Highlights from Thursday’s monthly meeting of ANC1B: New restaurants and lounges are on their way to U Street.  Office construction in the District may be hurting, but neo-Victorian townhouses will replace an old parking lot on Vermont Avenue.  Fifteenth Street’s protected bike lane will finally enter Ward 1.

Bar Fights

Several commissioners bickered over the process of approving liquor licenses— in this case a procedural dispute— but the commission relented and took no further action on Cuckoo Marans and the U Street Music Hall, both of which we wrote about earlier.  The ANC typically protests all new licenses officially as a means to goad applicants to reach voluntary agreements with the ANC.  These voluntary agreements tend to be less permissive than the District’s standing liquor laws.

In new business, a new liquor license applicant presented his plans for Café Society, which he billed as an affordable and upscale (oxymoron?) steakhouse that will feature steaks (of course) and local produce.  The 139-seat steakhouse will occupy the ground floor and upper floors (and a roof terrace) of the newly renovated building on the northeast corner of Fourteenth and U Streets.  Cuckoo Marans will occupy the basement of the same building.

Against the Grain

DDOT sought and received the ANC’s support for extending the Fifteenth Street southbound contraflow bike lane from U Street northward to the foot of Meridian Hill at W Street.  Fifteenth Street is one-way northbound from Massachusetts Avenue on the edge of downtown all the way up to Columbia Heights. Though one resident complained of renegade cyclists disobeying traffic laws, the ANC voted to support the lane anyway.  Commissioner Brianne Nadeau (ANC1B05 –  Meridan Hill) expressed her desire to see the lane extended all the way up Meridian Hill to Euclid Street, but DDOT is not seeking that extension just yet, though they seem to be studying it, if informally.

When DDOT began installing the contraflow lane in November, Councilmember Jim Graham (D – Ward 1) flipped out at DDOT’s alleged inadequate notification of his constituents.  In response DDOT built the lane along Fifteenth Street in Ward 2, but stopped at Ward 1’s boundary at U Street.  A chastened DDOT now has the ANC’s approval.

Home Again

A local developer and his architect presented plans to build three townhouses (two units each) on the south side of the parking lot at T Street and Vermont Avenue.  The architect displayed several handsome elevation drawings, all in a Victorian style, that match the rich neighboring architecture.  Each of the three townhouses will feature alley-accessible garages.  The developer will also replace the existing concrete sidewalk with brick, our favorite paving material.  The north side of the parking lot will also be redeveloped as part of a separate project.

Broadcast Center One as viewed from the CVS at 7th & T Streets

The Block of Blight is one step closer to renewal. Ellis Development Group, which is also restoring the Howard Theater, plans to build 100,000 square feet of office space for Lanham-based Radio One and TV One, along with 22,000 square feet of retail space and 200 condos at the Shaw Metro’s northern entrance. The project, Broadcast Center One (pictured above), was supposed to break ground in September, but obviously it has been delayed.

The project may be one step closer to construction, though. In October the Washington Business Journal reported that the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) was considering leasing some office space in the project. On Thursday, our ANC Commissioner Myla Moss (ANC1B01) confirmed that UNCF had inked a deal to lease some of the space. It’s easier for a developer to secure financing and start construction the more signed leases they have beforehand.

We came across this proposal for Hartland Commons, a boutique hotel proposed for the site across T Street from the Howard Theater. We certainly think it’s a step up for what we have named the Block of Blight, but we’re not sold on the modern design and the destruction of some of the existing historic buildings.

Given that there’s no development application that we’re aware of, we suspect this is more of a conceptual design with no legs.  The design, by Georgetown-based Group Goetz Architects, certainly contrasts with the neighboring architecture, though.  Have a look.

View of the south façade along T Street

View from Duke Ellington Plaza at T Street and Florida Avenue NW

T Street façade, opposite the Howard Theater

T Street façade during the day.

Florida Avenue façade

While investigating the background of this project, we came across an earlier conceptual design by the same architecture firm, which, coincidentally, is located next to the Swedish Embassy. The façade resembles a fabric we’ve spotted at IKEA— perhaps “boutique hotel” is just a front the Swedish spy agency!  If a motorcade of black Volvos emerges from the garage one day, don’t say we didn’t warn you.

The DUKE Plan for Howard Town Center, approved by the City Council

We haven’t written much on Howard Town Center (pictured above), but we found a good article on it at Greater Greater Washington.

Several years ago the Office of Planning released, and the City Council approved, the DUKE plan, a development framework for the U Street corridor and Howard Town Center.  The section covering Howard Town Center rightly calls for development to “[e]xtend streets in an east-west system to connect the area to the center of Howard University’s campus,” specifically directing to “[c]onnect W Street on both sides.”

There are several streets running north-south in the Town Center area, but few running east-west.  The purpose of this requirement is to break-up what planners call superblocks, large city blocks that tend to sap street vitality and limit neighborhood connectivity.  Superblocks were popular with postwar modernist architects, but they have since been discredited as bad planning.  Small city blocks, as urban observer Jane Jacobs noted, allow more paths for passing through a neighborhood and break the monotony that accompanies mega-buildings.

Though the initial plan by CastleRock Partners for the Phase I Site would bring a grocery store and housing, the Greater Greater Washington article notes that the CastleRock plan violates the east-west connectivity guideline of the DUKE plan in that it proposes placing a garage ramp where W Street should be.

Connecting the isolated sections of W Street would enhance access between LeDroit Park and the U Street corridor and the CastleRock proposal disregards this goal of the DUKE plan.  Despite this, we will still be glad to shop at the grocery store once that opens up.  Groundbreaking is set for next fall.

If last night’s ANC meeting is any judge, the economy is picking up.  Two separate petitioners sought approval for liquor licenses for their upcoming businesses on U Street and one petitioner presented plans to renovate a vacant building into a restaurant.

Marvin

The colorfully-dressed owner of Marvin (2007 14th St NW) sought and received support for two minor modifications to his voluntary agreement.  One amendment will allow him to keep an upstairs door open and the second will nix the requirement that he keep decibel readers in the restaurant.

The latter amendment, he stressed, does not exempt Marvin from the noise restriction, but merely relieves him from having to buy expensive (and fragile) volume-measuring equipment.

Cuckoo Marans

The newly renovated building at the northeast corner of 14th and U Streets has signed two tenants, one for the ground up and one for the basement.  The proprietors of the future basement venue Cuckoo Marans (a type of hen) bill their nightclub (Retail Class C) as a “music and arts club” and envision hosting musical acts that might not be able to fill venues as large as the 9:30 Club.  They added that though their business will focus primarily on music, they will feature other arts, too.

The ANC voted to oppose the license as a tactical measure until the proprietors of both the upper floors and the basement could come to a voluntary agreement with the ANC.

U Street Music Hall

The night’s other new license petitioner, a DJ and former Smithsonian employee, presented his plans for the U Street Music Hall to be located in the basement of 1115 U Street NW (the former location of the now-shuttered Cue Bar).  The venue will offer free DJ classes to elementary and middle-school kids in the afternoon and will serve as a music venue at night.

The petitioner has asked for DCRA for a maximum capacity of 399 people, a number that department will likely reduce and a number at which Commissioner Brianne Nadeau balked.  The petitioner is seeking the permission of ABRA to close at 4 am Friday and Saturday nights so as not to spill a crowd of drunken patrons onto the street at the city’s 3 am last call.

As with Cuckoo Marans, the ANC voted to oppose the license as a tactical measure until the petitioner could come to a voluntary agreement with the ANC.

Brixton Pub

At 901 U Street, across the street from Nellie’s, sits a building that has been vacant for twenty years.  The petitioners presented plans to renovate the building into a restaurant and bar with a roof deck.  Sitting on the elbow edge of the L’Enfant Plan, the building renovation requires approval of the Historic Preservation Review Board.  The renderings, which we have not had a chance to scan yet, look pretty nice.

The petitioner is hoping to secure building permits next month for a construction process that will last about four months.

The ANC voted to support the petitioner’s conceptual design.

Watch this neat time-lapse video covering the entire construction of the Kenyon Square building at Fourteenth and Kenyon Streets in Columbia Heights.

h/t: Greater Greater Washington

Howard University is seeking neighborhood input for its campus master plan.  The university is planning to work with private partners to develop the parcels it owns between Georgia Avenue and Ninth Street.  Currently, the plan is for a town center development with housing and shops, including a grocery store.

Nonetheless, there are Howard-owned properties in LeDroit Park and in other neighborhood and the university would like community input.

Take the survey and give the administration your two cents.

In our survey response, we wrote that encouraging the presence of a grocery store would benefit residents and students alike.

Our McMillan is hosting a public meeting tomorrow, Wednesday, October 28, 7 – 9 pm., on plans for redeveloping the McMillan Reservoir site.  The Reservoir site at issue is bounded by North Capitol Street, Michigan Avenue NW, and Channing Street.  It’s certainly among the area’s more controversial projects.

Venue:
St. George’s Episcopal Church
160 U St NW (2nd & U Sts NW)

Yes.

There’s an article in the Post about the DC USA parking garage in Columbia Heights. DC USA, as you probably know, is the urban mall at 14th and Irving Streets NW and contains Best Buy; Target; Bed, Bath & Beyond; Staples; and Radio Shack among other stores. The city helped bring the project to fruition by shelling out $40 million for a 1,000-space garage beneath the building.  Underground parking is much more expensive to build than parking lots due to the excavation and increased construction costs.

Despite the fact that the mall is located at a metro station and is within walking distance of some of densest neighborhoods in the region, traffic studies at the planning stage predicted much more car traffic than has actually materialized.

We have read elsewhere that those predictions further cemented support for the garage from neighbors who feared that customers would clog Columbia Heights in search of scarce parking.  Furthermore, as the article implies (but doesn’t state directly), part of the city’s motivation to finance the garage was due to Target’s fear that customers will not shop at a store with few parking spaces.  While this fear is certainly justified in, say, Rockville, it is ill-suited to a dense neighborhood like Columbia Heights, which is well-served by numerous bus and metro lines.

Despite the fact that parking in the garage is a bargain ($1/hour), few customers find it necessary to drive to DC USA, let alone park there.  In fact the garage has never exceeded 47% capacity, causing the District to lose $100,000 a month for parking spaces that should never have been built.

Similarly, we have learned before in private discussions with apartment developers in College Park that developers have had to go to considerable expense to build parking garages and lots for student housing adjacent the University of Maryland campus simply because the P.G. County planning department couldn’t conceive that anybody would walk anywhere from an apartment building.  At a cost of $22,000 – $50,000 per space for structured parking, the costs are passed onto renters whether they needed the parking or not.

When new developments are proposed, especially near the Shaw Metro station, the city and residents should be careful not to demand too much underground parking as this may deter development and needlessly raise costs that are eventually passed onto shoppers and tenants.