Safeway Yay! ... But what for now?

As with everyone else, I am excited about the new Safeway. But, also as with everyone else, I need to eat between now and June or July or August. Now, I've found my own ways to scrounge up food, so I don't want to repeat the oft-asked refrain of where to get groceries around here.

But I do want to ask: does anyone have experience with Peapod or Safeway's delivery services? I used Peapod when I was back in Chicago and loved it. But I have heard that their quality depends a great deal on which local grocers they work with, and how they get the groceries. In Chicago, or instance, they worked with Dominicks, and got their food direct from the local distribution depots--before it was delivered to the supermarkets--which meant that the produce was usually better than you could get at the actual Dominicks supermarkets!

Are things so good around here? Are the prices online comparable to the in-store prices? Are the deliveries reliable?

Inquiring stomachs want to know...

--MLB

Safeway soon...

I just got back from grocery shopping. Having one a block down the street from me means that I usually go every other day to get the freshest everything possible. Today I had an even more delightful experience. Not only was I able to buy this delicious beignet (french for donut)/pretzel, but I also had the most pleasant surprise when i realized that all of my groceries were packed so perfectly and with to much care that my deliciously fluffy desert was never in danger of being squished by the oranges, water, or big bottle of grapefruit juice I also bought.

I have high hopes for our new Urban Lifestyle Safeway and I'm crossing my fingers that I won't be disappointed when I get back to DC. I'll leave you all with pictures of my delicious dessert.


it's a beignet, it's a pretzel, its a BRETZEL

SHHHHHHHH

I just wanted to apologize to everyone for the quiet week this blog is having. I have a huge deadline on Friday and until then you won't hear from me.

There might be a post or two from our friend over at Madrigal Lofts, check back for his updates!

Developers should be pissing their pants.

This post is about me venting, so please take it with a grain of salt.

OK. So I don't care what anyone says (specifically real estate agents representing developers) the market is NOT doing well. SO why do I feel like when it comes to developers in this city is it that they refuse to go above and beyond their duties as soon as you sign on the dotted line. In case these overly optimistic people haven't noticed, interest rates are going up, people still don't want to dive in and make these big purchases; especially when you refuse to budge on your price of 540 p/sq ft. And even when I agreed to pay that you refuse to do me even the simplest of favors?! I still can't be too specific about the situation as I am still trying to work through it but you bet that once i've followed through there will be a pretty sizeable story about the incompetence of these people that work for marketing firms representing developers.

Well I have news for you Mr Condo Sales Person, I have no qualms about walking away without my deposit and when me and 10% of the 40% of condos you sold thus far do the same you are in a real big pickle.

Here are some links for our readers to take in everything in the same negative light that I am viewing the situation:

The City Paper: These Prices are INSANE!

DC Housing Prices: DC sales December 2007

Bubble Meter: More Condo Projects Going Rental

Fortune: Real Estate, Buy Sell or Hold?

Upcoming Posts

I've been quiet for the last several days&emdash;it seems that the flu has been going through town and I was a recent victim. But I wanted to share a brief "stay tuned for more...." I've been e-mailing with Keith Silver, our ANC 6C01 commissioner, and will be doing an e-mail interview with him in the coming days. Perhaps other interviews will follow with other figures in the Triangle.

So, stay tuned...

--MLB

Light up the night!

A picture on our neighbor DC Jeff's blog is bound to cause quite a stir. The new building on at 3rd and H has finally gone from being a concrete bunker to a lit-up office tower. I have yet to make up my mind as to how I feel about it or how it fits in to the Mount Vernon Place masterplan. Only time will tell I guess... In the meantime share your thoughts lighting the streetscape!

Special thanks to DC Jeff for the pic!

East End Edition

There's been a lot of daydreaming around these parts as to what the Triangle will become in a few years so I figured I would roll with it.

A couple of posts ago yours truly imagined what it would be like if there were a high-end boutique hotel and while I know that there is a W going in at the former Hotel Washington it seems to me like the many ____ inns in this area are going to eventually have to give way to more upscale accomodations.

Enter Ian Schrager, the godfather of boutique hotels and an old man with an incredible edge. Him and Bill Marriott have just announced a new "boutique" hotel chain (read: W hotel) that will soon sweep the globe with one of the first ten properties being in the District.

"The designs for Edition are still in the preliminary phases, but Marriott said the hotels will "look like they were invented by Ian Schrager and not by Bill Marriott, and that's why we got him." Marriott and his company have been known, for the most part, for classic design. Schrager's Gramercy Park Hotel is described on its Web site as "Bohemia reinvented for the 21st century.""

Unfortunately (and this is where my heart sank) the first DC edition is going to be somewhere on 18th st. NW. Don't they have enough nice hotels over there?! They get two Ritz Carlton's merely a mile away from each other and we have the nations highest concentration of red roof/hampton/holiday/residence inns.

I have hope though that in a few years this end of the district will be developed enough to attract an edition of our own. The East end Edition...ahhhh, sounds nice!

Read the full article here.

Establishing an Identity

In the next couple of years the many buildings coming online in the Triangle will bring at least...

City Vista K,V,L (292+244+149=685)
The DuMont East,West (187+370=557)
Madrigal Lofts (259)
The Sonata (79)
Eye Street Lofts (160)
Yale Steam Laundry (359)

555 Mass. (264)
400 Mass. (256)
Mass Court (371)
The Meridian (462)

carry the one.. WHEW that's 3,452 residential units in or directly adjacent to the Triangle! And that's not really counting the rest of those parking lots that have projects on the drawing boards. Anyway, my point is, there are going to be a heck of a lot of people living here and hopefully a bunch of retail lining the ground level of most of these buildings.


A View of the soon to be bustling K Street
from the Mount Vernon Public Realm Design Project

What kind of identity would you like to see this neighborhood establish? I can say that for the past 5 years I've lived in the district I always thought of the Triangle as Parking / Tranny-hooker heaven. But I'm thinking that once we're all settled into it we could aim for something more like Fashionista-Lawyer / Design Within Reach district?

Architecturally speaking the Triangle isn't trying to veer to far from the DC norm which is a shame given the fact that we have a veritable tabula rasa to create a neighborhood that differentiates itself architecturally. Think of the possibilities!

While I would love to aspire to have great design shops like New York's SoHo I'm pretty sure given the rather mainstream thing that downtown DC is going for I'm hoping that we'll at least manage to attract younger, hipper individuals than your typical ___ type. (I fail to be more descriptive so as to not offend anyone). The last thing I want to see is the same planned homogeneity you encounter in places like Ballston, Crystal City and Boca Raton, FL. How can we attract the right kind of development that can give us an intrinsic character different from the rest of the District and more importantly, what do you want that character to be?

Please discuss.

All Politics Is Local

There was a discussion over at the MVSNA Blog earlier this week about the shenanigans at the last ANC 2C meeting. The events, at least as portrayed there, made me mad: how could the people who make up my political community be so trivial and unproductive! I felt embarrassed to be represented by ANC 2C.

But then I remembered, I'm not in ANC 2C! The Madrigal Lofts, Sonata, Dumont, and (I believe) both City Vista and 555 Mass Ave, are in ANC 6C. That's right, many of the new Mount Vernon Triangle residences are in a separate political area than Mount Vernon Square, even though the MVSNA does cover the entire Triangle. In fact, ANC 6C is the same ANC as most of the Penn Quarter condos are in (though the PQ condos further to the west are in ANC 2C).

I don't say this to diminish the MVSNA (not in the least!). I'm sure that they would gladly cover relevant parts of the ANC 6C meetings, for instance, if someone attended and sent a write-up to them. But! That requires someone knowing that we need to be going to the ANC 6C meetings! Given the great work that MVSNA does, it is easy to forget that we span two ANCs.

As I look at the map of ANC 6C, the Triangle's new condos are all in ANC 6C01. The PQ condos are in ANC 6C09. And the Triangle area of ANC 6C01 is a bit of an appendage, unlike the PQ condos, which fall in the dead center and make up the bulk of ANC 6C09. While I expect that Kieth Silver, the commissioner of ANC 6C01, knows that these new buildings are here (has anyone from 555 Mass or the Sonata interacted with him), as these buildings start to fill up it will be incumbent upon us to make sure we are not treated as an appendage.

--MLB

Before there were parking lots...

...there was a gigantic market in the Triangle; the Northern Liberties Market was one of the many markets in DC at the turn of the century. While I'm very happy that in a few short months we're going to have an amazing (cross my fingers) "Urban Lifestyle Safeway", I would love to be able to walk out my door, down a few blocks to an occasional open market. With all the smells, and noise, and dirty rotting vegetables on the ground. Think of all of the great capital cities of the world that have them. London, Paris, Rome, Sao Paulo.

Who wouldn't love to wake up early on Saturdays and Sundays to pick out the freshest produce, maybe even a live chicken. Now I know there is such a market in the Penn Quarter. I have yet to visit it, but with the influx of thousands of new residents into this part of town in the near future one more wouldn't hurt. Seems to me like K street will be more than wide enough for it.

OK, so maybe we don't need to have live chickens, but some plants and maybe herbs? Anyone second the idea?

Welcome to the Triangle: a Howto?

Following on the last post, I've been hoping to put together a primer of sorts for new Triangle residents—a compilation of basic information about living in the area, and about the triangle itself. This will be an ongoing project, and one that will take a few days to get off the ground... but for the time being, I'd like to invite those with questions about the area or who are somewhat authoratative in their knowledge about the area to leave a comment or send me an email (MadrigalBlogs -at- gmail.com).

--MLB

Be a good neighbor. Read this article.

There are so many things that can break a community; bad urban planning, poor infrastructure, crime etc... Unfortunately there is something far more prevalent yet much less scary sounding in America's communities today. Indifference.

Now a days we are so concerned with ourselves, our own personal familiar "bubbles" that we rarely think or sometimes even care about how our decisions affect those around us. This article I found in the Boston Globe (click here to read the article) talks about how this attitude is not only hurting our society but also the design of our public realm.

Something to keep in mind for the pioneering residents of the Triangle!

The Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris. When citizens take ownership of the public realm, great things happen. In many cases it can be this pride of ownership that serves as the catalyst for city governments to invest in good civic architecture.

Wishful thinking...

We keep hearing rumors about development in the Triangle and sometimes it's well...fun to speculate what if?

The latest rumor isn't about something thats on the drawing board or the planning stages but rather a building that's about to be ready for occupancy in about 2 months. Since we're on the topic of the Dumont (previous post) let's talk about this rumor thats been going around regarding the developer turning the east portion of the project, 401 Mass. into extended stay apartments or a hotel.

Wouldn't it be nice if there was some sort of W-like establishment that took over that building and provided us with a great little trendy meeting place for the south side of the triangle? I'm talking something like bar rouge on 16th, or firefly on New Hampshire. The space in the corner of that building would really lend itself well to that.

Here's what some of my day-dreaming led to...

to the left I added a nice little W to the front drive of the Dumont East and to the right is the restaurant at the W times square, we could use something high design around these parts...

Dumont in Pictures

It looks like I was right about the canyon dug on the north side of the Dumont being for the electric vault. At least, when I went out to take a picture of the oblong pit, I found that it had become the home of concrete bunkers like I've seen used to house the electrics for buildings in other cities. I'll try to chat with one of the workers tomorrow to get an update better than my semi-informed guess.



Turning to the south side of the building, here's a view of the near-complete facade:




Continuing around the building, to the turn from 4th to Mass Ave, here's a picture of the southeast corner from the east side of the building. About a week ago, the turn-off to make this right turn (which is currently blocked off by cones) was open to traffic but covered in about a half dozen steel plates. They cleaned the turn up earlier last week—the current work going on is in the intersection. One of these days they'll be repaving this section of the road... I can't wait!



And here's a picture of the topmost floors of the northeast corner, again taken from the east side of the building. I think that this is the part of the facade that has the most work remaining to be done.



My favourite part of the building (as a non-resident): the courtyard on the east side. It was great to watch them pour the cement into the curvy patterns.



--MLB

AFFORDABLE housing?

This ones turning out to be a little more than I have time for tonight...

In the meantime let the topic marinate a bit. We'll discuss more on this soon.

Let's talk ARCHITECTURE

Brick (expected) clean contemporary lines (not expected): Eye St. Lofts, WSD Development
This is a new segment that will hopefully run every week discussing architecture in the Triangle and its surroundings. Note: Mediocre Bad Guy is himself an architect, woohoo!

I've been curious for quite some time about this new development on Eye street, Eye St. Lofts by Walnut Street Development. As the months pass there seems to be more and more talk yet equal amounts of ambiguity regarding the details. If you google Eye St. Lofts you'll find that there's been much talk for quite some time now (At least a year?); The developers were originally going to build condos and when the market turned out to not be as favorable as they had hoped, converted the project to apartments. That said, I'm not completely convinced that they won't change their minds by the time they top off the building.

Architecturally speaking this building is pretty hot for DC standards. The fact that it's not just preserving the facade but whole buildings is a little something that we need more of. Obviously I realize the insides will be most likely gutted etc. But according to the proposal they have on file the three historic structures they maintain on the site will actually be 3 independent units, likely having 2 possibly 3 different uses (residential, retail).

This building like the Ventana on F street, manages to bring energy to the streetscape without overwhelming it. This is no Frank Ghery, it won't be an IN YOUR FACE piece of revolutionary architecture. Instead, it will be a pleasant, well designed piece of architecture. A beautiful background building if you will. Now if only we had more beautiful background buildings...(Don't mistake beautiful for bland).

A March 2007 post in Penn Quarter Living shows some beautiful pieces of the proposal not found on Walnut Street Developments website , Check it out.