WEDNESDAY: Can't get out to Wolf Trap? Can't afford tickets? This is your lucky night. There's a free outdoor screening of "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart," a documentary about the band, in the NoMa neighborhood at dusk tonight. The evening is part of their music-themed summer movie series and will include barbecue and live music.
Bring a blanket and a picnic dinner, if you like — and definitely pack some bug spray.
» L St. NE between 2nd and 3rd streets NE; Wed., July 8, 7 p.m., free; nomasummerscreen.com. (New York Ave)
Photo by Tina Fineberg
WE STILL REFUSE to call it "NoMa," but we might have to start calling the area of town North of Massachusetts Ave. something. Because they, like the rest of the civilized world, have a Five Guys now.
The delicious, no-frills burger joint now has 262 locations, and the newest one is next to the New York Ave. Metro Station at 2nd and N Streets NE.
Photo by Katherine Frey/The Washington Post
THIS IS BOND, JAMES BOND, in all his '70s glory, and Roger Moore's second stab at playing him. His mission: to steal the Solex Agitator, a device that can harness the power of the sun. But of course! The lady of the hour is Mary Goodnight and the antagonist is Francisco Scaramanga. It's all great fun.
Even more fun to watch it outside, as is the trend in D.C. this summer. Tonight's screening of "The Man With the Golden Gun" is in NoMA. Limited parking, so Metro is encouraged. Rain or shine.
» Florida and New York avenues NE; Thu., 8 p.m., free. (New York Avenue)
Photo courtesy of Virgin Media
RARELY DOES A PRESS RELEASE make my stomach rumble, but I've got a soft spot in my belly for Five Guys Burgers and Fries. The greasy beef purveyor is the subject of an e-mail blast from the NoMa — that's North of Massachusetts Ave. — Business Improvement District.
According to the BID, a new Five Guys outpost will open this summer in a retail building near the New York Avenue Metrorail stop. Its home will be adjacent to the new headquarters for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — the ATF — which was just dedicated last week. It'll join Pound Coffee, Heidi's Brooklyn Deli and Sister's Pizza & Mussels, the BID says.
Continue Reading "New Five Guys Outpost to Sizzle in NoMa" »
DURING RUSH-HOUR TRAFFIC REPORTS, the old Hecht Co. warehouse is still used as a reference point, usually followed by details of how slowly cars are passing by it on New York Avenue. But a Philadelphia developer is hoping that the Art Deco structure will soon be a destination as well as a landmark.
As The Post's Alejandro Lazo reports, the developer, Patriot Equities, hopes to attract a big-box retailer to a site next door to the historic distribution center at New York Avenue and Fenwick Street NE, which would be renovated "to accommodate additional shops or possibly light manufacturing or warehouse storage," The Post reports.
Continue Reading "Big-Box Retail Eyed to Anchor Old Hecht Co. Site" »
IN THE COMING YEARS, the identical rooftops of the Sursum Corda cooperative and the adjacent Temple Courts public housing project off of North Capitol Street will look a lot different. Mixed-use, higher-density development is slated for the area.
And now we know who'll be making those changes. On Thursday, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty announced that William C. Smith & Co. and the Jair Lynch Cos. would lead the redevelopment of the site.
Here's what they'll be building, according to The Post's Joshua Zumbrun:
The project, called Northwest One, will have 40,000 square feet of retail space, 220,000 square feet of office space and a 21,000-square-foot health clinic, a new facility for Unity Health Clinic, which operates in the area. The partnership has agreed to increase the number of affordable housing units in the proposal from 410 to 571.The redevelopment of the site has been controversial because of opposition by some residents who didn't want to leave their homes to make way for the project.
Continue Reading "Two Developers Chosen for Sursum Corda Project" »
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" »
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