I finally found the sign for the new coffee shop coming to 3407 14th Street. Can’t wait to check it out.
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Columbia Heights
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The flyer says:
“Welcome home to this spacious, sun-filled, 4 level rowhouse w/ high ceilings & rustic pine floors. This large home boasts 4 bed, 2.5 ba on the top 3 floors, basement 4th floor avail. to turn into your own w/ front & back entrance. Great backyard perfect for grilling.”
More details and photos can be found here.
It looks pretty sweet but my question is about this particular block. It sits on a street that has whole apartment buildings boarded up. But the house really is sweet. And it’s a stone’s throw from all the development on 14th Street. So for $659,950 is it a good deal or not?
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It looks like a new trend is coming of bars downstairs from Yoga studios. Of course we have Looking Glass Lounge downstairs from the Yoga House on Georgia Avenue. Well, now there will be “Dave’s Tavern” located below Quiet Mind Yoga on 14th Street in Columbia Heights. The license says that it will be a tavern with food, recorded music with occassional live instruments and DJ. However, there will be no dancing. (Damn this proclamation my dancing can not be contained…) The occupancy will be 50 which I think seems like a good size. The hearing date is Oct. 27th so stay tuned. But from what we’ve learned are you pretty excited about the prospect?
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This spot was found by a reader on Craig’s List. The reader writes:
“I’m not sure whether you only like to post houses/rentals that you see on your walks, but if you’re interested in taking Craigslist submissions, I recently came across what is probably the most incredible (as in wtf) apartment for rent in Columbia Heights:
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/apa/806458278.html
I’m not sure if it’d make a good Good Deal or Not? post because I think the answer is obvious (no), but maybe commenters would have some insight into how the asking price could possibly be so high?”
The spot is located at 1390 Kenyon Street.
The ad says:
“This professionally-designed apartment features dark-stained hardwood floors, grasscloth accent wallcoverings, darkwood cabinets in kitchen and bathrooms, and complimenting granite countertops. Floating wall-mounted cabinetry and an integrated audio-visual system with two flatpanel TVs in living room and master bedroom. Two walk-in closets– one of which has been adapted to a small office ideal for casual work-at-home sessions– can easily be converted back to a closet. ”
So for $5500 – good deal or not?
“I just had the time and opportunity to look through the blogs on your website.To all those followers I just want to reiterate, that I love Mayorga Coffee their brand and quaility far exceeds most coffee shops in this area. Though I’m sad to part from Mayorga Coffee I am excited about our new restaurant/bar. We’ll have a sushi bar downstairs in the 14th Street entrance and still have our Korean menu offerred throughout our space. I’ve seen a tremendous amount of interest for Chinese cuisine and I’m sure I could incorporate several of those dishes in due time. I’m also looking into providing outdoor seating along Park Road, the biggest hurrdle being getting approval from ABRA/DCRA.
As far as events on Friday nights, this is an attempt to bring in guranteed additional sales to our struggling bar business. I hope with the new Asian Bistro we will be able to do well enough and and do away with the parties.
About the rumor concerning Carvel Cinnomon and Mayorga, we sold/leased our coffee and espresso equipment to the owner at Carvel/Cinnabun.
And while we are remodeling our space downstairs I want to extend our happy hour specials all night ($2 off all draft/bottle beers and $4 rail drinks) I just want to thank everyone for their support.”
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Thanks to a reader for tipping me off to the sign. I went to check it out and was able to speak with the owner, Mark. And he confirms it – as of today Mayorga Lounge is no more. Mayorga of course was located at 14th and Park in the Tivoli complex in Columbia Heights. So this is what Mark tells me the future of the space will be: A Sushi restaurant. The new name effective as of today is “Asian Bistro”. He expects the remodeling downstairs to be completed in the next two weeks if all goes well with DCRA. It is actually a bit sad as Mark explained to me how difficult financially this has been. Coffee just wasn’t cutting it so he’s going to give a go with “Asian Bistro”. For the moment the upstairs restaurant is still open and serving it’s new Korean menu. It wasn’t 100% clear if the whole restaurant will be sushi or just the downstairs. But the space will be more integrated. I certainly wish them the best of luck. And hey, Sushi could be cool, yeah?
A reader posted this great article from the Post yesterday. The article is titled “Changes on 14th Street NW Bring Challenges for Mom-and-Pop Shops” and starts:
“One of the Washington area’s oldest Central American commercial strips consists of about a dozen blocks of storefront pupusarías, beauty salons, check-cashing depots and Latin variety stores along 14th Street NW, north of Park Road. Many of these mom-and-pop businesses cater to the neighborhood’s immigrants, but that formula may have to change as the area rapidly gentrifies, business owners in the area say.”
We then learn at the bottom of the article:
“(Marleny Flores) plans to open a cafe called Sweetime Bakery on the bottom floor of her building in the fall. She plans to offer freshly baked Central American goods, Bolivian tea, health shakes and more. By next summer, she hopes to have a full patio up and running, she said.”
I think it sounds amazing, yeah?
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What do you think of the Dance Institute on 14th Street in Columbia Heights? I think it’s pretty badass.
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The Allegro located at 3460 14th street is coming along nicely. You can see some of the red brick starting to go in. It looks pretty good from the alley as well:
We learned a while ago that this project is going to be rentals. So do you think these will rent out pretty quickly? Anyone know what the rent will cost?
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A reader writes: “Have you seen the huge architectural model of the Columbia Heights “public realm” plan for streetscape improvements yet? It’s located inside the lobby of the BB&T Bank inside the Kenyon Square building, just outside the Columbia Heights Metro station. It’s a large model showing all the buildings in central Columbia Heights, with the proposed changes to the streets, sidewalks, and the design of the triangular plaza.”
For some reason the folks at BB&T Bank won’t let anyone take photos of the model. Fortunately, I was able to track down some PDF images that look pretty sweet. I didn’t know that a fountain will be going in! Nice. Anyway if you can’t see the image clearly as click below on “CH Streetscape” for a PDF version. Looks good, yeah?
On a side note, it looks like they put in some more bicycle locking stations:
More images of the planned streetscape after the jump. (more…)