Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Jazzy Wright’s September 2013 Bloomingdale Bites: Firehouse restaurant, World Missions rally

See Jazzy Wright`s latest Bloomingdale Bites column from the September 2013 Mid City DC.

 
Jazzy Wright

Thanks once again, Jazzy, for covering Bloomingdale!


By Jazzy Wright

Firehouse Restaurant Moves Forward

Piece by piece the old firehouse on North Capitol Street is slowly transforming into a full-service restaurant. After years of waiting, owners of the three-story, 10,000 square-foot firehouse filed in August for a license to serve alcoholic beverages. Washington Firehouse Restaurant will serve American fare. According to a preliminary menu diners can expect pizza, steak, salad options, and raw oysters.

The restaurant has gotten off to a rocky start. In 2008 the city sold the building to developer NextGen Development. According to a Washington Business Journal report, NC Firehouse LLC managing partner Brian Brown bought the building for $600,000. The building was originally slated to become a multi-themed dining experience, complete with a restaurant, martini bar, performance stage, and espresso bar.

At the time of sale the restaurant was expected to be the first sit-down establishment in the area. Not much happened to the property, though. While other restaurants opened in the area, including Red Hen and Aroi Thai, the firehouse remained shuttered for the following five years. Restaurant operators began construction on the project earlier this year.
 

Neighbors Give Back

Summer is nearly over, and many schools across the region are reopening for the new academic year. To help local students prepare for school the World Missions Extension Center and the Rhode Island North Capitol Ecumenical Council of Churches hosted its annual Back to School Rally & Giveaway on Randolph Place on Saturday, August 17. World Missions has organized Bloomingdale-area giveaways and rallies for the past 18 years.

As part of the block-party festivities, the organization provided area children and teens with school supplies and vouchers to help purchase uniforms. More than double the expected number of children showed up for the giveaway. Community support for the giveaway program was so high that the World Missions was able to host two additional giveaway rallies in Wards 7 and 8, in addition to the Bloomingdale event. In all, World Missions estimates that they gave supplies to more than 1,200 children and families (they helped more than 785 families at the Bloomingdale event).

Several key leaders helped to kick off the event, including Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie (Ward 5), Academy of Ideal Education Principal Paulette Imani, Langley Education Campus Principal Charlotte Spann, and now-retired DC Public Schools Administrator Pat Sanker. Local pastors from the Ecumenical Council of Churches addressed the crowd. Additionally DC Police Assistant Chief Diane Groomes and Commander C. Robinson distributed supplies to children throughout the day.

“The Back to School Rally is designed to provide essential school supplies to needy children returning back to school,” said Dr. JoAnn Perkins, World Mission’s founder and executive director. “As such, people living in the community are able to express their support to the children and parents so as to show we care and that providing school supplies is a way of expressing such support.”

The school rally was funded primarily by the DC Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation. In addition to hosting food drives World Missions organizes back-to-school fundraisers, mentoring programs, and tutoring lessons for students. Perkins says that one of the best ways that local residents can give back is to become a mentor to youth who participate in World Missions programs.

6 comments:

Unknown2 said...

Poor Jazzy, why waste your time on write ups on the Firehouse. The actions you see now are likely just a little flutter to keep tax collectors at bay. Until this is sold to a real entrepreneur or restaurant group, you can recycle your story for the next 10 years. Last year, they painted the fence outside, this year they changed the front door, next year, who knows.

It could be the first sit down restaurant on that block of N Capitol, but Terry's wine bar might actually beat it if it opens in the next few years.

Soon, you can write about the new tex-mex place on 1st and maybe the tapas place will open next to Rustik in the next few years (though tapas went out of fashion two years ago). Hopefully this new place will reconsider their concept before opening, too.

mona said...

They also move a really expensive pizza oven into the place and replaced the large front doors on it too. Seems to be an awful lot of money and time to spend if they are only trying to keep the tax collectors at bay.

Unknown2 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
mona said...

Ok then why are they moving forward and on the ABRA hearing list for their license? Kinda lotta work to just be faking it. Plus, in the course of my day this make little difference to me so not sure why your so down on it.

Unknown2 said...

mona, you must be new to the neighborhood and new to the group "developing" that site. You might be interested to learn about their past experiences with ABRA and various other hearings as well. Should all be public docs if you have interest to explore a bit.

Maybe someone will take it over and turn it into something good one day. I will share your optimism once this is in someone else's hands.

mona said...

Well you go ahead and view this as never happening. I will be enjoying a meal there and you can enjoy a nice pb and j at home.