The Georgetown Metropolitan

CAG’s Concerts in the Park will make its long awaited return to Volta Park this Sunday from 4:30 – 6:30 pm. The music will be provided by Trio Caliente and there will be food trucks with pizza and ice cream!

The concert will also serve as a Block Captain appreciation night, with an award to Block Captain of the year handed out. So Come out, enjoy the music and celebrate your block captain!

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Sad news, Prince and Princess is closing down. They’ve vacated their current space and moved next door, but I understand this is a step towards ultimate closure.
• New Dean of Students at GU.

Even for Georgetown, the Scott-Grant house is historic. Sitting at 3238 R St., the 1858-built home was erected by A.V. Scott but served as the residence of Ulysses S. Grant after the Civil War. Further, it served as a retreat for Grant during his presidency. (All hence the Scott-Grant name).

It is an elegant house, and is a wonderful example of the mid-19th century Italianate style. Moreover, it sits at the north end of an unusually large property that stretches all the way down to Reservoir Rd.

And to most observers over the last 40 years or so, it might as well be a haunted house. No one has lived there. The property was purchased in the 1980s by Robert Bass, a member of the famously rich Bass brothers. And it has basically sat empty ever since.

That is until this summer when a local family purchased the property for $17.5 million (which honestly feels like a steal to me, given the prices others have paid for similarly spectacular Georgetown homes). The new owners have put forward a plan to renovate the existing historic structures on the property, tear down a non-historic property, and construct two new houses.

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Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Yellow now open for dinner and serving it’s “not-pizzas”
• Georgetown Fall Market returning October 14th.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• In October, to celebrate its 90th year, Martin’s will roll back its prices to the 1930s.
• Georgetown Community Day cancelled due to rain.

In recent years, I have occasionally raised the alarm about possible WMATA plans that would eliminate or otherwise significantly reduce certain bus lines through Georgetown. Today I am warning you of another elimination, but in name only.

That’s because WMATA is beginning a process to rename every bus route it runs, including our D2, D6, G2, and 30 series routes. (Not the Circulator though. That’s run by DDOT.) The idea behind the move is that the current names are a confusing jumble of different letters and numbers that is difficult for a non-regular bus rider to understand. The agency is asking the public to offer suggestions of better naming systems. They ask you to take this survey to submit your ideas.

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Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Richard Levy saluted.
• CM Pinto releases anti-crime bill.

Some notable properties at the southern end of Book Hill may be filled with new or different tenants in the near future.

The first is the former Capital One Bank building at Wisconsin and Q. The bank closed shop here several years ago and the property has remained vacant ever since. Recently a team of real estate developers announced plans to re-purpose the space for retail. As they described to WBJ: “With our long history in urban retail, we feel this property is a perfect fit for our team and we look forward to reenergizing the building with new tenancy.”

So it sounds like they plan to keep the physical building as is. Despite the design imitating early twentieth century architecture, the building is less than 30 years old. It was built on the site of an Exxon station in 1996. For that reason it could be knocked down without getting afoul of historical preservation concerns. But that does not seem to be in the cards as of now. (Seems to me that sticking with a purely retail plan is a missed opportunity to use the propery’s footprint for desperately needed housing.)

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Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Eastbanc firms up some longer leases for Cady’s Alley spaces. You’ll never guess what type of stores! (Just kidding: it’s more expensive Italian furniture shops.)
• We got a busy fall coming up for the ANC.

A lot of people know that Dumbarton Oaks is beautiful in the spring. But I like to to issue this annual reminder that it’s also quite lovely in the fall:

Dumbarton Oaks is well known for its spring displays of incredible seasonal bounties. But people often overlook how spectacular the acres of gardens are in the fall. Hurry up and catch it now before it’s gone.

But here’s just a taste. The wildflowers of the Herbaceous Border are breathtaking:

The rest of the garden is at that magical moment when the gardeners loosen their grips and the plants give off one more explosion before the winter:

Of course the rest of Dumbarton Oaks is also looking great: