen Tropics]
Bethesda - Montgomery County has unveiled a plan to create mixed-use homeless housing in a converted office building in Downtown Bethesda. This idea of providing housing at 30% of whatever homeless people earn has been extremely effective and successful in other areas. [TheThes]
Columbia Heights - Can Columbia Heights be a bastion of New Urbanism? It’s moved pretty far in that direction already. [New Columbia Heights]
Clarendon - New cool looking retro Walgreens has sprung up in place of the old NTB shop along Wilson Blvd right across from Club Iota. [Clarendon Nights]
Trinidad - Capital City Dinner has finally arrived in NE! The new restaurant made it down from New York fully intact. [Frozen Tropics]
Downtown - What can DC learn from London… a lot apparently. From zoning laws and density, to clean streets and green spaces. [14th & You]
Mt Vernon Triangle - Auto detailer on K Street does a little detailing of their own on their building, and it’s quite colorful. [The Triangle]
[Photo: inked78]
Anacostia - The oldest existing commercial building east of 13th Street (pictured right), is being auctioned off, as a teardown. Alas, it’s on the wrong side of the Historic District line. [And Now, Anacostia]
Shaw - Street reconstruction along 11th street has been delayed due to utility “conflicts.” Expect a few water outages over the coming weeks. [14th&You]
Columbia Heights - The old Bi-rite building (pictured left) is currently going through a complete redevelopment for a restaurant on the first floor, and possibly a Yoga or Martial Arts studio on the top floor. We imagine the new restaurant would much prefer the quieter yoga studio neighbor. [Housing Complex]
Anacostia - Demolition of an old abandoned building on Galen street marks a turning point for the neighborhood. [And Now, Anacostia]
Penn Quarter - There is a newcomer to the street-scape of Penn Quarter. New multi-space parking meters have come to the area, freeing up space for more street furniture, and of course pedestrians. [PQLiving]
Southwest - No more night time construction at Waterfront Station, and all it took was months and months of complaints. [SWDC Blog]
[Rendering By Chris Loos, Modified by BeyondDC]
Columbia Heights - Ellwood Thompson’s has put plans for their DCUSA grocery store opening on hold, and from the sounds of it, the time line is looking more like years than months. [The Heights Life]
Georgetown - Spanish royalty is planning on moving to Washington. Let the speculation of where they will live begin! [Georgetown Metropolitan]
MV Triangle - The beautiful Franklin School, which has served the community for years as a temporary homeless shelter may return to its academic roots as a charter school. An RFO was issued earlier this month. [The Triangle]
Columbia Heights - Seems that the supposed plan to rename part of the neighborhood from Monroe Street to Spring Road as “Tivoli North” really wasn’t part of a sinister plan. [New Columbia Heights]
Near Southeast - The ANC 6D supports the plan for the Festival Park/Beer Garden on Half Street called the “The Bullpen” which sounds like a nice option for after game revelry, at least until more of that area is developed with restaurants and bars. [JDLand]
Shaw - Looks like the Board of Zoning Appeal is going to actual start enforcing the Arts Overlay District, which among other things restricts the type of commercial frontage in the neighborhood. A few new projects will certainly have some issues (i.e. the Whitman-Walker building, pictured below). [14th and You]
[Photo: M.V. Jantzen]
Georgetown - The Trial Lawyers are out, and apparently a Boutique hotel is in at the property on 31st street. [WBJ]
Downtown - The drama surrounding the Church at 16th and I Street (pictured right) continues. Now the judge is clearly for tearing down the church, but who knew he was also a comedian? [GGWashington]
Woodley Park - Laura Bush’s old social secretary has listed her sprawling mansion (pictured left) for $20 million dollars. [Housing Complex]
MV Triangle - There is a plan for the K Street Streetscape project, the question is who’s going to pay for it? [The Triangle]
Shaw - Preparations are underway for construction to start on the new Watha T Daniel library, unfortunately the fencing that went up is blocking the sidewalk. [Bloomingdale (For Now)]
14th Street - Excitement during the first week of operation at the new restaurant Policy included a fire scare, though everything turned out fine. [14th and You]
[Photo: M.V. Jatzen]
U Street - Cleanergate 2009, the case of the missing shirts captivates local media over CS Cleaners closure. [14th and You]
Southwest - The new Waterfront Station development is looking for some retail tenants to join the Safeway and CVS. [SWDC Blog]
Anacostia - Springtime comes to town! [And Now, Anacostia]
Brookland - The Great Streets initiative closes roads… permanently, but apparently in a way that’s good for the neighborhood. [Bloomingdale (for now)]
Le Droit Park - The street-scape around the Howard Theater is due for a makeover including new street furniture and paving blocks which are a close alternative to brick sidewalks (hope they don’t chose the blue ones). [Bloomingdale (for now)]
Southwest - The upcoming movie State of Play with Ben Afleck is apparently going to feature a lot of the areas architecture, and as is often the case in Hollywood’s depiction of the District, sometimes it’s accurate, sometimes it’s not. Buildings include the HUD Headquarters (as a hospital), Harbor Square, and the Maine Ave Fish Market. [SWDC Blog]
Georgetown - Like many areas of town with great restaurants and nightlife, parking is always an issue for the residents. One solution, “performance parking” to force people who are going to leave their cars for longer periods of time to use garages. It works well around Nationals Park, but Near Southeast and Georgetown are definitely not the same type of neighborhood. [GT Metropolitan]
