Retail space at 777 Sixth Street NW

New small businesses have been steadily arriving into renovations on the East End of Chinatown such as Momiji, Royal Thai, Urfa Tomato Kabob, Chinatown Coffee and DLF Fitness. Could that momentum finally spur interest in the ground floor retail space at the 777 6th Street NW office building?


The CB Richard Ellis listing highlights 10,229sf of available retail space with 7,677 of contiguous space equipped with venting for a restaurant. The bays feature 12'4" clear ceiling heights.

Photo from CBRE flyer; click to enlarge

Has anyone heard of any rumors about potential tenants for this site at 6th & H Streets? Do you have ideas about what would potentially be great for this location?

Museum Square petrified forest

The Museum Square apartments (401 K Street NW) has EIGHT consecutive dead trees running along it's K Street frontage. Unless you live at Museum Square or regularly walk the interior sidewalk it may not have been apparent the quantity of dead trees as another row of healthy trees runs along K Street.


The aerial from Google maps was taken in summer 2008 so these trees have been dead over 12 months. Presumably this many consecutive dead trees is related to a disease of some kind. Do anyone of you know what kind of trees these are? Elms?

Through my inquiry on Monday I learned that the MVT CID is trying to work with Urban Forestry on the tree removal. However we will not see replacement trees planted until the K Street streetscaping occurs (possibly 2010).

Picking off the (S)CAAB

The skin/scab has come off the old Chester A. Arthur building (CAAB). The office building is being renovated and rebranded from the CAAB to 425 Eye. The renovation will transform the building from Class B office space contained in a bland white box to Class A office space with a glass facade and 28,000sf of new retail space.


Renovations are forecasted to be completed by the Summer of 2010. Presently there is no news about potential office or retail tenants.

Going back to Cali... I don't think so

In 1987 LL Cool J released a hit called "Going back to Cali". A main line in the chorus was "I'm going back to Cali.. hmm, I don't think so". Well, I don't think the abandoned car in the surface lot on the 300 block of K Street NW is going back to Cali either.


This car needs to go. I don't care if it goes back to Cali but it can't stay here. We don't need this symbol of vandalism in the neighborhood or the tranny ho hooker shoe storage area.

Chinatown Coffee opens Monday

Chinatown Coffee (475 H Street NW) opens for business on Monday June 26th at 7am. To learn more about this new independent coffee retailer visit the thread of PQLiving and their facebook page. For insights direct from the man behind the coffee read the article in today's Washingtonpost that was authored by Nick Cho.

Tagging on 900 Block of 5th Street NW

I've received several emails this month about repeated tagging at Tony Chen's vacant shell at 925 5th Street NW. The MVT Clean team has had to remove this graffiti on 3 separate instances.

I don't have much information beyond this - please chime in and fill in the gaps.

Triangle Times - Summer '09 edition

The Summer '09 edition of the Triangle Times newsletter is available on the MVT CID Website in PDF form. The newsletter has a special focus on new retail and redevelopment in the Triangle.


On interesting piece of new information is that the 425 Eye Street office building renovation plans to substantial ground floor retail:

Approximately 28,000 square feet of retail space will be created on the first floor – ideally with a white tablecloth restaurant in the mix.

For a frame of reference 28,000 sf of retail would be 3 times the size of Buddha Bar or Acadiana. While I doubt they would lease to three large restaurants it's very easy to imagine a scenario with one nice large restaurant, a cafe catered towards quick lunch food for office workers, and a mix of other service oriented businesses.

Triangle Times also announced that 455 Mass Ave won an award from WBJ:

The Buddha Bar at 455 Mass was awarded the Urban Retail Transaction of the Year from the The Washington Business Journal. The building, developed by Penzance and ASB Real Estate Investments, leased a 9,500-square-foot, first-floor space to the international restaurant group based in Paris. Congratulations!

Edens and Avant press release on Taylor Deli

Yesterday Edens and Avant widely distributed a press release announcing Taylor Gourmet Deli will become a new tenant at City Vista. While the cat had already been out of the bag for over 3 weeks it is still interesting to read quotes directly from the source.

Washington , D.C. July 21, 2009 – D.C.'s most distinctive Italian hoagie is about to get more accessible. Taylor Gourmet Deli, recently named in the Top 50 D.C. Restaurants by Washington City Paper, will open a second location at CityVista in Mount Vernon Triangle in early 2010. The restaurant will join recently announced Kushi, a Japanese-style restaurant opening at CityVista in the fall.

“If you live or work in Mount Vernon Triangle, you expect your retail and restaurants to be creative, where the experience is as well crafted as the product,” commented Steve Boyle, Edens & Avant Managing Director. “Taylor is a great example of our vision for CityVista, which is to deliver something different and innovative that showcases the local restaurant and retail expertise.”

From the hand-selected ingredients to the layout of the interior space, Taylor is not your typical sandwich shop. Rolls couriered daily from Philadelphia's Sarcone's Bakery, meats and cheeses from Italy, and house-roasted turkey are signatures of their hoagies. Paired with the deli is an extensive Italian market featuring imported and domestic cured meats, a variety of cheeses and pasta, as well as other delicacies.

The passion and forethought owners Casey Patten and Dave Mazza have poured into the restaurant are noticeable – from price points to the green-friendly business model. Perusing the Italian Market, shoppers will find wines representing all regions of Italy under $30. Taylor will be powered 100 percent by wind-generated energy,

“We are extremely excited to be opening our second store in CityVista. We love the area, and the surrounding businesses,” commented Patten. “Our CityVista location will have a 16-foot roll-up door, patio seating and a rustic feel geared toward this market.”

Word Cloud

Yesterday the Prince of Petworth posted a word cloud for a discussion he and his readers had on Room 11 wine bar. These clouds present a visualization of word frequency as a weighted list. Larger fonts represent the most frequent words while brighter colors signify most recent use. According to wikipedia, the first high profile used of tag clouds was the flickr photo sharing site. The technique has grown in popularity with other realms such as politics.

While this blog does use a tag cloud I was intrigued by what a word cloud based on all of our past postings and comments would look like. I exported the blog and submitted the text to wordle.net to come up with the following representation:


I'm very surprised to see "just" and "like" outsizing "retail", "Safeway" and "MVT". Perhaps I have been blissfully unaware that I write like a valley girl...

DLF Fitness arrives in Chinatown

Certified personal trainer, and nutritional consultant, David Franklin has recently opened a training studio in the lower level of 473 H Street NW. This new addition, DLF Fitness, is next to another newcomer in the community: Chinatown Coffee.

David's mission is to help his clients adopt a healthy lifestyle by teaching them to balance diet, cardiovascular fitness and strength training. No membership required!



DLF Fitness can be followed on facebook.

July MVSNA Meeting

This month's MVSNA membership meeting will be held on Tuesday July 21st at 7:30pm in the community room of the Yale Loft condominiums (437 New York Ave NW).


The July edition of the MVSNA newsletter is available online [here].

DDOT efforts at 5th and Mass create new hazards

Late in June DDOT implemented several improvements to the intersection of 5th, Eye and Massachusetts Avenue NW targeted towards increasing pedestrian safety. Nine crosswalk segments were widened and striped with fresh paint. Additionally the pedestrian refuges on the northwest and southeast corners were expanded with striped paint to reduce crossing distance and disjointed traffic flow on the Eye Street stubs.

Aerial rendering of expansions to pedestrian refuges at 5th and Mass

These upgrades seemed to reflect an evolution of DDOT into a more agile organization. New DDOT director Gabe Klein, who comes from an entrepreneurial background, recognizes responsiveness is often best achieved with rapid delivery of functionality that is both important and sufficiently executed. Delivering small low cost improvements quickly, evaluating the effects of the change, then incrementally making further upgrades can yield better outcomes than waiting years to make permanent improvements while studies are conducted and funds are raised. This is a paradigm that could produce many great things for the district.

Why is this stop sign still here?

Cars ignoring the striped paint on SE corner of 5th and Mass

While this intersection did represent a prime opportunity to take swift action on a small budget I feel the project has been executed poorly. Striped paint alone is not enough to change the traffic flow of cars. Complicating matters DDOT did not remove the Stop signs that serviced the now striped off lanes thus sending mixed messages to drivers. The result is unpredictable behavior from cars that creates chaos and places pedestrians at more risk than before DDOT introduced these changes.

Example of quick curbs at 15th & W Streets NW

DDOT needs to finish what it started by removing the contradictory Stop signs and installing quick curbs or bollards to prevent the flow of cars into the paint striped areas. Anything less endangers pedestrians at this intersection and harms the credibility of the new agile path DDOT would like to travel down.

10 days later

Ten days ago I placed a city service request in regarding the eastbound stop sign at 4th and Eye NW. The only change is that the stop sign is laying flat on the ground rather than leaning over.

City Vista retail progress

A City Vista reader sent me this photo of a plan for the signature garage door at Taylor Gourmet.



Also Kushi has begun applying for their liquor license:

Posting Date: July 10, 2009
Petition Date: August 24, 2009
Hearing Date: September 8, 2009
License No.: ABRA-082439
Licensee: Izakaaya, LLC.
Trade Name: Kushi Izakaya
License Class: Retail Class “C” Restaurant
Address: 465 K Street, NW
Contact: Michael Fonseca, 202-625-7700
WARD 6 ANC 6C SMD 6C01

NATURE OF OPERATION
New Japanese restaurant serving sushi and tapas (inside seats 110) and summer garden with 60 seats for patrons. Occupancy load of 170.

HOURS OF OPERATION AND SALES/SERVICE/CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES
Sunday 11 am – 12 am, Monday through Thursday 11 am – 2 am, and
Friday and Saturday 11 am – 3 am

SUMMER GARDEN HOURS OF OPERATION AND
SALES/SERVICE/CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES
Sunday 11 am – 12 am, Monday through Thursday 11 am – 2 am, and
Friday & Saturday 11 am – 3 am

Fringe Festival underway

The Capital Fringe Festival began last Thursday and will run through Sunday July 26th. The 18 day festival featuring local and non-local theater groups, dancers, and musicians has shows in five venues in the Mount Vernon Square and Penn Quarter neighborhoods. The headquarters venue occupies the old A.V. Ristorante building (607 New York Ave NW) and is affectionately coined Fort Fringe. The adjacent outdoor beer garden space has been transformed into Baldacchino Gypsy Tent Bar.

DCist is providing ongoing coverage of the festival.


Photo credit: Joe in DC

July DNA Meeting

From DNA President Miles Groves:

Please join us for this month's DNA Meeting scheduled for Tuesday evening (7/14) at Calvary Baptist Church (833 8th Street NW) in the 2nd floor chapel. The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. with PSA101W followed by a panel that will focus on the growing needs for urban parks and programming to support downtown residents and visitors. This includes our growing number of families with young children. The panel members need to hear what our needs are, since they are all decision makers or influencers that can impact our quality of life. This is a "must attend" meeting, especially if you have young children. So, please attend and bring your neighbors who have interest in family amenities.

Chinatown Cultural Development Strategy
The Chinatown Cultural Development Strategy Task Force has been meeting for several months. The electronic version of the Strategy and Key Recommendations are already available online for downloading:

Mayor’s Office on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs and Office of Planning Announced the Draft of Their Strategy and Priority Recommendations for Chinatown

One of the key recommendations concerned the creation of a market to serve the local community. As part of this recommendation, there is a task force focussed on the scope, location, and hours of operation. They need our assistance to aid better understanding of what we are interests are and what we would support. The Office of Planning has asked us to complete a survey. Here’s the Street Market Survey Link to send out to the DNA list serve:

Asian Street Market in Chinatown Survey

Please take the time to complete the survey so that we have a sense of both neighborhood participation and the type of market that will gain our support. It will help if you can get this information distributed via your own list-serves so that we have as broad a reach as possible.

Kushi builds web presence

In mid-May we learned that a new Japanese Izakaya-style restaurant named Kushi signed a lease a City Vista. I've discovered that Kushi has begun to build an online presence with a website (www.eatkushi.com) and facebook page.


The website states the restaurant will open in the late 2009 / early 2010 timeframe.

Bisnow on 425 Eye Street

Commercial Real Estate news site Bisnow reports on the transformation underway at 425 Eye Street. From a content perspective Bisnow repeats much of the basic details and renderings this blog outlayed on May 6th. New information includes placing faces on the key players responsible for the project and suggesting an ETA of July 2010.


Hat Tip: KR

Bundy Lot meeting Thursday night

An organized group of our Shaw neighbors to the north will be meeting Thursday night with the Office of Property Management to discuss a vacant lot at 400 P Street. Residents support a dog park while the government believes the Safe Shores organization moving into the building needs parking.

See flyer below for meeting details.


While I'm an outsider on this issue and unavailable to attend to support, I do hope a compromise can be reached between the two parties. Safe Shores shouldn't be pushed to park on the street if promised parking by the district government. However, I've read compelling arguments that suggest the organization does not need a massive surface lot with 100 parking spots. Hopefully a balance can be achieved.

July ANC 6C Draft Agenda

Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6C
Wednesday, July 8, 2009 7 pm
Heritage Foundation, 214 Massachusetts Avenue N.E.

DRAFT AGENDA

Call to order
Quorum
Approval of agenda
Approval of June minutes
Treasurer’s report

• Approval of June report
  
• Approval of the third quarterly report (April through June 2009) due 8/29/09
  
• Approval of corrected quarterly reports returned by D.C. Auditor

Brief community and commissioner announcements

• Whitman Walker AIDS Walk October 3 - Kevin Reynolds
  
• Family Bike Event October 11- Caitlin McAndrews
  
• Bike DC Event October 17 - Sheba Farrin

Old Business

Liquor License Committee report (Comm. Phelps)

• Naples Sister’s Pizza and Mussels 1300 Second St NE, ABRA stipulated license request - Ian Swayne
  
• Absolute Thai, class C restaurant, 521 G Street NW - Bernard Dietz

Youth and Education Committee (Comm. Hamilton)

• Eastern High School Improvement Team

Planning, Zoning, and Environment Committee (Rob Amos)

• 1208 Third Street NW - HPRB # 09-314, two- story addition to church building - Rev. Dr. Cheryl Sanders
  
• NoMa plan update (Comm. Phelps)

Transportation Committee (Joe McCann, John Kelly)

• 131 M Street NE, outdoor café - Kwanghun Ko
  
• Removal of curb cuts, 300 L Street NE - Comm. Phelps

New Business

• Murray Way, designation for 1100 block of 7th Street NE (Comm. Phelps)

Meeting Adjournment

Wired

A liquor license application under the trade name "Wired" to be located at 1015 1/2 7th Street was posted on July 3rd. This is across from the Convention Center near the Warehouse Theatre, the old Rupperts Restaurant and at the current location of Shakti Mindbody Studio.

More lean than pisa

The eastbound stop sign at 4th and Eye NW (pictured below) has been bent over for seemingly 2+ weeks. It became apparent to me it will likely stay that way until a resident submits a DC.GOV service request - so I filed on at 7:23 this morning. The service center put a resolution date on the request of 12/21/2009 which seems overly padded.


For the lighter side of traffic signage visit the Onion's Dangerous Intersection Causing Some Pretty Cool Accidents

Absolute Thai now open

Absolute Thai is now open at 521 G Street NW. This new restaurant replaces Lee Loo Lounge which went under last November.


The venue does not yet have a liquor license but is in the process of applying.

Chareon, Inc./ Absolute Thai Restaurant
521 G Street NW

Posting date: June 26, 2009
Petition date: August 10, 2009
Hearing date: August 24, 2009

Hours:
Sunday 10 am - 11 pm; Monday through Thursday 6 am - 11 pm
Friday 6 am - 3 am; Saturday 10 am - 3 am (liquor sales stop 2 am Friday and Saturday)

Jury Duty Again?

I just got another Jury Duty Summons after already serving one day earlier this year in January. This new summons misspells my last name - I hope this is a simple error that my outreach to JurorHelp@dcsc.gov can absolve. It was my understanding that after a day of service you are afforded a two year reprieve.

Go Green For Research

This upcoming Tuesday July 7th the Greene Turtle is sponsoring an event at their Verizon Center location (601 F Street NW) called Go Greene For Research. Ten percent of dining profits will go to the NYCDC Aids Ride to benefit research at George Mason University.


For more information on NYCDC Aids Ride or the research it benefits go to www.nycdc.org. If you would like to make an additional donation that is possible at http://nycdc2.kintera.org/jeff20001.

Sign the Beam

National 9/11 Memorial & Museum First Signature Ceremony

The National 9/11 Memorial & Museum is bringing steel I-beams that will be used in the construction of the Memorial to Washington, D.C. for the public to sign on Friday and Saturday, July 3rd and 4th from 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. The beams will be located outside of the Newseum on Pennsylvania Avenue at Sixth Street NW.

In the past two years, the National 9/11 Memorial & Museum has brought steel I-beams to 27 states across the country. The public is invited to “be a part of history” by signing these beams. Since the first beam signing in Columbia, SC, tens of thousands of people have added their names and reflections to the steel that will be used in the construction of the national memorial to the victims of 9/11 at the site of the World Trade Center in New York City.

photos of NYC sign the beam from flickr user Katie Killary

Please join us for the First Signature Ceremony at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, July 3rd. The ceremony will mark the beams’ arrival in our nation’s capitol, open the signing up to the public, and bring the community together to reflect not just on the events of 9/11, but, equally as important, on the spirit that emerged around the world in the aftermath of the attacks.

The National 9/11 Memorial at the World Trade Center will be a tribute to the nearly 3,000 innocent victims of the terrorist attacks of February 26, 1993 and September 11, 2001. The Museum on the site of the Memorial will educate the millions of visitors to Ground Zero through exhibitions that will include artifacts both intimate and monumental.

Friday and Saturday, July 3rd and 4th
10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Outside of the Newseum on Pennsylvania Avenue at Sixth Street NW
First Signature Ceremony at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, July 3rd