Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
- Georgetown developer Anthony Lanier on the challenges that downtown DC faces.
- Meeting this Wednesday night sponsored by CAG on the African American history of the C&O Canal.
Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
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Last week Washingtonian magazine asked whether Georgetown was actually cool again. There are lots of conflicting opinions on that question, but I thought it fitting that for today’s Georgetown Time Machine we visit an era when there wasn’t really any question that Georgetown was just about the only place to be. The time is the 1960s (or about) and the place is Rive Gauche.
Rive Gauche was an elegant French restaurant that stood at the corner of Wisconsin and M (the recently vacated Banana Republic building). And it set the standard for fine dining in the nation’s capital during the Kennedy years (and beyond). For generations of Washingtonians, Rive Gauche was often their first experience with an elevated “white linen cloth” restaurant. As Washingtonian wrote in 2020:
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The ANC is meeting for its February meeting next Monday night starting at 6:30 pm (zoom link here). This will be my second meeting on the commission and the first with a (quite substantive) Old Georgetown Board agenda. So I’m getting ready for a long one!
But you don’t have to suffer through the whole meeting with us. The most interesting stuff is always on the front end. And to that end, we have some good stuff lined up. Of course we have our typical update from MPD, and CM Pinto’s office. Our featured business of the month will be Veronica Beard, who had the misfortune of opening right near the start of Covid, yet has thrived through that adversity. Additionally we will have an update from Georgetown’s own Allister Chang, the Ward 2 State Board of Ed rep.
As for project review, there are plenty. One that could lead to an interesting discussion is the proposal for an addition to 3210 Q St. The application has generated an unusual disagreement between the Old Georgetown Board and the DC Historic Preservation Office, with the OGB favoring the third floor addition and the HPO opposed (the HPO is ok with the additions to the first and second story). Typically the HPO (and the Historic Preservation Review Board) defers to the OGB on matters concerning Georgetown, but on this project they simply disagree. Come and hear the substantive and procedurally novel case!
Here is the rest of the agenda:
Page 1
GOVERNMENT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E
ANC 2E Public Meeting
Monday, January 30th, 2023
at 6:30 p.m.
Online at: bit.ly/ANC2EFebruary2023
This meeting will be held online via Zoom and can be accessed at the link above (there is no
fee or account needed to use Zoom).
If you do not have a computer or access to the internet, you may join the meeting via phone
at (301) 715-8592 or (646) 558-8656 with meeting ID 886 7476 8843 #.
Approval of the Agenda – 6:30 pm
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Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
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Last weekend the massive Nike Store closed its location at Thomas Jefferson and M St. It will be moving down the street to a smaller location. But it will leave a huge vacancy on a street that is not lacking in them. I wrote last March about how this glut of large spaces actually should be viewed as an opportunity.
Coincidentally, last week Washingtonian wrote an article expressing bemused surprise that Georgetown is “cool” again. The writer attributed the increase in activity in the neighborhood to the fact that the pandemic cleared out a lot of retail spaces and forced landlords to lower the rent. This caused some restaurants like the new Yellow to reconsider Georgetown as a destination.
That was essentially what I was predicting last March. And for what it’s worth, here is that article again:
Last month, WBJ reported that the Nike Store may be on the way out. And GM is hearing rumors that the Amazon Books store next door is also on the way out. These closures, if they come to pass, would add to several other large spaces that have also recently become vacant.
Nike took over the space at 30th and M in 2012. Previously the space was used for many years by Barnes and Nobles (offering one of the more popular third places in the neighborhood). Prior to the Barnes and Nobles, the building hosted the Cerberus 1-2-3 movie theater since 1970. Its unusual size and large windows owe to the fact it was originally built as a car dealership.
From the moment Nike moved in it felt like perhaps they bit off more than they could chew. The three vast floors felt empty, particularly to patrons who once roamed the Barnes and Noble’s bookshelves. And the fact that it appears that Nike is bowing out with years left on the lease would suggest they agree with that assessment.
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Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
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A group of volunteers gathered on Saturday to paint a new pickleball court at Volta Park. The court was painted on the basketball court. Hopefully it will help alleviate the excess in demand for court-time for this growing sport. And it does so without angering the sworn enemies of pickleball players: tennis players.
When used, this will, of course, take space from the basketball court. But honestly it is rarely the case that all four nets are being used at once. And if conflicts do arise, we can start setting aside time for one sport or the other.
With assistance from DPR, we were able to get down some clean lines.
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Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
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Despite the prevalence of vacancies around the Georgetown retail areas, a lot of stores are planning on opening soon. Here are a couple I’ve learned of recently:
-Away
This hip luggage store appears to be opening at 3237 M St., which was most recently the Same Day Health testing site. Like a lot of stores opening in Georgetown recently, this is a “direct to consumer” brand. DTC brands are basically companies that start off selling directly to customers over the web, and then move to opening their own brick-and-mortar stores.
This location was going to be a flavored vodka shop, but that seems to have fallen through.
-Diptyque
This scent-oriented shop has already opened at 3237 M St. (although I have to admit not noticing it yet). It sells various fragrant items such as candles and hand cream.
This location previously hosted Pacers Running, which moved over to Wisconsin Ave.
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