The Dance Institute of Washington's new home will be revealed today in a ribbon cutting ceremony.  Guests will include Mayor Anthony A. Williams, District Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, and Democratic mayoral nominee Adrian Fenty.  The new facility is located on 3400 14th St NW (between Newton and Meridian).

The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) is designing a project in Columbia Heights - about $2 million - targeting services and infrastructure improvements to small  businesses along the main commercial corridors. The delivery mechanism will be Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for delivery of services, targeting mostly, though not exclusively, small businesses.

We have not received any substantial updates on the efforts to bring Whole Foods Market to DC USA for the past several months.  All we know is that negotiations continue.  The same major sticking point remains - the inability to meet Whole Food's demand for dedicated parking.  Drew Greenwald, President of Grid Properties, recently informed us that they have not given up on Whole Foods yet but they do have, "many other exciting retailers that are also looking at the site as well."  Mr. Greenwald did not elaborate any further.

We have received an update on the retail tenants planned for the DC USA site.  According to Drew Greenwald, President of Grid Properties, Marshalls has signed on.  Caribou Coffee will be signing on in place of DC USA.  Greenwald noted that Starbucks "may open across the street."

We received some details on the new bakery set to open at the Park Triangle building this fall.  Kirsten Rosenberg, the co-owner sent us the following information:

I want to introduce Sticky Fingers Bakery to you, as we're the "vegan bakery" alluded to in the recent "Park Triangle Retail Update."

The dry cleaners that will be coming to the Park Triangle apartment building is offering some unique, high tech services.  OXXO Care Cleaners will offer an automated 24/7 ATM-style pickup service.  They will also use environmentally safe solvents.

We have added three new restaurants to our Dining section:  Ruby Tuesday, Morgan's Seafood, and Acuario.  Most of you are familiar with Ruby Tuesday.  It is large national restaurant chain serving American cuisine.  Ruby Tuesday is expected to open at the end of this month in the historic Tivoli Square.

We have just been informed by Chris Donatelli that Donatelli Development, Inc. has just signed a lease with Eatwelldc to bring a new restaurant to the Kenyon Square condominium and retail development.  The new restuarant will likely be named "The Heights" and will occupy a 3,100 square feet at the north end of the Kenyon Square building (14th St and Kenyon St NW).  It will also have 1,600 square feet of outdoor dining space.

Last week there was an interesting Washington Post article about the Park Triangle Apartment development in Columbia Heights, Park Triangle: Urban Bustle With a View.  Of note, the article mentions the types of tenants that will be coming the ground level retail space, "Spaces have been leased to a vegan bakery, a cellphone store, a chicken restaurant, a bank and a credit union, as well as an insurance company. There will also be a dry cleaner with automatic drop off and pick up."

Tivoli Square has experienced a flurry of activity over the past few weeks.  The remaining three retail spaces have all been leased out.  In the past few weeks, the following retail tenants have signed on with Tivoli Square:  the UPS Store, Salon Destiny, and Nash's Sports.

The official DC USA Groundbreaking Ceremony will be held on Friday, May 5th at 11:30AM.  Government officials and community leaders will be in attendance including Mayor Anthony Williams, Council Chair Linda Cropp, and Councilmember Jim Graham.  The lead developers for the DC USA project will also be present.  The community groundbreaking celebration, with food and entertainment, will be held the next day, Saturday, May 6th, 11AM.

Press Release From Councilmember Jim Graham

Washington, DC - The WMATA board has given the green light to extending the Yellow Line to Fort Totten during off-peak periods.

A town hall meeting was held last night to conduct a public discussion on the Allegro condominium development which is slated to be built on the old Giant site (3460 14th St NW).  This event was hosted by Commissioner Calvin Woodland (1A02), Councilmember Jim Graham, and ANC 1A.  The developer and architects for this project were there to provide updates on the project.  Unfortunately, we were unable to attend this event.  However, Elizabeth McIntire, a long-time resident of Columbia Heights, was able to attend.  She posted a detailed synopsis of the meeting to the Columbia Heights listserv:

According to a press release from Councilmember Jim Graham's office, the triangle-shaped public plaza located between Park Rd NW and Kenyon St NW at 14th St NW, known as "Civic Plaza" will receive $1.6 million in funding.  This site has recently been graded and covered with light-colored pebbles.  The Civic Plaza will be designed and developed in accordance to the Columbia Heights Public Realm Plan, which was published on October 2004.

We received an update from Jim Farrell of Madison Retail Group about the retailers that will be coming to Tivoli Square.  Ruby Tuesday is planning to open late this July.  Kudo Beans and Rumberos are also expected to open late July.  Kudo Beans is a cafe and lounge.  It opened its first U.S. location in New York City.  Kudo Beans recently opened a location in Bethesda, MD.  Rumberos is a Latin-American style restaurant which will be brought to you by the owners of Rumba Cafe in Adams Morgan.

The viewing and memorial service for Third District Sergeant Gerard W. Burke Jr. was held on Tuesday, March 28 at St. Patrick Catholic Church.  A full honor guard ceremony followed the service.  The funeral procession went through Columbia Heights and consisted of an entourage of white-gloved officers, a motorcade of patrol cars and motorcycles, and a helicopter flyby.  Police officials also paid tribute to Sgt. Burke by playing an audiotape of his last call to the dispatcher through loudspeakers outside the church.

Message From WMATA:

A major joint development project is underway at the Columbia Heights Metrorail Station in the District of Columbia at 14th and Irving Streets, NW.  This joint development project includes the construction of 250 residential condominium units over the East entrance to the station and the construction of 272 condominium units over the West entrance of the stadium.

A town hall meeting will be held next Wednesday to discuss the future of the old Giant site (3460 14th St NW).  Commissioner Calvin Woodland (1A02), Councilmember Jim Graham, and ANC 1A will be hosting this event.  As we reported last month, Metro Properties will develop the site into condominiums called The Allegro.  As a follow up, the founder of Metro Properties, Jeremy Rubenstein, issued a statement addressing some of the concerns that were expressed by the community over the project.  Now is your chance to publicly express your opinions directly to public officials.

According to a special report by the Washington Post, the 20010 zip code (which includes Columbia Heights and Mt Pleasant) has seen a 63% boost in housing prices in 2005.  This is the largest percentage increase in the District.  The median sales price jumped to $487,000.

The 3rd District Police suffered a heavy loss this week with the passing of one of its most honored officers, Sergeant Gerard W. Burke, Jr.  Sgt. Burke was off duty on Thursday evening when he spotted a Honda Civic on the road that he believed was stolen.  He was driving down Kenyon St NW in his personal vehicle at the time.  He used his cell phone to call 911 and provided his location to the dispatcher.  The audiotape of the 911 call also captured the sounds of Sgt. Burke gasping for air.  Sgt. Burke suffered from a ruptured aorta which was the likely cause of him losing control of his vehicle, striking two parked cars, and colliding with oncoming traffic on the 2800 block of 11th St NW.  Moments later, he was pronounced dead at Washington Hospital Center.

Statement from John Goldman, owner of 3DG, LLC, concerning the residential/retail project on 3400 11th St NW (11th St NW and Park Rd NW):

My name is John Goldman and I own and operate 3DG.  We have every intention of presenting our development plans to the community in advance of the BZA hearing.  Our hearing date is currently scheduled for April 18th.

A 42-year old man was fatally shot in the 1300 block of Randolph St NW in Petworth, just north of Columba Heights.  An armed robber accosted the victim on Sunday afternoon and demanded the pizza that the victim had just picked up from Washington Pizza, a popular neighborhood carryout.  Several people witnessed the incident and came to the aid of the victim.  The gunman was chased by the group into an alley where the victim was shot in the head.

Level 2 Development, LLC will acquire the Nehemiah Shopping Center from Horning Brothers.  Level 2 plans to raze the Columbia Heights strip mall to give way to a brand new residential condominium building with ground-floor retail.

We had a chance to speak with with Drew Greenwald, President of Grid Properties, this past Friday and received some updates on the Whole Foods negotiations.  Grid Properties is the lead developer of the DC USA retail project.  Mr. Greenwald told us that the negotiations are ongoing.  The major hold up continues to be the inability to provide dedicated parking at the DC USA for Whole Foods employees and customers.  The Chairman and CEO of Whole Foods Market, John Mackey, has not granted final approval because of this reason.  Mr. Greenwald suggests that we begin directing our email campaign to Chairman Mackey.

We will begin providing a list of homes that were sold in Columbia Heights each month.  Below is a listing of single family homes that were sold in February 2006.

1447 Clifton NW  $920,000 6
1221 Park Rd NW  $485,000 3
1466 Newton NW  $605,000 6
1340 Oak St NW  $579,500 4
774 Irving St NW  $315,000 2
758 Harvard NW  $504,000 3
3611 14th St NW  $655,000 5
Source:  Crystal Crittenden, Coldwell Banker

We have just recorded the two hundredth individual who has emailed Karen Riley expressing support for bringing Whole Foods Market to Columbia Heights.  This count represents only those individuals who have copied us on their message to Ms. Riley or have written us an email notifying us that they had done so.  When we spoke with Ms. Riley back on February 10th, we were told that she had received over 300 emails.  At the time, we had only accounted for less than half that amount.  So the actual number of individuals who have written to Ms. Riley is probably closer to 400 or more.