Roti’s 1747 Pennsylvania Ave, NW location

From a press release:

“The retail momentum continues in NoMa, with the recent signing of Roti Mediterranean Grill at Constitution Square. The 2,386-square-foot space fronts First Street, NE, and sits between Potbelly Sandwich Works, which opened in September, and Tynan Coffee and Tea, an independent coffee shop that opens in November. Roti will open by early 2011.”

For those not familiar with Roti, you can see their menu here.

In other big news they say that the Harris Teeter will open Dec. 7th.


This rental is located at 130 M Street NE:


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The Craigslist ad says:

“GRAND OPENING!!! Now touring, Flats 130 is located in NoMa, a rapidly developing new neighborhood in Washington, D.C., just north of Capitol Hill and Union Station. Named for its location, North of Massachusetts Avenue, the area is quickly becoming the heart of all things exciting and new within the District. As part of Constitution Square, a LEED-ND Gold certified development, Flats 130 boasts an ultra luxurious, walkable lifestyle, giving residents instant access to the Red Line metro at New York Avenue station, a 50,000 square-foot Harris Teeter grocery store, a Hilton Garden Inn hotel, and a menu of fine dining, shopping and nightlife. Whether it’s a coffee shop, a dry cleaner or a bank, you’ll find it all at your fingertips. Once you arrive, you’ll see that life begins at 130.”

Well, since I’ve been featuring the new retail going in at NoMa recently I’ve wondered how much some of these new buildings cost. Dang, it ain’t cheap. Is this the premium for living above the Harris Teeter or the potential of the neighborhood or simply the cost of living in a new building?

The 1 bedroom advertised here is going for $2315.

For those who are looking at new buildings, I’m curious – what are the pros and cons of Mt. Vernon Square vs. NoMa?


Tynan will be located at 1275 First Street, NE. And they say they’ll be opening in 2-3 weeks. Nice. I of course noticed the big sign announcing a happy hour, proclaiming it the best happy hour in NoMa. Just wait till the Harris Teeter opens…

Just out of curiosity – does the Columbia Heights location also serve beer?


Thanks to a few readers for sending word about this development. One says:

“I was walking to work yesterday and noticed that work was being done in the empty retail space located in the Marriott Courtyard Located in the 1300 block of 2nd street N.E. Today they finally put up a sign that indicates a new 7 Eleven is going in. That will be great benefit for the people working such as my self in the area.”

Another writes that it is right near the New York Ave metro stop. Do you like the addition of a 7-11 here? Would you like to see a 7-11 open up in your neighborhood?


“ZESTFEST is a three-week outdoor festival to activate spaces, create new parks, and make the streets of NoMa vibrant and exciting.

Zestfest will bring the NoMa neighborhood to life, celebrating the beautiful outdoors in DC’s autumn season – and focus on enlivening public spaces for use by residents and employees. Join us for Zestfest, a three-week party on the streets of NoMa! Fun unleashed for 3 weeks October 7-23, 2010.”

You can find a full list of events here.


1st St, NE in NoMa is continuing to look good. I’m digging the new landscaping.

And I’m sure the folks who live nearby are psyched to see that the Potbelly’s has opened:


Above is the building that will also house the Harris Teeter located at 1st and M St, NE (same building as the Potbellys).

And on a side note, I couldn’t believe how many new gigantic glass buildings there were on 1 St, NE. And more were going up. It’ll be interesting to see how fast these fill up.

But back to the original question, what do you think about the building in the first photo – thumbs up or down? Or neutral?


All too often we see Coming Soon signs for places that don’t seem to be coming soon *cough* Park Place Cafe *cough*.

What do you think is a reasonable amount of time for when a coming soon place goes up – to expect the place to actually arrive? 6 months? A year?

Props to the Potbelly’s going into NoMa on 1st NE for adding soon-ish to their sign:


Muzette Karaoke is coming to the old Kokopolis spot at 2305 18th St NW in Adams Morgan. A sign recently went up and the entrance is starting to look nice which is promising since it used to look like this but now looks like this:

And in going news:


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“Dear PoP,

I have noticed that the Heidi’s Brooklyn Deli at 1300 2nd St. N.E. has been closed now for about 5 weeks . I originally thought that maybe they were closed for vacation which they have done in the past,But tonight as I was walking by I spoke to a Security Guard for the ATF building where they are located and he said they have gone out of business. Well since the Constitution Cafe opened around the corner 145 N St N.E. their business had slowed to a crawl (Plus the food is a lot better than Heidi’s).”

Will anyone miss Heidi’s?


I know I’ve gone back and forth on whether or not I like glass buildings but I’m digging this one (view looking north from the bridge walking towards H St, NE). I like the building itself, but I especially like how the tracks kinda veers around it. What do you guys think – thumbs up or down?


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