The Georgetown Metropolitan

Photo by John Sonderman.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Are you a good chef and like getting yelled at?
• Good reviews for the revived Bangkok Joe’s.

1300 block of Wisconsin Ave.

The answer of who will finally take over the old Benetton space at Wisconsin and M appears to finally have an answer. COS–a higher-end sister brand of H&M–has applied for signage approval for the location. GM has never heard of the store, but it apparently is trying to target somewhat more upmarket areas than its budget-minded affiliate.

This would be the third H&M brand with a store in Georgetown, after the original and the soon-to-open & Other Stories (which is more “fashion-minded” than the others, whatever that means). This, plus the House of Sweden, makes Georgetown about the most Swedish corner in the city, whatever that’s worth. Continue reading →

Photo by Mike Maguire.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Citypaper confirms what GM first reported: that Bistro Francais is closing.
• Georgetown senior died at his off-campus home early Sunday. No cause of death reported.

3200 block of O St.

As part of his annual store survey, GM always likes to look just at restaurants and see how much variety of styles there is. Above are the results for this year.

There’s not too much change since last year. Sweets takes the lead this year with 17. American trails now at 17 after losing a net of two last year. GM decided to lump all Asian cuisine into one category so to better represent the prevalence of Chinese, Japanese, Thai and Vietnamese restaurants. Continue reading →

Photo by Ephien.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• The Cappella Hotel is now a Rosewood Hotel.
• Following the remarkable story on the effort to trace the descendants of the slaves sold by Georgetown University, the New York Times editorial page calls on the school to pay reparations to the descendants in the form of scholarships.

3200 block of R St.

A while back, GM wondered “what’s wrong with upper Georgetown“? GM tried to pin the chronic vacancies and failed stores on the lack of population density around the 1700 block of Wisconsin Ave. The conditions have changed little since this observation, however, as the Washington Business Journal reported yesterday, a few enterprising developers appear to be snatching up whatever available property they can find in upper Georgetown right now.

Michael Neibauer of WBJ reported yesterday that:

A D.C. developer who specializes in building multifamily over restaurants has acquired two properties in upper Georgetown, where he plans to do just that.

Hashim Hassan of Inle Development this week closed on the $900,000 acquisition of 1728 Wisconsin Ave. NW, the former home of P.O. Boxes Etc., a shipping center. In January, Hassan paid $1.1 million for 1659 Wisconsin, a now-shuttered antiques shop.

In both cases, Hassan said he’s thinking restaurant on the ground-floor in both cases, with two stories residential above. In the case of 1728 Wisconsin, Hassan said he is in talks with Aung Toe Myint of Silver Spring’s Mandalay Restaurant & Cafe about a “new trendy, hip Asian concept.”

Continue reading →

Photo by m01299.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Plans emerge for a hotel replacing the old Latham Hotel (which was at one point going to become a micro-unit apartment building).
• See what a Georgetowner and former astronaut had to say at the Q & A Cafe.