If you've ever wandered through the alleys south of U Street NW, you may have noticed a large empty lot inside the block between 12th and 13th Street, unkempt and fenced off. It's a shock to find such an expanse of unused space in this increasingly expensive neighborhood. I first thought it must be some [...]
Remember back in February, when it looked like the Municipal Deli was going to be kicked out of its Reeves Center space at 14th and U Street NW for underpayment of rent? Well, owner Fitwi Tekeste caught a break, and is still operating, while the Department of Real Estate Services prepares to issue a solicitation [...]
Most books about places aren’t usually about the place itself, but rather a convenient way to tell a story that’s much larger than mere geography. A new historic of D.C.’s U Street is a perfect example.
Washington's U Street: A Biography, a rare piece of D.C. history not focused on the city’s most powerful inhabitants, chronicles [...]
Despite the criticism they've come under in recent months, the as-yet-unnamed Arts District team has forged ahead with its branding process, presenting four banner concepts yesterday that will be narrowed down to one design and installed on lampposts by the beginning of December.
The designs are the result of a feedback gathering process that, when it's [...]
Welcome to the third installment in our "A Walk With" series, this time with U Street fixture Sandra Butler-Truesdale, whose roles are many and varied.
There are some people in D.C. for whom landscapes have two levels: The current level that they actually inhabit, and a subterranean historical space long covered over.
Sandra Butler-Truesdale, whose family has [...]
Realtors take note: Housing Complex is a sucker for schwag at open houses. So even though I'm not a perfume person, exactly, the promise of "fun fall fragrances" lured me in to the Durant Manor at 1929 16th Street N.W. last week.
Turns out Gerard DiRuggiero, managing member of UrbanLand Company, is something of a fragrance [...]
Dropping large chunks of city money into a neighborhood can be like dropping a bomb: You never quite know where the shrapnel will fly. At least that’s how a D.C.-funded branding project for the ill-defined area known as Midcity has played out.
Andrea Doughty and Carol Felix, stewards of a $200,000 grant from the District’s Neighborhood [...]
The usual suspects took up their shovels this morning to officially begin the restoration of Ledroit Park and Shaw's Howard Theater, which has been falling apart from the inside after decades of disuse. In the audience were dozens of older residents, half of whom raised their hands when Shaw Main Streets president Alex Padro asked [...]
The folks heading up the city-funded neighborhood branding initiative for a region around 14th and U Streets learned last night that getting consensus around the idea of a unified, arts-oriented identity might require some convincing.
In a packed gathering at Busboys and Poets, project leaders Andrea Doughty and Carol Felix ran through their plans to host [...]
Aman Ayoubi thought he was golden. One year and half a million dollars into retrofitting a long-empty building at 14th and U streets for a new restaurant and nightclub, he had a 15-year lease and two liquor licenses in the bag. Permit-wise, he figured the hard part was over.
He was wrong. On April 5, the [...]
