Remember when furniture chain Room & Board was definitely coming to D.C. via the demise of the locals' plan to bring a Diner/Tryst/Open City/comedy club/yoga and dance studio to 14th and T? Well, it fell through.

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.

Read More "14th and T: Room & Board Speaks Edition" »

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.

Read More "14th and T: Reality Edition" »

We learned today that Dave Chappelle, yes the Dave Chappelle, has signed on as a potential investor with the Diner/Tryst/comedy club planned for the old Church of the Reformer at 14th and T Streets NW, the development plan we wrote about in July.

The bad news? That plan is close to imploding. Sources close to the deal say that the earlier agreement to lease the space from the current owner fell through. Rather than let their dream die, Diner/Tryst/Open City owner Constantine Stavropoulos and DC-Improv and Riot Act comedy impresario John Xereas, along with a few others---including Chappelle, a Xereas acquaintance who has D.C. roots---worked to get a deal together to buy the building. The bid is in the neighborhood of $9 million. The problem? They're not the only ones interested.

Big-box furniture outfit Room & Board, based in Minneapolis, has also put in a bid for the building, according to a real estate source. Although the bid is said to be close to what the locals have offered to pay, the current owners put their trust in furniture. The Room & Board bid has been accepted, the source said, albeit with a 60-day window where it can be retracted.

Stavropoulos, when contacted to confirm the news, said he could not openly discuss the negotiations, but added that he hoped "Room & Board realizes it's bad business karma to come into a spot where local D.C. businesses have defined a wonderful vision that is shared by local D.C. residents."

"We spent months working on this project, months cultivating neighborhood support and generating excitement for this," he continued. "We have a viable alternative and the financial backing to make it happen. If Room & Board wants to come to D.C., that's great. Just don't step on local businesses' and resident's dreams to do it."

The latest incarnation of his group's plan had the restaurant on the first floor, the comedy club on the second, and an indie movie "microcinema" house on the third, in addition to developing the property next door to 1840 14th St. as a yoga studio and dance space.

Xereas says he's been working on the 14th and T plan for more than six months and, at this point, "we've still got our fingers crossed, we've got everything crossed" that the local plan will prevail.

Room & Board spokesperson John Loer says he is aware that his company was looking to sign a lease in D.C. but referred more detailed questions to Chief Financial Officer Mark Miller, who was unavailable.

(City Paper photograph by Pilar Vergara)