i'm intrigued by this space

its on the market

Personally, i'd love to use it as a studio space, maybe do sculpture workshops or painting workshops out of there. but it'd also make a rockin bar or restaurant space.

given the spaces nearby, it seems inevitable that this block will become more active commercially. bloomingdale liquors, the yoga place, maybe baraki, dc minimart, the empty and rather large space directly across the street. could be a lot going on.

Old Firehouse for Sale- updated.

ec-12. nope.
martini 2020. nope.

but now its for sale


1626 North Capitol Street NW, Washington DC 20002
Map
$1,500,000

Incredible space! Approx 12,000+ sq ft. This was once the old fire house. Total renovation needed. The first floor is restricted for RESTAURANT use only! All plat, plans, drawings convey with this property. Please call for appt.


i did see a new sign on the old savemore grocery store.
i guess that might be opening soon.

From the eckington yahoo group:
I would like to give the neighborhood an update on the Firehouse restaurant project. Since many people joined this list midstream I will backtrack a little so everyone is on the same page.



Several years ago Nextgen Development was awarded the Firehouse via RFP where we were to be the developer and Mike Benson (operator of St Ex bar and café) would be the operator. Near the end of a year planning stage Mike Benson and his partners dropped out for personal reasons. Over the next 14 Months we met with approximate 20+ qualified operators and while there was interest from many operators, most were frankly afraid to take the chance of opening a restaurant in an untested neighborhood. Near the end of the 14 months we met Twyla Garett of Martini 2020 who upon looking at the site and the neighborhood potential rapidly moved forward to commit to the project. Nextgen proceeded to complete the acquisition and moved forward on the project. Unfortunately for Nextgen Twyla signed that agreement just as the financial mess hit nationwide. As a result four or five months after she signed the agreement the financing she had lined up disappeared and she defaulted on her agreement.



In spite of that default Nextgen made the decision to move forward on the project while we looked for a new operator. We committed to spending between $500,000 and $750,000 of our own funds while we searched for a new operator. (Note: this does not include the $100,000 in interest payments we have made to date while we carry this project) The work performed to date on the site is as follows:



95% completion of the exterior building restoration.

We addressed some environmental issues we became aware of

We completed 90% of the non-structural demo required for the project

We spent $250+k completing the architectural and structural plans.

We initiated structural stabilization of the building

Bid out most aspects of the critical systems so we could move quickly when we find the right operator.



During the time we were doing the above work we have continued to search for operators. While we have gotten close to signing a new operator over 7 times, each time something would surface near the completion of the deal that undid it. I will share two such situations here. One operator we found was in a financial cash position to move forward however one of the conditions they were looking for some nominal help from the city for their first 5 years of operation to make their numbers work.. Unfortunately while we had every indication from the city that this would happen (including legislation being introduced to that effect) however the deteriorating local economy killed the city’s ability to deliver that help in fiscal 2008 and that deal died. Subsequent to that opportunity collapsing we signed a letter of intent with another operator, and started working through the operating agreement, however 1 week after we signed that agreement their financing partner collapsed. (Their financing partner was Lehman Brothers)



During the time we have been have been marketing the space we have gotten a number of operators that expressed interest only if they could purchase the building as part of the transaction. In the past we declined to consider that because we wanted to make sure that we could fulfill our commitment to the community of delivering a restaurant on the first level of the building.



After discussion with several bankers regarding how restaurants are currently being financed we have come to realize that in today’s financial instability that the only likely way that a restaurant will get financing on this type project is if they use the building as collateral to complete the build out. While this was not true in the past the problems banks are having has resulted in it being nearly impossible for any other option.



To that end we have changed our marketing strategy to bring this project to market. Shortly you will see a lease/sale sign appear on the building. This is also being placed in Co-star, Loop net as well as the MLS as a sale/lease. The hope is to bring in an operator that previously might have rejected it because they could not lock in their costs by purchasing part or majority ownership of the project at the time they build-out the restaurant. It may be that we may just become general contractor on this project. Our intent is to still to find a way in spite of the financial environment to try to move this project forward. We are trying to think outside the box to keep this process moving. We have also reached out to the Council members’ office for advice/options also. Thank you for your understanding and patience.



Brian Brown

Open Houses in and around Bloomingdale this week and more!

'Tis the weekend before Christmas, so the Open House list is short, but here it is.

Here's the "and more":
There are numerous signs on vacant properties around the city, with several in the immediate area, announcing the January 30th, 2009 auction of more than 30 properties. Here's what is currently on the list. I will post more information as it becomes available.

1322-1330 North Capitol Street NW will be Razed

the Bloomingdale (for now) blog wrote about the buildings here.


Look at this post about what will replace them
did you guess condos before you clicked? me too.

Thoron Development’s Dunbar Place, a five-story 29 unit condominium building will fill the space.

Artomatic 2008 Opening Night!

Artomatic opens Friday night

Noon- 2 AM!


This is the biggest art event DC has to offer and really shouldn't be missed.



10 Floors of Art, Music, Poetry, Film, Theatre!
Big Bear Cafe will have a cafe set up. Red Bull and Flying Fish Brewery will have a bar.

Seriously, if you enjoy art and community, come to this event. you will in all likelihood need to come a few times in order to see it all.


Friday, May 9 – Sunday, June 15, 2008

Wednesday 5 pm – 10 pm
Thursday 5 pm – 10 pm
Friday noon – 2 am
Saturday noon – 2 am
Sunday noon – 10 pm
Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays

May 9 – June 15, 2008
Capitol Plaza I
1200 First Street, NE
(corner of First and M Streets NE)
Washington, DC 20002
Metro: Red Line, New York Ave., M St exit

My work is on the 7th Floor. When you get off the elevator, turn toward the metro station. you'll see my brand new never before seen concrete and glass panels and new concrete installation!

what could be more fun!

If you are also a neighbor and exhibiting at this event, please mention where your work is in the comment section!

more talk about the firehouse..you know.. the martini sushi pizza tapas waterslide place.

a developers agent vlogs about the firehouse on north capitol

old engine company 12 to become 2020 Martini

The city last month finalized the sale of Old Engine Co. 12 at 1626 N. Capitol St. to Brian Brown, managing partner of NC Firehouse LLC, which is led by his company, NextGen Development. Brown purchased the building for $600,000, the value at which the city assessed it, and plans to put another $2.4 million into renovations.

The three-story, 10,000-square-foot space will become home of 2020 Martini at Engine Co. 12, a restaurant concept by Twyla Garrett of Cleveland-based Garrett Entertainment Corp.





full article here
Washington Business Journal - by Gillian Gaynair Staff Reporter



other highlights include:

-XM radio is in on the deal and will be doing live broadcastings from the location
-Twyla Garrett of Cleveland-based Garrett Entertainment Corp will be the developer
-the will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner
-first floor will serve brick-oven pizzas.
-a small pasta bar and a sushi bar.
-2nd floor will have live music performances
-third floor will have an espresso bar
-a rooftop deck will offer tapas.
-Harry Thomas introduced a bill seeking 10 years of property tax relief for NC Firehouse LLC

here is the website for 2020 Martini in Columbus, Ohio, owned by Twyla Garrett
warning: music starts playing when the page loads.

apparently work has already started on the building.......

here was my first post about the firehouse

the obligatory negativity about the project can be found here.

a big day for open houses in the hood.

1738 North Capitol St. NW open 1-4
Listed at $465,000, this 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath Victorian is recently renovated, has hardwood floors, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, a fireplace, an in-law suite and much more. Come check it out!

2625 3rd St. NE, the Edgewood Condominiums are also open 1-4 p.m. Nine units remain. Priced at $148,000-$228,000, these beautiful one bedrooms are great for the first time home buyer. Special financing available too. Remember this is a great time to buy, interest rates are low, inventory is good and buyers have more opportunities especially with the new FHA funding changes. Please call me for more information.
Thanks for your interest.

and a bunch more here

art spaces and developers in brooklyn

one can easily say that brooklyn, is a much hotter real estate market and a more dynamic area than DC. Sure Brooklyn is way bigger than DC and part of one of the larges economic city-states in the world, so that type of market is expected.

Whats not expected is that artists can find studios at $6.82 per square foot a year.
$6.82!!!! thats amazing. i had moved my studio out to Mount Rainier, Maryland for the allure of 10.00.

Last i checked that ground floor store front at 3rd and Rhode Island was going for 30-ish.
The difference is staggering.

So why did i bring up brooklyn and this rent? read here to see why these artists are getting that deal
.
Imagine a developer in DC savvy enough to pull that off. Imagine people with means that truly embrave the Arts as Catalyst model.

a collection of posts about LeDroit Park, Bloomingdale and Shaw on a real estate site, On The Radar

Artomatic in NoMa!

For immediate release

NoMa BID media contact: Artomatic media contact:

Leslie Braunstein Marina Reiter

703-234-7762 202-271-4748

info@lhbcommunications.com reiter.marina@gmail.com

Artomatic Comes to NoMa May 9–June 15, 2008

Up to 800 artists and 50,000 visitors expected in
D.C.’s most exciting new neighborhood

The NoMa (north of Massachusetts Avenue) Business Improvement District (BID) will host this year’s Artomatic, the Washington, D.C. area’s homegrown art extravaganza. From May 9 through June 15, 2008, up to 800 local and regional artists will exhibit their works on eight floors of the Capitol Plaza 1 building, located at 1st and M Streets, N.E., just one block from the New York Avenue Metro station.

Held regularly since 1999, Artomatic transforms an unfinished indoor space into an exciting and incredibly diverse arts event that is free and open to the public. In addition to displays and sales by hundreds of artists, the event features free musical, dance, and theater performances; holiday celebrations; films; educational presentations; and much more.

This year’s Artomatic, occupying 200,000 square feet at Capitol Plaza 1, will be the largest to date. Designed by renowned architect Shalom Baranes and owned by an affiliate of The Polinger Company, Capitol Plaza 1 offers 293,000 rentable square feet of Class A office space, with dramatic Capitol and city views from the upper floors.

“We are thrilled to partner with Artomatic in an event that will bring tens of thousands of people to NoMa,” said Elizabeth Price, president of the NoMa BID. “It is a great opportunity to showcase the transformation that is underway in NoMa and infuse it with the energy and creativity of the artistic community.”

"Artomatic has come back to its roots in D.C. with our largest event ever,” said George Koch, Chair of Artomatic. “We are excited about our partnership with the NoMa BID and their help in bringing this new space to our attention. Artomatic 2008 will have an abundance of exhibit and performance space that will be open to all — from recognized artists to undiscovered talents.”

Registration for artists and performers who wish to participate in Artomatic will be open soon. To stay up to date on the event details and schedule, visit www.artomatic.org and sign up to receive the Artomatic newsletter.

###

About the NoMa BID:

NoMa is an emerging mixed-use neighborhood north of the U.S. Capitol and Union Station in Washington, D.C. Private developers have invested almost
$2 billion in 2007–2008 alone, with plans to develop more than 20 million square feet of office, residential, hotel, and retail space in the 35-block area covered by the NoMa BID over the next 10 years. For more information about the BID, including an interactive development map, see the BID Web site at www.nomabid.org.

About Artomatic:

Artomatic is a creative community that collaborates to produce and present a free arts spectacular. Participation is open to all, from recognized artists to undiscovered talents, who work in a variety of arts forms. In partnership with the development community, Artomatic transforms unused building space into a playground for expression, serves as a catalyst for community growth in up-and-coming neighborhoods, and helps to grow our creative economy. The nonprofit Artomatic organization is headed by a volunteer Board of Directors and is funded in part by the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, an agency supported by the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information, visit www.artomatic.org.

harris teeter in NoMa

you know, every time i go to the Giant at Brentwood Shopping Center i vow to never go there again.

i like cooking a lot and i like shopping for food. i go to lots of different places and am not really a big fan "one stop shopping". i try to go to area farmers markets, the florida avenue markets, trader joes, grand mart, shoppers, safeway, whole foods, even costco, glut, a couple of the indian markets in langley park, timor bodega, etc.. i hit them all. but really i only go to the giant when i'm already picking up stuff from home depot, or if i need something quickly, because its the most convenient grocery store to my house.

But at the end of 2010 i wont have to make my convenient runs to giant anymore. i'll have a new grocery store thats closer that i can complain about:

Harris Teeter. will be opening a store at First and M NE.






hopefully it wont be as expensive as the ones i've been to in virginia. ; )

any way check out the great renderings of Constitution Square here
and the official announcement on the NoMa BID site

this is the lot in this picture

Meet Bloomingdale!

Ever wonder what it would take to change the direction of North Capital Street? Specifically the area between Rhode Island Avenue and New York Avenue. In the past few weeks I have found neighbors with an interest/curiosity about how we, as Bloomingdale neighbors, can help North Capital Street regain it’s footing as a great street. Imagine, the power of a group of neighbors to buy one vacant building on North Capital Street. Daunting and exciting.

Let’s meet.

My agenda is to meet you. ....and,

• Talk about what is needed to form an LLC. How is an LLC different/better than a 503c. Is there a better option?


• How would we start? Would we have an initial investment amount per person? $1000, $10,000. More, less?
  


• Do we organize the seed money first, and then find the property....that seems to make sense.


• What is our mission? Is it solely to clean up North Capital? Is it to entice more businesses? Is it to make money? Are we only considering those buildings for sale, or do we approach other businesses....would SAVEMORE be interested in a new facade? Would that be something we would want to think about.
  

So let’s meet Bloomingdale! Tuesday, March 25th, 7:00pm at Nellie’s Sports Bar (9th and U Street). Please email me if you would like to be included: Karen_and_Howard at verizon dot net.

Think. Think. Think about it.

Washington Flower Center, Eckington

Info from Cassidy and Pinkard


Summary

For sale is the Washington Flower Center, a 52,740 square foot industrial/flex building constructed in 1987 and currently occupied by a group of wholesale florists. The building sits on a 1.9 acre development site and is located in Washington, DC’s most exciting submarket, NoMa (North of Massachusetts). The site is currently zoned M with a 6.0 FAR, which allows matter-of-right use as office, industrial or hotel. Through the Planned Unit Development (PUD) process, an owner is likely to achieve C-3-C zoning, providing for an FAR of 6.5, or as much as 538,616 square feet of development.

With three hotels, a grocery store and approximately two million square feet of office development delivering by 2010, NoMa is quickly becoming the area’s preferred mixed-use neighborhood. Union Station, only one Metro stop from the site, abounds with retail and dining options, and extensive retail is planned along 1st Street, NE, the primary commercial corridor of the submarket. The area’s growing commercial base also will support residential development, and Trammell Crow Residential is currently in the planning stages for a 650-unit rental project adjacent to the Washington Flower Center site. NoMa’s future is a “24-hour” mixed-use environment, and Washington Flower Center is well-positioned to capitalize on this dynamic transformation.

Size
52,740 square foot industrial/flex building located on 1.9 acres (82,864 square feet)

Location
Located in Washington, DC’s dynamic NoMa submarket, the property is only a five minute walk from the New York Avenue Metro Station, part of Metrorail’s Red Line, the most heavily traveled in the Washington, DC region. The site enjoys convenient access to major arteries including 1st Street, NE, New York Avenue (Route 50), Florida Avenue, North Capitol Street and I-395. The site is also proximate to the Metropolitan Branch Trail which, along with the New York Avenue Metro station, will encourage pedestrian and commuter access to and from the site.

Market
NoMa submarket of Northeast Washington, DC

Open Houses.

Here is a list of open houses in the neighborhood today.

luciana cafe

See Kris Hammonds Post about a new restaurant on North Capitol.

EC-12: Is there a restaurateur in the house?

Here is a sad and frustrating message from Konrad Schlater, Special Assistant in the
Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development

All:

We had hoped to close on the sale of the fire station to NextGen Development by the end of the 2007. Unfortunately, due to lack of performance by the developer under our sale contract we did not proceed to closing on the sale as planned.

The developer has been spending a lot of time, money, and effort to push this project forward. However, the developer has failed to execute an agreement and lease with a restaurant operator - a necessary pre-condition for our sale of the building. As you may know, the original proposed operator, Mike Benson, moved back to North Carolina and abandoned the project a little over a year ago leaving the developer without a restaurant operator. Over the past two months, NextGen has been in serious negotiations with Twyla Garrett of IME Services, an LSDBE firm headquartered on North Capitol Street, to act as the restaurant operator. Ms. Garrett is just now preparing to open a restaurant with a very similar restaurant concept in Cleveland, Ohio. I have spoken with IME Services and they are very serious about this project.

Due to NextGen's failure to meet their commitments to the District under the sales contract, we have notified them that they are in default of our contract. The developer has 30 days to cure its default under the agreement. If the developer is not prepared to close on the sale, the District will have the option to terminate the agreement, restructure the terms, or find an alternative solution. It is our sincere hope that we can proceed to closing on the sale with the developer shortly. Brian Brown of NextGen Development has already completed designs for the project, obtained permits for the exterior work on the building, and lined up the necessary financing - and we are tantalizingly close to starting construction work on the firehouse. A deal between NextGen Development and IME Services represents the best hope for a prompt and successful development of the firehouse.

I can assure you that the Deputy Mayor's office along with Councilmember Thomas and his staff have been giving this project close attention and we will not take our eye off the ultimate goal, which is removing the blight of the abandoned building and replacing it with high quality neighborhood-serving retail.

I'd be happy to provide ANC5C with an update any time. Please give me a call if you have any questions about this email or the project generally.

Thanks,

Konrad Schlater
Special Assistant
Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development
(w) 202-727-6934

rumors of north capitol

posted on the eckington listserve was mention of Luciana Cafe coming to the corner of North Capitol and P NW.
i remember reading about "J. Bells" which was supposed to open in the very same spot quite a while ago.

so, we'll see.


Anyone been in the video store yet?

north cap and florida

Urban metro diary has got a story about the proposed development of the vacant lot at the intersection of North capitol and florida avenue nw.

look here.

howard town center

everything is a center, huh?


look here for info about the "center" thats going in at georgia and v street.



"center of the universe"
by Roger Cutler