1. Relatively appealing cuisine that isn't too specialized (or at the very least is popular such as Asian food); food that is attractive to a large number of people--Italian, Mexican, and "American," seem to work best. You want at least 100 customers/nite. These days Thai food is moving into this category. Chinese seems to have lost its appeal. Restaurants like Indian, Caribbean, etc. are just a bit too specialized, and therefore don't get the weekly or at least a couple times/month patronage that such restaurants need especially when they are located in emerging commercial districts.
2. Good food; it doesn't have to be stunning but it better be good. (Perhaps Mexican restaurants illustrate this point the best.)
3. Good, good plus, or better service; waiting isn't fun, and neither is dealing with a server that doesn't help you get what you want with a modicum (ideally none) of problems.
4. Competitively priced; you can't have drinks at $8 or most of your entrees costing $13-$20 -- unless you offer a fully realized concept where those prices make sense. If your prices aren't competitive and maybe a little less expensive than the market, you won't get that frequent patronage that is necessary for your success. Pitchers of margaritas or sangria are good, maybe not pitchers of beer, which seem to attract a rowdier more alcohol-centered clientele.
5. Nice interior; it doesn't have to be stunning or a $1 million interior renovation, but it can't be threadbare, and it has to be appealing.
"Based on a Transportation Planning Board finding that a high proportion of New York Avenue traffic has neither an origin nor a destination within the District, DDOT has requested the option of closing a section of I-395 between its current northern terminus at New York Avenue and its interchange with Massachusetts Avenue."
The remaining businesses along that strip of Fifth Street are eager to sell, pending D.C.'s award of a city-owned 20,600-square- foot parcel at Fifth and Eye streets. Four teams have bid on the lot, including Donohoe Development Co. and The JBG Cos.
JBG also has offered to buy and restore the nearby Capital Automotive and a decaying Victorian building on Eye Street, McLeod said. It would build a 230-room hotel, 227 residential units and 44,000 square feet of retail, including an entertainment venue. Other bidders have proposed a mix of hip boutique hotels and residential buildings.
The city is expected to announce the award on July 18, said Clint Jackson, project manager for the Office of Planning and Economic Development.
In the past month, three office leases totaling 16,500 square feet were signed at 455 Massachusetts Ave. NW, a 250,000-square- foot building developed and owned by ASB Capital Management LLC and The Penzance Cos., said David Bevirt, whose Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. team is handling leasing. Affordable housing law firm Reno & Cavanaugh PLLC will take more than 11,000 square feet. The remainder of the building is available.
While beautifying a tiny concrete-covered park at Fifth Street and New York Avenue NW, Lowe Enterprises Inc. spent $300,000 to dig up the concrete slabs by hand to protect the root system of a 120-year-old oak tree across from its burgeoning City Vista project.
Mount Vernon Triangle gets it's first manicured park. Too bad it's not accessible to the public.
I took this photo just a couple of days ago when I made my periodic trip to the Triangle to check the progress of the Dumont (The building I'll hopefully be moving into sometime this year). I was struck by the beauty of these derelict structures and really moved by the fact that I could see, in their present state, the many years of experience these buildings had. I could almost see the families that at one point lived in there. The kids playing out on the stoop, domestic noises pouring out the open windows. I became incredibly sad when I realized that soon, they'll be nothing more than meaningless facades. Completely sanitized and devoid of any life whatsoever, much like the fate of many of Penn Quarter's historical structures.