Workmen were on site at the northeast corner of 14th and Q Streets NW this morning. (Kevan Marvasti)
Happy Friday, Borderstanis. Here’s a quick update on some items of interest.
Work starts on French Bistro at 14th and Q NW: Workmen are on site this morning at the former laundry location at the northeast corner of 14th and Q Streets NW. A liquor license application was filed in early January by Parc Deux Restaurant Partners, LLC — owners of the popular spot by the same name on Philadelpia’s Rittenhouse Square. However, the name of the new place is still to be determined, according to owner Stephen Starr in a November article in the Washington Business Journal.
U Street Hotel Update: Lydia DePillis at the City Paper‘s Housing Complex blog is brimming with local development news this morning after attending last night’s U Street Neighborhood Association meeting. The big news is that the planned hotel at 13th and U Streets NW (another JBG Cos. project) appears to be finally moving forward, and that an agreement has been reached with the Rite Aid on a temporary location for that store while work is underway.
However, neighbors in the area, particularly on Wallach Place NW (the street just south of that block of U) have raised objections regarding the height of the planned structure — so there is probably a ways to go before a final plan is developed. Check out a 2009 illustration of the planned hotel development on the U Street Neighborhood website.
Nonstop flights to Los Angeles, San Francisco from Washington National: The Washington Business Journal brings us the good news that you will soon be able to fly nonstop from Washington Reagan National Airport to San Francisco (on United) and Los Angeles (on American). You presently have to schlep to either Dulles or BWI to get a nonstop to either city. Of course, the prices will probably match the convenience of flying out National. Oh, yes, Delta is adding a nonstop from National to Salt Lake City, too. (And thanks to the reader who contacted us noting that Alaska Airlines already has a nonstop to LA from National.)
1601 14th Street NW: The liquor license application describes the proposed operation of a French restaurant. (Matty Rhoades)
From Tom Hay. Questions for Tom? Send him an email. You can follow him on Twitter @Tomonswann.
The on-and-off plans to bring a business to the long vacant “shirt laundry” building at 1601 14th Street NW appear to have taken a significant step forward. Late last month a DC Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration (ABRA) application appeared in the window of the building at the northeast corner of 14th and Q Streets NW. The applicant is listed as Parc Deux Restaurant Partners, LLC.
Details noted on the application describe a 246-seat restaurant serving French cuisine for breakfast, lunch, dinner and brunch. Establishments that wish to serve alcohol have a series of regulatory hoops to jump through with ABRA before being granted a coveted license. There was a hearing scheduled for January 3.
Back in June stories were swirling that a Philadelphia area Starr restaurant group was planning on bringing a French-themed bistro to the prominent storefront in the Logan Circle neighborhood. The licensee listed on the ABRA application is Parc Deux Restaurant Partners but no trade name is listed.
The venue will join a recently revealed Italian restaurant in the Well Built furniture store location. That venture is being operated by Thaddeus Curtz who also runs the Standard, a BBQ and beer garden at 14th and S. Back in 2010 Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema had mentioned that local developer ABDO was planning an Italian restaurant for the shirt laundry space. Those plans never seemed to move forward.
