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IT'S HARD TO BUILD a business district from scratch. That's what the champions of NoMa — a developing area that's north of Massachusetts Avenue (hence the name) and surrounded by Union Station, Mount Vernon Triangle and the New York-Florida Avenue-Gallaudet University Metrorail station — have found out as they try to promote the developing area as a first-class office environment.
As The Post's Alexander Lazo reports, NoMa faces two big problems: There's not much out there yet to lure business owners and there remains a perception that the area is remote. One new building, Capitol Plaza I, pictured here, at 1st and M streets NE, has no tenants.
But not to worry, says Liz Price, president of the NoMa Business Improvement District, told The Post: "We are really one phase away from a real, wholesale mind-shift in what NoMa is."
IF YOU THROW OUT speculation about a new grocery store moving into an under-served, redeveloping District neighborhood, you'll find an audience that's, well, hungry. That's what Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Alan Kimber found out recently.
For the past year or so, we've seen residents of downtown's Gallery Place-Chinatown-Penn Quarter-Verizonville neighborhood get all worked up about the possibility that high-end grocery stores could open there. Residents have even set up citizen petition campaigns to lure stores. Thus far, all of those efforts have been fruitless.
Now, in the redeveloping neighborhoods to the north of downtown and Capitol Hill, there's speculation that Harris Teeter — which is planning to open stores in Adams Morgan at 17th Street NW and Kalorama Road and on Capitol Hill near the Potomac Avenue Metrorail station — is interested in a space at 1st and M streets NE, adjacent to the New York Avenue-Florida Avenue-Gallaudet University Metrorail station.
That rumor came from Kimber, who posted on his blog that Harris Teeter "has now committed" to setting up shop. But once word spread on local blogs, Kimber had to clarify what he said:
I should have qualified this statement with "my understanding is that this 'commitment' may not be final or binding." These things move slowly, and my understanding is that a lease has not yet been signed.And that's just the latest in a long list of developments that have teased the appetites of grocery-starved neighborhood residents.
Continue Reading "Speculation Teases Grocery Store Appetites in D.C." »
ON TUESDAY, D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr. is expected to announce some big news related to the planned redevelopment of the Florida Avenue Market, the sprawling wholesalers district near the New York Avenue-Florida Avenue-Gallaudet University Metrorail station.
We've written about the area, also referred to as the Capital City Market, quite a bit in the last year and have noted the controversy that has divided market vendors. (Many vendors oppose the "New Town" development being pushed by market man Sang Oh Choi and fear that the market will be leveled and their businesses will be forced out.)
Thomas believes a redevelopment agreement is "very close," according to The Examiner, which also reports that New York-based investment firm Apollo Management will finance the project. During the D.C. Council's lame duck session in December, the New Town plan was given a preliminary OK but the city still has to approve a final proposal before the project moves forward.
Continue Reading "Announcement Set for Fla. Ave. Market Proposal" »
SILVER SPRING residents hoping their busy Montgomery County hub will draw National Public Radio away from its current Mount Vernon Square-based headquarters in the District are frustrated with members of the Montgomery County Council who they say are anti-development. 
At-Large Council member Marc Elrich, at left, who says he doesn't want to offer NPR incentives to come to Silver Spring, has found himself in a war of words with local bloggers over the fine points of commercial development.
All this comes before NPR has even announced a short list of areas it might consider for its new headquarters. National Public Radio has outgrown its home near the Washington Convention Center and decided to move to another location in the D.C. area, NPR spokeswoman Andi Sporkin said. Sporkin acknowledged rumors that the company will move somewhere near New York Avenue, Crystal City or downtown Silver Spring, calling them "obvious rumors" because those areas are already home to media organizations. But she said the company won't have a list of possible destinations until the fall.
"We're looking throughout the metro area," Sporkin said. "Contrary to what rumors have been — and it's amazing what people claim they know — we have no list of finalists."
Certainly, Silver Spring fits into the equation.
Continue Reading "Silver Spring Bloggers, Official Spar Over NPR Move" »
UP AT THE CORNER of 1st and R streets NW in Bloomingdale, two neighborhood newcomers are preparing to bloom. Big Bear Cafe, which was supposed to open earlier this spring, is still putting the finishing touches on its space just off Florida Avenue near North Capitol Street.
Meanwhile, according to Advisory Neighborhood Commission 5C03 member Stuart Davenport (who's part of the team behind Big Bear), a regular Sunday farmers' market is getting ready to launch June 17. From an e-mail:
We have farmers lined up with local vegetables, fruits, free range eggs, pork ribs and sausage, and I think we now have a baker!Big Bear is "almost open" and is currently hiring.
WHEN IT'S COMPLETED, the Metropolitan Branch Trail will wind for eight miles along the Red Line from Silver Spring to Union Station. Some segments are already completed, but the full project is still a long way from finished.
The District Department of Transportation is getting ready to work on a mile-long segment connecting the New York Avenue-Florida Avenue-Gallaudet University station with Franklin Street NE between the Brookland-CUA and Rhode Island Avenue-Brentwood stations.
First, though, the segment has to be designed, so DDOT has released a formal "request for proposals."
From DDOT:
The project includes an asphalt trail, fencing, lighting, emergency call boxes, and landscaping. After a contractor is hired, the design and construction is estimated to last approximately one year.When that segment is finished, it'll allow residents in Eckington to cross busy New York and Florida avenues via a bridge, avoiding a treacherous intersection for pedestrians.
» "Metropolitan Branch Trail" [Official Site]
IF YOU WERE a D.C. club-goer in the early to mid-'90s, at some point you found yourself sweating it out in the backroom bunker at State of the Union, the long-defunct venue formerly at 1357 U St. NW.
It was during a long residency there that the DJ and production duo Deep Dish — Ali "Dubfire" Shirazinia and Sharam Tayebi — solidified its rapidly growing reputation for spinning some of the best sets of progressive house music in the city — and, over time, the world.
The duo DJ'd sold-out parties at some of the biggest clubs and raves on the planet, while pulling down high-profile remix assignments for the likes of Madonna and Cher and recording two acclaimed albums of original music.
Photo of the Florida Avenue Market area by Melina Mara/The Washington Post
NOW THAT IT'S MAY, the risk of any random springtime snow (like last month's freak wintry mix) is essentially nil and the entrenched seasonal temperatures makes now a great time to explore the city — before it gets hot, humid and miserable. So taking a six-mile trek through three of the District's four quadrants — which is what this writer did on a recent Saturday — might be better done now versus, say, mid-August.
During the walk, which snaked between the New York Avenue-Florida Avenue-Gallaudet University station in Northeast and the Navy Yard station in Southeast, we stopped by places as varied as the Joshua Bell experiment site, the Bartholdi Fountain and the Union Station food court.
And more importantly, we explored a place we've written about many times before this: D.C.'s "other" market, which might be the next best place to get that Eastern Market-in-exile feeling.
So follow along as Free Ride takes you on a tour of what's happening where ...
For the full tour, read onward. To explore the route, click on the Wayfaring map below.
Continue Reading "A Few Hours ... Walking 6 Miles in 3 Quadrants" »
THE PROPOSED SATELLITE RADIO marriage is likely not going to get to the altar. As The Post's Sam Diaz reports, three analysts reports cast doubts that the proposed merger between New York-based Sirius and D.C.-based XM will get a green light from regulators. Writes Diaz:
In a Banc of America Securities report, analyst Jonathan Jacoby put the probability of approval of the merger at about 35 percent, but noted that it was likely much lower. Separately, Craig Moffett, a senior analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., and William Kidd, a media analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities in Los Angeles, put the chance of approval closer to 10 percent.Hold XM stock? It fell by 2 percent in Wednesday trading.
» "Analysts Doubt XM-Sirius Merger Will Fly" [WaPo]
WHILE WASHINGTON was never surrounded by one big thick defensive wall during the Civil War, a ring of forts acted as gates, protecting the wartime capital from Confederate forces. Today, China's government temporarily controls a modern-day "Gateway" to the American capital. And just last week, Arlington County approved its second "Gateway," this one to be built on a former toxic rail yard. (More on that, later ...)
The word "Gateway," a natural real estate marketing buzzword, is popping up all over town. How many such portals can D.C. accommodate? Let's survey the area's streetscapes ...
When you drive in or out of D.C. on New York Avenue, you're heading through the city's most highly-trafficked gateway. Standing guard — besides The Washington Times complex, of course — is a shabby-looking Days Inn with a lot of fencing surrounding it. The motel is actually closed. The Chinese government currently controls the place, using it as housing for construction workers it shipped in for the construction of its new embassy complex off Van Ness Street in Upper Northwest. Besides fast food and gas stations, there's not much around the Days Inn Washington DC/Gateway ... but don't tell that to developer Jim Abdo.
You might remember another time when the Chinese government secured strategic positioning at a key gateway to the city. In a series of articles in 2000, The Washington Times hounded Beijing's official Xinhua news agency, which had just purchased a building on Arlington Ridge Road with a clear view of the Pentagon, which it said had violated the Foreign Missions Act by not getting prior approval from the State Department. The news agency decried The Times' accusations that Chinese intelligence would use the site to spy on the Defense Department headquarters. A Xinhua spokesman said at the time: "We are filled with great indignation, and we strongly refute the reports."
Continue Reading "The Chinese Are at the Gates! Which One?" »
Addison Road