The co-owner of a bakery near the 14th Street corridor said he plans to close the retail portion of his company as part of a “bittersweet” business decision.
BakeHouse, which opened at 1407 T St. NW in 2013, will close its doors to the public after this Sunday, the bakery’s co-owner, Niall Cooper, told us. But the business will stay put to sell its baked goods on a wholesale level, he added.
“We’ve reached the point with our wholesale business where… we had to choose which direction we could focus on,” Cooper said. “The retail is unfortunately a victim of the wholesale’s success.”
BakeHouse currently distributes to Colony Club, Tynan Cofee and Tea, both Pleasant Pops locations and the newly opened Philz stores in Adams Morgan and Navy Yard, among other places across town. Cooper said BakeHouse is also adding “new clients in the District that we’ll be announcing in the next few weeks.”
Still, Cooper said the decision to close the retail side of his business was “bittersweet.”
“We’ve been so lucky to have such amazing customers over the last three years,” he said. “And while we’ll be sad not to get to see them in our store every day, we’re glad that they will still be able to buy BakeHouse goods at coffee shops across D.C. and in Northern Virginia.”
A local business will soon set up shop in the retail storefront of 1407 T St. NW, Cooper said. Though he declined to say which one, Cooper said the business already has one brick-and-mortar location in the D.C. area.
A new Cuban-themed coffee and cocktail hangout is apparently in the works near 14th Street NW.
The cafe and bar is called Colada Shop and is set to open at 1405 T St. NW “early summer 2016,” according to its website. The forthcoming business is described as “a social spot serving coffee, food, cocktails and conversation.”
Police closed a portion of T Street between 14th and 15th streets NW earlier this morning after a tree partially crushed a parked car.
According to an officer on the scene, nobody was injured when the tree fell on the car, a black Ford Focus. The fallen tree also shattered the rear window of a white Honda Odyssey parked nearby.
Crews removed the tree with heavy machinery around noon today, and by 12:15 p.m., the street had been reopened.
From David McAuley. Email him at david[AT]borderstan.com.
Rose Previte addresses the ANC 1B committee on Tuesday. (David McAuley)
Compass Rose, a restaurant aiming to operate at 1346 T Street NW, took an important step toward a liquor license on Tuesday evening, April 2. Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 1B‘s alcohol licensing affairs committee voted 10 to 4 to recommend a committee-drafted settlement agreement with Compass Rose to the full ANC, which serves the U Street area.
An agreement approved by the full ANC would help Compass Rose to plead its case for a liquor license before DC’s Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Board. There was one abstention and one committee member absent.
ANC 1B’s next meeting will be tonight, Thursday, April 4, on the second floor of the Reeves Center, 2000 14th Street NW.
“As we all know, it’s renewal season,” said ABC Committee chair Jeremy Leffler, ANC 1B-02, at the beginning of the meeting. In addition to the Compass Rose settlement agreement, the committee had eight “must to discuss” applications for renewals of liquor licenses on its agenda.
Previte said some of the protesters told her they didn’t want Compass Rose to open, and had attempted to micromanage the business, including dictating what was to be on the menu.
However, owing to the long and contentious nature of the Compass Rose debate, the committee had only considered three before the caretaker of the Thurgood Marshall Center (1816 12th Street NW) said it was 9 p.m. and the building had to close. Leffler had to ask the other committee members to continue the meeting on the sidewalk outside the building.
The second speaker, SDCA Secretary Elwyn Ferris, said the main objection was concerning establishment’s operating hours. “We conceded the maximum hours, but we want them in the agreement,” Ferris said.
The Settlement Agreement
“I skipped work today to go over this line by line,” said committee member Zahra Jilani, ANC 1B-12, referring to the draft settlement agreement she presented to the committee. Jilani listed the details included in the agreement in an attempt to mollify the protesters, including:
- Clean-up must be completed one hour after closing
- No handbills
- Interior soundproofing (“noise is one full page” of the agreement)
- Applicant must consult a noise consultant
- A full menu must be served until midnight
- The installation of surveillance cameras
“We’re desperately trying to be a wonderful part of the community,” said Rose Previte, aspiring co-operator of Compass Rose with her husband, David Greene, at the start of the presentation. Previte said some of the protesters told her they didn’t want Compass Rose to open, and had attempted to micromanage the business, including dictating what was to be on the menu. Previte also mentioned the online petition in support of the liquor license launched at change.org, which has 250 signatures.
“We are residents as well as business owners,” said Previte. Greene later added that the couple plans to live over the business and raise their children there.
There were three groups protesting the application: the Shaw Dupont Citizens Alliance (SDCA), a group of 14 residents, and the owner of the neighboring property. The owner of the neighboring property, which contains the Cafe Saint Ex, did not appear at the meeting, so this protest was not considered.
Protesters Address Committee
The two remaining groups had an opportunity to present to the committee.
“I understand I don’t have the right to choose my neighbors,” said Erling Bailey, representing the group of 14 residents. “A place that sells alcohol affects our quality of life.” Bailey also said he was protesting the license because, during negotiations, the scope of the business changed: the proprietors had first claimed the business was going to be a restaurant, and then said it was a tavern.
The second speaker, SDCA Secretary Elwyn Ferris, said the main objection was concerning establishment’s operating hours. “We conceded the maximum hours, but we want them in the agreement,” Ferris said.
After much discussion, the crux of the problem seemed to be: if the operating hours are stated in the agreement, then licensees must seek written permission every time there is a special reason to keep their establishment open for a longer period, e.g., daylight savings time or Inauguration Day. If the hours are merely those stated by DC law, no additional written permission is necessary if the DC government agrees to extend operating hours for a special occasion. Neither side was willing to budge on this issue.
In the end, the agreement as written by Jilani was passed by the committee with small modifications. A motion by SDCA President Joan Sterling to amend the agreement to specifically state the hours of operations was rejected.
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Crime news from Dupont-Logan-U Street.
The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) is asking for assistance in locating a suspect in an armed robbery Monday morning in an alley off the 1100 block of T Street NW (7 AM Robbery with Gun, 1800 Block 12th Street NW). The robbery, which occurred at about 6:55 am, was caught on a surveillance camera.
In the video, which MPD has posted to YouTube, the suspect can be seen walking on the sidewalk on T Street and then approaching two victims in the alley while holding a small black handgun. He fled from the alley after stealing property from the victims.
He is described as a black male in his mid to late 20s about 5’10” to 6′ tall and weighing approximately 165 pounds. He was last seen wearing a dark ski mask, a gray hoodie, what appears to be a North Face jacket, blue jeans, and dark sneakers with an orange strip along the side.
Anyone with information in the case is asked to contact MPD at 202-727-9099.
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Crime news from Dupont-Logan-U Street.
DC Police reported a robbery with the use of force and violence around 7 pm, Wednesday, January 9, on the 600 block of T Street NW. The two suspects were wearing black ski masks, according to the DC Police Twitter feed and Police Alert.
From DC Police Alerts: “3082 CONFIRMED A Robbery Force & Violence in the 600 Blk of P St NW LOF: 2B/M’s, wearing blk ski-masks DO NOT TAKE ACTION CALL 911 W/EVENT #I20130012731, Sent on: 01/09 19:03”
From the DC Police Twitter feed: “Robbery Force & Violence in the 600 Blk of P St NW LOF: 2B/M’s, wearing blk ski-masks/ 5760”
Police Alerts, More Information
You can sign up for alerts through Alert DC and get alerts by e-mail, cell phone, pager or wireless PDA. When signing up, you can select alerts on crime, transportation, utility outages/issues, government closings, breaking news, DC-sponsored events and Amber Alerts. You can follow the DC Police on Twitter @DCPoliceDept.
You can get more information about crime in the Borderstan area through the MPD listservs for the Second and Third Districts on Yahoo! Groups.
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The work of artist JR at the northwest corner of 14th and T Streets NW. (Laetitia Brock)
From Laetitia Brock. Email her at laetitia[AT]borderstan.com. You can follow her at @FrenchTwistDC and on her own blog, French twist DC.
If you attended the inaugural party launch for Cafe Saint-Ex’s Pass the Peas on Wednesday (the Pass the Peas series is a soul food and music event that takes place on the second Wednesday of each month), you may have noticed a new sight across the street. Over the past two days, French photograffeur “JR” and a team of volunteers from New York and DC took over the façade of an empty building at 1401 T Street NW.
The result? A new black-and-white civil rights-themed mural based on a picture of the Memphis Sanitation Workers’ Strike of 1968 by photographer Ernest Withers.
It’s a rare treat to have JR, a photographer, street artist and activist (or photograffeur, from the mix of the French words for photographer and graffiti) here in the District. Outside of his (and my!) hometown of Paris, he typically works in more “tense” areas, like the slums of Kibera, Kenya, the favellas of Rio de Janeiro or the wall separating the Palestinian territories from Israel.
In fact, JR has only worked twice before in the United States, in New York (he’s keeping an eye on the Williamsburg bridge and the high line) and in Los Angeles. We can thank Lauren Gentile of Contemporary Wing (1412 14th Street NW) for helping bring JR to our town and our little part of the city. Gentile, who had previously been instrumental in bringing Shepard Fairey to our area, pursued the Frenchie after watching and being inspired by his TED Talk online (JR won a TED prize last year). And we’re sure glad she did!
I’m not sure how long the mural will stay up for, but I personally love it.
What do you think?
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A purplish-blue clematis on the 1400-block of T Street NW. (Photo: Luis Gomez.)
This beautiful clematis grows on the 1400-block of T Street NW in Borderstan
Wonder what this is about… from Alert DC: “MPD reports the 1300 block of T Street NW is closed due to police investigation.”
The following message is from Police Service Area (PSA) 208:
During the last 45 days PSA 208 has experienced 17 burglaries. Of these burglaries, ONLY THREE (3) have involved the suspect gaining access to a residence through the rooftop and have occurred in the 1700 block of three streets. They are:
Early details on a shooting that occured late this afternoon. The incident occured in the rear of 1433 T Street NW. which is a large apartment building on the north side of the street. According to MPD Assistant Chief of Police Diane Groomes, “2 males shot in rear of 1433 T St… one drove themself to hospital… the one taken off scene by ambulance has died… no motive yet… still interviewing witnesses.”
Thanks to Groomes and Mark Cater, Acting Commaner for MPD’s 2nd District, for their rapid response to my request for information.
