Come meet Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D – DC) at Tuesday’s meeting of the LeDroit Park Civic Association. The meeting will be on Tuesday, March 27 at 7 pm at the Florida Avenue Baptist Church (enter at U and Bohrer Streets NW).

Ms. Norton is this month’s guest speaker.  We’re inclined to ask her about National Park Service (NPS) stewardship of the many parks and reservations in DC. The NPS runs Logan Circle, Dupont Circle, Farragut Square, and other parks within the L’Enfant Plan, but does a poor job of programming and managing these parks.

We will also hav e representatives from Progression Place, the construction site at the Shaw Metro, update us on the progress of their project.

Plans for the dilapidated Wonderbread Factory are moving along. Last night at the ANC 1B Design Review Committee we heard representative from Douglas Development Corporation share their latest plans for the Wonderbread Factory at 621 S St NW.

Though apartment projects are the hot thing in Washington real estate right now, Douglas is sticking with its usual market of commercial tenant space. Their latest plan for the Wonderbread Factory includes a ground floor and basement floor for retail space, which they imagine may include restaurants or a microbrewery.  The upper floors will include loft-like office space.

They are setting an agressive timeline to have the project finished in the spring of 2013 and they say they have had numerous inquiries about the space, especially from restaurateurs.

We first encountered Douglas Development’s proposal several months ago when the company had more rudimentary drawings for the site.  The building, known as the Wonderbread Factory, is now under local historic preservation protection and Douglas Development has produced the latest renderings based on feedback from the Historic Preservation Review Board and the staff at the Historic Preservation Office.  The designs are quite impressive.

Eastern elevation along Wiltberger Street (before and after):

Western elevation along the alley between the site and Progression place (before and after):

Rendering of what the front will look like:

Renderings of what the rear (northern end) will look like form Wiltberger Street and from the alley:

Rendering of what the new rear will look like:

Rear (northern) façade before and after:

View the full details

[Update: I have added wording and link to note that the building is in the DC Inventory of Historic Sites, though it does not yet appear to be in the National Register of Historic Places]

The Howard Theatre developers want the new interior to come as a surprise on opening day, so they are not letting people take photographs inside right now. Nonetheless, the City Paper described it as “opulent”.

The ribbon-cutting, which is open to the public, will be on Monday, April 9  from 11:30 am to 3 pm. You can get a tour of the theater and witness the unveiling of the Duke Ellington statue for the plaza and the “Jazz Man” sculpture on the cornice.

Few things rile up neighbors like liquor licenses. Just outside LeDroit Park at 8th and T Streets, a proposal for a new restaurant, All Souls, has elicited the ire of several neighbors. The objectors, though small in number, are trying to stop a local restaurateur from turning a vacant storefront, pictured above, into a community asset. Much of this opposition is unwise and unwarranted and will hold back neighborhood improvement.  We have heard the objections to All Souls for several months and would like to see this restaurant finally come to fruition.

While some objections, particularly regarding outdoor noise late into the night, are certainly reasonable, a few objectors have damaged their own credibility with an array of spurious objections.

The first of such complaints is that a restaurant serving alcohol across the street from an elementary school is unsavory. This is a red herring. Restaurants cannot serve alcohol to 10-year-olds and the main business of restaurants is at night, several hours after school has ended.  The restaurateur has agreed to not serve alcohol before 5 pm.

The most ludicrous objection we heard is that patrons on the patio on 8th Street (along the blank wall in the photo above) will leer into a neighboring house.  This is another red herring as drawing one’s window blinds or curtains can easily solve this problem.

Another objection is that a restaurant is inappropriate for what one objector alleged is a “residential street”. This is not entirely true.  Most of the 1900 block of 8th Street is actually in a commercial zone C-2-B, which is intended for commercial uses, but also allows residential uses.

The restaurant site is surrounded by a residential zone (R-4) on three sides.  Nonetheless, all zones have boundaries in which differing uses abut each other.  It is the responsibility of residents to research and understand the zoning implications of where they live.  It is also important for residents to understand their limitations in dictating how other people lawfully use their own property.

The restaurant building, as marked in the map below, is zoned for commercial uses (C-2-A), which permits restaurants as a matter of right.  The law is very clear in this case that a restaurant is permitted in this location.  The issuance of the alcohol license, which is necessary for any reastaurant to survive financially, is not by right, but must be requested.  Thus, it is only in the alcohol license that the objectors have a viable case to block the business.

All Souls will improve the quality of life in several ways. It will provide a sit-down restaurant, something we consider a desirable neighborhood amenity. It will provide more eyes on the street to deter crime. Drug dealers and criminals at 7th & T Streets will feel less confident in their criminality when they see that there are numerous witnesses at sidewalk tables 100 feet away.

Most importantly, the conversion of a vacant property (pictured to the right) into a vibrant, occupied use improves the impression of the neighborhood. People rightly look upon vacant and abandoned space negatively. They look at active, lively restaurants positively. All Souls will improve the image of the neighborhood by improving the quality of life.

Let’s hope the unreasonable objections of a few don’t derail a potential community asset that we suspect the silent majority supports.

Photo by M.V. Jantzen on Flickr

Come for drinks, free appetizers, and chat with your neighbors Monday, March 19 from 5:30 to 7 at Nellie’s (9th & U Streets NW).  The LeDroit Park Civic Association organizes occasional happy hours at Nellie’s, whose owner is a LeDroit Park resident.

Your favorite neighborhood blogger will be there, too!

The Lincoln by M.V. Jantzen, on Flickr

Howard Theatre. Photo by the author.

Will the Howard Theatre, soon to open in April, end up bankrupt like the Lincoln Theatre on U Street? Both are historic U Street area theaters that were revived at significant public expense. Both are owned by the District government and are under the control of non-profits.

There are, however, some significant differences between the Lincoln and the Howard: the floor, the kitchen, and the management.

The Lincoln Theatre is a traditional theater with fixed rows of seats. This makes the venue unsuitable for a variety of performances. All concert venues nearby have few if any seats— just an open floor where patrons stand.

The Howard Theatre’s floor is a little different. The theatre will have few permanent seats.  Much of the space will contain seats and tables for the performances where food is served, such as the weekly gospel brunch, a comedy show, or certain jazz performances.

When tables are unsuitable for the type of performance, they will be stowed beneath the stage, thus opening up the first floor like the 9:30 Club or the Black Cat.  This flexibility allows the venue to attract a greater variety of acts.

Another important difference is that the Howard Theatre will contain a large kitchen.  Food service, particularly on the sale of alcohol, is where the venue will make money.  The Lincoln Theatre’s food and liquor operation can’t compare.

Finally, while the Lincoln Theatre was managed (or mismanaged, some say) by an ad hoc non-profit, the Howard Theatre will be run by Blue Note Jazz Clubs, which runs the Blue Note Jazz Club, the Highline Ballroom, and B.B. King Blues Club & Grill in New York.  This gives us confidence that a similar success can happen at the Howard.

The ides of March just got tastier here in LeDroit Park. We got word that Bistro Bohem, at 600 Florida Avenue NW, will open on Thursday, March 15.  They will be open daily from 5 pm to midnight and will serve brunch on weekends from 9 am to 3 pm.

The Washingtonian posted a brief write-up of the place a month ago.  They plan to serve Eastern European food and beer.

When the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro comes knocking, your empire is over.  In 1532 he marched into Peru, captured and held the Incan emperor for a ransom, and, after the ransom was paid, executed the Incan emperor anyway.

[flickr id=”6975090053″ thumbnail=”medium” overlay=”false” size=”medium” group=”” align=”center”]

It’s safe to assume, however, that the cleverly named Pizzarro, coming to 467 Florida Avenue, won’t portend a vicious bloodbath.   Whereas Pizarro stormed into Peru, Pizzarro has quietly entered our midst.  Some speculate it will be a cafe or a pizza restaurant (as though we don’t already have enough pizza options around here).

The new sign has been in place for several weeks and the interior is looking freshly remodeled.  Even still, the dust collecting on the tables and we eagerly await the business’s opening, whenever that may be.

[flickr id=”6975090441″ thumbnail=”medium” overlay=”false” size=”small” group=”” align=”center”]

The Howard Theatre’s renovation, in which the District government invested $12 million, got us thinking about the role of public finance in development projects.  The use of public money or, alternatively, the granting of tax abatements to private projects, elicits controversy.  Opponents argue that such investments are give-aways to well-connected businessmen.

[flickr id=”4172786459″ thumbnail=”small_320″ overlay=”false” size=”small” group=”” align=”right”] In the case of the Howard Theatre, the District’s investment in the venue, which the District government technically owns, is a good investment that is economically justified.  The new venue and streetscape in front will improve the perception of the area and thus improve property values in LeDroit Park.  The former is an improvement to the quality of life while the latter is an improvement to the District’s tax base.

Though the theater is technically just outside LeDroit Park, the path from the Shaw Metro Station to LeDroit Park typically brings people in front of the theater.  When the District-owned theater was decaying and vacant, it served as an awful first impression of the area.  A barbed wire fence under the awning and marquee made visitors well aware that a strong wind gust could cause the awning to collapse.  The heaps of litter and scurrying of rats certainly didn’t help perceptions, either.

Work crews are reconstructing the entire street, including sidewalks and lamp posts, and when the renovated theater opens next month, much of the former blight will be removed.  Smooth, wheelchair-accessible sidewalks will replace broken concrete. Lamp posts will provide ample light.  A statue on the sidewalk and a statue atop the theatre will add to the sense of place for this important historic venue.

The theater itself, renovated and gleaming, will attract patrons several nights a week and the building will have to remain in good order.  Clean surfaces and façade adornments will replace trash, decay, and danger.  The block will be unrecognizable from before.

These improvements will undoubtedly improve how visitors and residents view the block and perhaps how they view LeDroit Park. The quality of life improvements are certain.  From a financial standpoint, the improvements will likely boost surrounding property values and thus property tax revenues for the District.  In doing so, the additional revenue may far exceed the $12 million of public money invested in the site.

Correction: An earlier version of this post understated the dollar amount of the city’s investment.

What do Wale, Wanda Sykes, the Roots, Esperanza Spalding, and Chuck Berry have in common?  They are all performing at the Howard Theatre in April.  Also, each Sunday the theatre will host a gospel brunch and gospel choir.