Biking around Town is written by Josh Nadas (@dcliterate), a daily bike commuter & avid rider who works for the National Park Service, and lives in Mount Pleasant.

This week, I got a suggestion from my friend Greg to ride along the Anacostia river walk. He had run along the river and enjoyed it, so I decided to ride it. I managed to stay on bike trail for just about the entire ride, and for the parts that I wasn’t able to – I modified my GPS map for your benefit. I made a wrong turn and strayed into Virginia, which takes away from the directness of the route, despite the benefit of additional mileage.

I started the ride in Rock Creek Park, and followed the bike path all the way down to Haines Point. From there I did a hot lap around the point, and took my favorite path across to the Fish Market and Water Street. That’s more or less where the Anacostia river walk begins, and you are able to follow signs for the rest of the ride. The final river walk trail is still in development, so this path represents the current detour down by Buzzard point. I had never been there, and was surprised at how industrial that part of DC looks. It was kinda cool to see that part of town, and to ride by the Coast Guard Headquarters, but it’s not exactly picturesque.

Once you get to the Frederick Douglass Bridge, it’s smooth sailing across the bridge and onto the trail. Upon crossing the water, you can blast off up the trail. There were some folks playing and fishing, but it’s a lot less crowded than the trails that follow the Potomac river. The day I rode the weather was spectacular, and I was the only cyclist on the trail when I was out. I followed the trail as far as I could – there is a fantastic looking bridge over the train tracks that is blocked for the time being. The bridge looks really nice, and I am looking forward to it’s official opening. Using the magic of mapping, I went ahead and drew the path as it continues on for a while longer. I rode around to the end and found the paved path ending in a pile of trail work equipment.

Continues after the jump.

If you follow my route, you the only big hill is the bridge, so I would rate this as a relatively easy ride. In addition to the terrain, this route is mostly car free, though you will have to get to the start and leave the finish which almost certainly involves streets with traffic. You could ride here on any bike you like, which is nice and easy. Bikeshare might be a little bit uncomfortable, but after that guy did the DC triathlon on one, this route is easy by comparison. The whole ride one way took me about an hour and fifteen minutes, and was just over 16 miles.

This ride has a lot of potential to merge it with other activities. Because it’s all on bike path, two people with different skill levels could ride together easily. Once you cross the Anacostia river, there is a lot of park space, picnic benches, and places to sit and picnic if you want. There is also ample fishing, so you could ride and cast off from a favorite spot. Check the fishing law in DC – I don’t know if it’s catch and release here, or if you need a license, or what the deal is.

Enjoy the ride, and the spring weather.

Environmental Film Festival: Rock the Boat:

Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum
1901 Fort Place Southeast
Friday, March 22nd, 2013
6:30pm – 7:45pm | FREE!

(2011, USA, 54 min, directed by Thea Lucia Mercouffer) This fun, high-energy, and moving documentary follows the 2008 unlikely tale of a group’s 51-mile boating expedition down the notorious Los Angeles River. The waterway was channelled by the Army Corps of Engineers to prevent flooding in Los Angeles. Hoping to have the Environmental Protection Agency declare it navigable, thus gaining protection under the Clean Water act, local satirical writer George Wolfe led this group to boat down the fenced-in waterway in an absurd act of civil disobedience. Introduced by museum staff Tony Thomas.

See all of tonight’s and the week’s events here.  To add your event, click the events tab up top and then click “add an event”.  You can add concerts, museum/gallery exhibits, fundraisers, sporting events, bike rides etc. You can add anything you think will be of interest to PoPville.

Dear PoPville,

Maddie is an 11-week old puppy who escaped from her foster home in Anacostia yesterday and we’re still searching for her. She is a City Dogs Rescue foster puppy.

Maddie snuck out under her foster family’s backyard fence at 15th and U St SE at 4pm yesterday. She is a sweet puppy, and wouldn’t hurt a fly, but she is most likely pretty scared so nobody should chase her. Her most prominent markings are the white star on her nose and white on her neck and belly. She has a black nylon collar on.

If anyone spots her or hears anything, please call (703)350-9630.

From the Mayor’s office:

Mayor Vincent C. Gray and Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development Victor L. Hoskins, through the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED), officially submitted one site in the District of Columbia for the General Services Administration (GSA) to evaluate in its consideration of a new location for a consolidated Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) headquarters. The site is Poplar Point, located at Anacostia’s border at the nexus of Interstates 295 and 695, in walking distance to public transportation, and convenient to bikers traversing area bike paths.

“In Poplar Point, the District of Columbia offers a prime real-estate location that presents the GSA with an opportunity to recommit to the District – our nation’s capital,” said Mayor Gray. “Here, the federal government has the opportunity build a new facility tailored to the needs of the FBI on an accessible parcel with ample space to meet the federal agency’s square footage, parking, security and sustainability requirements.”

Poplar Point is one of the last great urban waterfront redevelopment opportunities on the East Coast and the only viable District site to meet the new FBI headquarters facility requirements. Bounded by South Capitol Street, I-295 and the 11th Street Bridge, the site is largely unused but contains some National Park Service and U.S. Park Police facilities. Yet, the 110-acre site is a signature District parcel that boasts attractive views, outstanding transportation infrastructure, and a host of nearby urban amenities with its location just minutes from downtown. Additionally, 70 acres at Poplar Point are reserved by the federal government to be maintained as parkland, leaving a total of 40 acres to construct a new FBI headquarters and a private, mixed-use waterfront development.

Continues after the jump

Locating a FBI headquarters in Anacostia would work toward fulfilling a larger District vision to invest in parts of the city east of the Anacostia River. Near the Poplar Point site, a series of public and private investments are currently at work enhancing the area’s economic and cultural opportunities. Major real-estate-development projects include the redevelopment of the St. Elizabeths East and West Campuses; the rebuilding of the Barry Farm public housing site to create a new mixed-income neighborhood; the reconstruction of the 11th Street Bridge with enhanced transit options; and a soon-to-be reconstructed and reconfigured South Capitol Street Bridge.

“Should the FBI vacate the J. Edgar Hoover Building, the federal government presents the District with a once-in-a-generation chance to redevelop a site once home to a major federal government headquarters located in the heart of downtown D.C. and at the center of the roadway connecting the White House and the U.S. Capitol,” said Deputy Mayor Victor L. Hoskins. “As we work to sustain an East of the River renaissance, we ask the GSA to continue partnering with us by building a new FBI headquarters at our spacious and secure Poplar Point location. The District is committed to mixed-use development at the site and showcased in our response an interest in the FBI headquarters locating to a portion of Poplar Point, further allowing the federal government to be a catalyst to adjacent private development.”

In early January, GSA issued a Request for Information (RFI) to obtain responses from parties interested in providing a new headquarters facility for the FBI. In this proposal, GSA cited its willingness to exchange the J. Edgar Hoover Building (JEH) as part of this potential transaction. A redeveloped JEH site on Pennsylvania Avenue NW will allow the District to continue to knit together the downtown core – yielding significant benefits such as the generation of millions annually in property taxes; the potential reintroduction of D Street NW to improve circulation and restore a portion of the L’Enfant-designed street grid; the opportunity to activate the surrounding sidewalk and streetscape through ground-floor restaurants or retail; and the possibility to bring an additional public-serving civic construction downtown.

About Poplar Point

Poplar Point is envisioned to be a home for a variety of different uses including residential, retail, office, entertainment, cultural, park and open spaces. Presently, the site’s location affords easy access to historic Anacostia, the Capitol Riverfront, the Navy Yard, The Yards, the Marine Barracks and the Barracks Row district. This will collectively provide dozens of restaurants, convenience retail, a full-service grocery, a nursery, entertainment and other retail all within one mile of Poplar Point.

Options to reach the location abound, with easy access to Interstates 295, 395 and 695; Metro access via the Anacostia Metro Station, located under 3/4 of a mile away; four new Capital Bikeshare locations at the Congress Heights Metro, Good Hope Road and Minnesota Avenue SE, Alabama Avenue and Malcolm X Avenue SE and W Street and Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue SE; and 20 miles of adjacent riverfront trails for cycling and running – with bicycle and pedestrian facilities that include bike lanes, shared lane marking, bike parking, and Priority Corridors for pedestrians.

In 2006, Congress enacted legislation (Public Law 109-396) directing the United States to transfer Poplar Point to the District. That transfer has not yet occurred. The District proposes that the footprint needed for the new FBI headquarters facility at Poplar Point would be leased to GSA until such time that ownership could revert fully to GSA.

For more details on Poplar Point, please see the correlating DMPED website project page.

On Aug. 27th Uniontown Bar and Grill closed at 2200 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE in Anacostia. At the time WJLA reported:

Late last week, Uniontown Bar & Grill owner Natasha Dasher pleaded guilty to two felonies and may face up to 20 years in prison. According to the Washington Post, she pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute cocaine and a conspiracy charge. Then, on Friday, her landlord evicted her and the restaurant, which was housed at 2200 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE, because Dasher owed $18,000 in back rent.

In the meantime, the closure of Uniontown leaves another hole in a market that has a dearth of sit-down restaurants and is leaving residents lamenting its loss.

Well that hole may be filled by none other than Busboys and Poets. Busboys has two other locations in the city at 14th and V St, NW and 5th and K St, NW (plus one in Shirlington and one in Hyattsville.) I’m hearing rumors that they’d like to open a 5th location in the former Uniontown space. More info as it becomes available.

“Dear PoP,

A pomeranian was stolen from someone’s house in Anacostia by teenagers. could you help us in getting the word out? They could have taken it to any neighborhood.”

“Monday, November 7th, between the hours of 12pm and 2pm, my home was burglarized by 7 African-American teenagers, 6 males and 1 female.

Our home was burglarized of all valuable items. Among them they stole one of our three dogs. We believe we were targeted. It was the second successful attempt at stealing him. The first attempt we prevented less than a month prior.

If you see a teenaged African-American female, about 5’5 to 5’7 in height, with a miniature Pomeranian please call 202-904-0048 to collect the reward. Miniature Pomeranians are rare in Washington DC.

$1500 Reward

Description of Dog:
3.5 lb., Blonde & White, Male, Pomeranian
Please call with any pertinent info.: 202-904-0048″

Back in January Big Chair Coffee opened up in Anacostia (2122 Marthin Luther King Jr Ave SE) to much fan fare. It turns out they’d also like to add some more options and are applying for a liquor license. The application says:

“New restaurant serving American food and coffee with Sidewalk Café. Occupancy load is 52″

Restaurant hours including a sidewalk cafe will be open until 2am.

I wonder if they’ll have an easier time than another coffee shop trying to get an alcohol license?

David Garber is a DC neighborhood blogger and real estate entrepreneur. His mission: help bring back DC’s neighborhoods, one rotting house at a time. You can read David’s previous posts here.

It took seven long months to finish this place, but it’s finally done. For some
reason it’s always the last few things on the renovation checklist that end up
being the most gruelingly difficult to finish. Even though I swore this would
never happen again after it did during my own home renovation, my general
contractor ran off with a couple thousand before finishing the job, so I had to
squeeze out the final touches on my own. With each project I do, I keep
learning that you pay for what you get. If you’re pinching pennies, you have
to be extra careful about the quality of work completed and how the
contractors are managing your money. As much as I don’t enjoy
micromanaging people, it’s a total must – especially on tight-budget projects –
to take charge.

Take the interior paint, for example. Absolutely grueling. Why? Because my
contractor made the assumption that I wanted the entire house the exact same
color. When I agreed to only do one color on the walls as a way to save
money, somehow that translated to painting the ceilings and the trim the same
linen color. To be honest, after countless similar episodes throughout the
project, it was almost a relief when he left the job.

The interior of the house is totally new. Nothing original from its humble c.
1890-1905 birth year remains. So, I chose a dark stain for the red oak floors
because I wanted to give the house a rich, oozing with history feel. Not to be
fake about anything, but to restore some dignity to this home that had it all
stolen away over time. Matte black doorknobs offer a crisp contrast to the
white doors. Crown molding is made of three separate pieces of trim and
makes the transition from wall to ceiling all the more graceful.

Continues after the jump.

The 22 karat gold house numbers in a font created in the first decade of the
20th century give the house presence and legitimacy (expensive but totally
worth it. Monumental Graphics of Hyattsville did the install and this was his
first residential installation east of the Anacostia). It’s these details that really
make the house pop. Would it sell without them? Maybe, but that’s not
always the point.

I found a great mirror for the half bath on Craigslist. After searching high and
low for something in my price range that looked decent, all I was coming up
with was matchy pieces from Lowe’s and Home Depot. Ick. (allow me a gag,
I shop at those places all the time) But, happily, I found a retiree in Takoma
Village (super awesome lady who lived in the co-housing development) who
had bought this windowpane mirror at Eastern Market but was downsizing and
moving to San Francisco. Perfection, I thought, because it was what this house
is all about: old meets new.

Enter my favorite place in the house, the kitchen. Doesn’t it look great? If I
could do it all over again I’d probably make the wall cabinet doors on either
side of the solid wood. I love the glass, as well as the in-cabinet lights, but
people typically like hiding things in their cabinets more than they like
displaying them.

I found the amazing farmhouse table at Miss Pixie’s on 14th Street. I wanted to
have an island-like feature, so opted for a table with handsome pendant lights
overhead. A casual place to sit is always welcome in the kitchen.

I’ve always liked it when bathrooms have unique themes. Nothing cheesy like
Under the Sea or something … but some prefer the “all bathrooms in the house
are one style” approach and that’s just not me. For the upstairs hall bath, I
opted for a custom black and white tile design on the floor (very labor
intensive, as each black hex has to be inserted into the already glued-together
white sheets) and a classic white carrera marble countertop. The faucets,
knobs, and lights all sport white porcelain accents on shiny chrome. It’s a
clean look.

As much as I would have loved to totally stage this house, I’m not sprouting
money (yet), so you’ll have to imagine the complementary shower curtains and
freshly rolled towels. For the master bath I went with a travertine-look
porcelain tile on the floor, with a tumbled travertine accent in the shower.
Mirrors and vanity are dark cherry. I’ll be honest, I think this bathroom would
look better in a different paint color. It comes across as a calm, sort of
sophisticated look, but isn’t the most exciting of combinations. Fortunately
painting is the easiest thing (for the next owner) to do.

So that’s it, folks. Crossing my fingers the right buyer comes along shortly. It’s
been fun meeting the visitors: young couple from Adams Morgan, home-
schooling mom from Woodley Park, young family from Hillcrest, and even a
government contracting firm looking to locate near St. Elizabeths.

This has been one heck of a project but a really rewarding one. Here’s the
Redfin listing.

Thanks so much for reading! Ciao!

Well this is totally wild. Thanks to Carly & Art for uploading this shot to the PoPville flickr pool. They write:

“One of at least three we were able to see. Poplar point, Anacostia River, SE Washington, DC”

I think this tops the hawk.

U Street in January. Hint: stucco is best applied in the warmer months.

As much as I like to keep up the appearance as someone who 100% knows what he’s doing in all renovation matters and has done this and that with houses a thousand times before – this is actually one of the very first times I’ve done this scale of project. Over the past 5 months I’ve been managing about five renovations, and every day at each job I learn about two or three new lessons about who to hire, how to communicate, and which steps to follow to make sure that the final outcome comes fastest and with the most satisfying result. Might sound easy, but the learning part is typically paired with the worst kind of president-going-gray-in-his-first-year frustration. And yet somehow I still love my job.

the Big Blue Bubble, which gave the exterior work some much-needed momentum

Over the past four months the U Street House has evolved into something a lot more livable and likeable than the mess it began as. The snowstorms contributed about a month of downtime due to our forced timeline: the exterior had to be sealed and stuccoed before most of the interior work could begin, and the exterior could only be worked on in temperatures above 40 degrees. Enter the big blue bubble, above, which added a touch of whimsy, but also enough warmth to allow the stucco to dry in sub-par conditions. Post continues after the jump.

annnd stucco and windows done … but still unpainted.

As you can see above, the stucco is complete and the windows are all in. The windows really add to the façade and almost immediately transformed it from something very forlorn to a house that is beginning to look welcoming. Although the specs called for simple one-over-one windows (without any divided windowpanes), I decided to go with a more “historically appropriate” two-over-two. It’s typically more expensive to add divided windowpanes (about $50 per muntin/bar), but I’m a big believer in windowpanes on older houses because, simply, they another level of detail and (warning, opinion to follow) charm.

Another big time-drain for this project was waiting for my third-party inspector to get re-licensed so that I could be approved to close in the walls and really get moving on the interior. At the beginning of the project, there were a few complications with the design that made it necessary to hire a non-DCRA inspector, and after shelling out $400 for the initial inspection felt confident that things would run smoothly. Then he lost his license in DC. After about three weeks of broken promises that the license was “coming in the next few days”, I tweeted a plea for help to @DCRA who, as usual, came through with amazing help almost immediately. Again, lesson learned, and the bright green approval sticker (above) was a sigh of relief. Drywall installation commenced.

Oak floors installed throughout that will eventually be given a medium dark stain

Last week, interior trim (two-piece crown molding on the first floor, window trim) and hardwood floors (everywhere but the upstairs bathrooms, which are tiled) were installed. I think it’s safe to say that the house will be done in the next three weeks.

the first floor, from the kitchen: floors in, trim up, and starting to look snaz.

Interested in purchasing the house? Check out the listing HERE.

[questions or comments – email David at FliptDC@gmail.com]

photos by David Garber