Is 14th & T Deal for Diner, Comedy Club Dead?
Southwest corner of 14th and T Streets NW. (Photo by Luis Gomez.)
It appears that plans for turning the large building at the southwest corner of 14th and T NW–including a 24-hour diner, theater, yoga center and comedy club –may be dead. Seems a large furntiture retailer has come along and made an offer to the owner. Two accounts of the matter, at Greater Greater Washington and Washington City Paper.
From Greater Greater Washington:
Prospects for the Tryst/Diner/ comedy club /yoga studio/dance company plan for 14th and T, which has become a major campaign issue in 2B09 are looking dim. The City Paper found out that the owners have decided to sell to a big-box furniture store, Room and Board, instead.
The deal isn’t totally done, and some neighborhood activists including 2B09 candidate Doug Rogers are already pushing Room and Board to pull out of the deal (which they have the option to do).
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.
