The Georgetown Metropolitan

A group of investors is proposing to convert 1719 Wisconsin Ave. into a “ghost kitchen”. GM linked to an article on this proposal last week, but one aspect of the plan that that article did not delve into is the impact of delivery drivers.

A “ghost kitchen” is a restaurant that produces food for for one or more virtual restaurants that exist in name only. The idea is that hungry eaters look for, say, pizza restaurants in Uber Eats, or whatever, and up pops Pauli’s Neopolitan Pizza. From within the app it appears to be a completely real restaurant, but it doesn’t actually have a bricks and mortar location you could go and eat pizza at. It’s just a kitchen that will fulfill your order and send it to you. And along with your order they may be fulfilling order’s for “Saigon Sam’s” or “Joe’s Burgers” and none of those will be real either. In some cases the restaurants do have other, real bricks and mortar locations, but deliver from this virtual location instead.

Here is how the group behind the Georgetown ghost kitchen describe their business plan:

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Got no lunch plans today and want to learn about how professionals deal with marketing themselves in this new world? You’re in luck.
• Yet another hotel proposed.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• The story of how George Washington bought the land that became DC and clinched the deal in Georgetown’s Suter’s Tavern.
• Georgetown Sweets Tour back in May.

Last week the Old Georgetown Board approved the design of a proposed hotel to be built at 3401 Water St. The plans shifted the massing of the building around from earlier designs but will still be a noticeable addition to the Georgetown “skyline”.

As described in earlier reporting, the plan calls to preserve the existing two-story building, which currently contains the Berliner beer hall and a Go Puff distribution hub. Three to five stories (plus a penthouse) of new construction will be added on top. The higher stories will be on the west and northern portions of the building, with the lower roofs on the east and south sides.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Ghost kitchen proposed for upper Wisconsin Ave.
• Canal boat tours back!

After a string of terrible scenes plaguing Wisconsin Ave., it’s nice to be pleasantly surprised. Yesterday morning GM stumbled upon this wild turkey sauntering up Wisconsin Ave. It crossed the street at the foot of Book Hill and headed further north from there. GM hopes it made its way to Rock Creek.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Details on the House Tour.
• Mapping women’s history.

Last week GU re-instituted an indoor mask mandate in response to a spike in Covid cases. And yesterday, the school announced 169 positive cases on campus, the most since early February. And more alarming, the school reporting a sharp uptick in positivity rates for the tests:

Should we look at GU (and other DC college campuses) as the canary in the coal mine of yet another surge of cases?