The Georgetown Metropolitan

This week for Georgetown Time Machine, GM visits again the archive of the Historical Society of Washington DC. This particular shot is of R St. from 1975. The listing says it’s the 2900 block of R St., but that’s wrong. This is the 3000 block of R St. GM knows because he lived here for eight years. Continue reading →

Photo by Plum Pine.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• GU students rallying for a collective bargaining agreement.
• The Mayor has budgeted for a completely new Jelleff Rec Center. It’s a shame on one level to lose a building with such history, but it is woefully outdated and a completely new building is definitely needed.

Montrose Park

If there’s one thing that GM gets asked about more than any one topic, it’s why are there so many retail vacancies in Georgetown? To be perfectly honest, GM has no idea why there are so many. He has a couple theories: landlords holding out for high paying tenant, the death of retail generally, or just the natural cycle of things. But those are all just guesses.

If you want a clearer answer, come on out to the joint BID-ANC event this Thursday night at the Georgetown Park Mall. After a talk on the current state of things, the group will break out into smaller groups to discuss the issues, such as what retail is desired, what can be done to facilitate their arrival, and other topics. Continue reading →

Photo by Thomas Hawk.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• WAMU dug into the “why doesn’t Georgetown have a Metro” question again (with special guest GM!).
• How Jack Evans’ continuing presence on the Council hurts the whole city.

Georgetown University

Last year the DC Council adopted a law that dramatically curtailed the ability of homeowners to rent their houses out via Airbnb. Property owners would only be allowed to rent out the property 90 days a year if they did not live in the house. Since that describes most investment Airbnb houses, the law would seem to put a big crimp in that business model.

And as GM has noted, prior to the law there has been a big growth in these investment Airbnb properties in Georgetown. on a block just around the corner from GM’s house, three of the nine properties were exclusively Airbnb properties (meaning nobody lived there except when an Airbnb customer was renting out the house). What would happen to these properties once the law kicked in? Continue reading →