Housing Complex's Ruth Samuelson has the scoop, which takes up where we left off.

The phone calls, the e-mails, the anonymous comments on this very blog—they have all been heard, read, and registered by the execs at Room & Board, the furniture store that, despite it all, is still planning to move into 1840 14th St. NW.

But for all of the 'hood's lovers of diners and comedy clubs and local business owners, who are almost certainly not moving into 1840 14th St. NW, Room & Board is making promises. The company promises to be a good neighbor, hire people on salary with good bennies (rather than on commission), and restore the building into the showplace it once was.

In two phone calls, one from a PR rep who did not want to be named and one conference call with that rep, Chief Financial Officer Mark Miller, and Communications Director Jill Linville, the Room & Board folks confirmed they are deep into their D.C. plans and had been looking for the right spot for about two years.

Miller, who has been the most involved in the process, says the company considered sites in Tysons Corner, Rockville, Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Georgetown, and "about 25 other locations," including the old Central Union Mission building at 14th and R, before settling on the former Church of the Rapture at 14th and T.

Places outside of D.C. were quickly ruled out. "We see ourselves as more of an urban retailer than a suburban one," says Miller. "One of the ways we operate is we are not interested in making a big presence about ourselves or to change the flavor of the neighborhood or impose our theme on it. We'll make it fit in within the neighborhood." One draw: Bob Gold + Mitchell Williams, another furniture chain on the higher end of affordable, has a store down the street, at 1526 14th St. NW.

Miller notes that delivery trucks will not be in and out. The 14th and T store will be showroom-only. A separate site will be developed in the 'burbs as a warehouse and delivery hub.

The D.C. store, which will open in 2010, will be the 10th Room & Board, which started in Minneapolis. The ninth store is opening in Atlanta in '09.

Plans for the building/eyesore include restoring it to resemble its former life as a Model T factory and showroom, Miller says. The company hired well-known local architects, Eric Colbert & Associates, to do the job.

Diner/Tryst/Open City owner Constantine Stavropoulos has all but given up the dream on 14th and T, although he notes Room & Board's bid could still fall through. The deal is under a 60-day due-diligence period, which will be up Dec. 21, according to Miller. "There's still a part of me that hopes Room & Board will not come to this location," he says. As reality closes in, people have been calling "every other day" about other spots for the type of restaurant/comedy club/yoga/dance/indie movie combo Stavropoulos and his principal partner, John Xereas of DC-Improv and Riot Act, had planned. "We do have a good team together. If it falls through here, we'll go somewhere else, but I'd still like to see it happen on 14th Street."

He's considered the Central Union Mission building, although he says the owner may have other plans for that spot.

Commenters have beeen tearing it up over at 14th and T: The Good News, Bad News Edition, many of them in support of Diner/Tryst/Open City owner Constantine Stavropoulos and comedy club impresario John Xereas, who had hoped—with the help of Dave Chappelle and others—to develop local businesses inside the former Church of the Reformer. That plan now looks even more like a dream deferred to Minneapolis-based furniture outfit Room & Board.

Blame the "big-box mentality" if you like, but here's what really happened, according to Wayne Dickson, who, as principal partner at Blake Dickson Real Estate Services, represents the owners of the building: "Whoever writes the first check gets the space. That's the beginning and the end of the story....They [the local business owners] didn't have the money and had no assurance they could get the money."

Dickson is not unsympathetic to Stavropoulos and John X. He was the one who helped Stavropoulos move into Woodley Park in what is now Open City. They're friends and he says he has high esteem for both men. But that doesn't mean Four Points, his clients and the owners of the building, are making a bad decision.

"Think of yourself in their position," he says. "They have a building that's been vacant for three years and has a significant debt service every month....You've got this company coming in saying, 'Here is a check' and you've got other interested parties saying, 'Give me 60 to 90 days and let me see if I can get the money.' Let's say you give them 90 days and in the meantime, Room & Board walks. Heads roll over something like that. People lose their jobs."

Stavropoulos and Co. will have to find another space and Dickson says he's happy to help them do that. He has one spot already in mind, the former home of the Central Union Mission at 14th and R. But Stavropoulos has poured a good deal of energy into getting people on board with the project at 14th and T—"He really worked hard. He walked the streets talking to people," says Dickson, who has lived within three blocks of 14th and T for 25 years.

But Room & Board is coming. The chief financial officers is in town today lining things up. He and Dickson met with Councilmember Jack Evans today, partially based on the anti-chain reaction from the neighborhood. Evans' position, according to Dickson, is that government has no part in the sale of the building.

Dickson is quick to defend Room & Board. It's "not some giant big-box store," he says. It has seven stores nationwide, the closest being in SoHo in NYC. "It's going to have a tremendous regional draw to this neighborhood and I think that is a win-win."

The store, he says, will likely open about two years from now. An architect has already been hired.

(City Paper photograph by Pilar Vergara)