Thai Restaurant Will Open in Mount Pleasant

3162 Mount Pleasant St NW -- Beau Thai will take over the space this year

Big news for Mount Pleasant: The owners of Shaw's Beau Thai restaurant have signed a lease for 3162 Mount Pleasant Street NW. This is the current site of the Mount Pleasant Interim Library.

The city is renovating and expanding the 85+ year old Mount Pleasant Branch Library at 1600 Lamont St NW. That work is scheduled to be finished before summer's end. After the library reopens on Lamont St, 3162 Mt P Street will be made available for Beau Thai. Owners hope to open before the end of 2012. Before becoming the interim library, 3162 (then 3164) was the site of my favorite bodega, Super Save Market.

Beau Thai will join an already eclectic mix of restaurants in the neighborhood including Korean, Salvadorean, Mexican, American, Italian, Guatemalan, and Chinese. The 2012 opening will come just two years after the original location opened at 1700 New Jersey Ave NW. The Mount Pleasant location will serve lunch (yessss) and dinner, include a full bar, deliver to a limited area, and offer "Thai Sunday Brunch." Here's the Facebook page and menu. Looking good for vegetarians, too. 

Great news for the neighborhood.: getting our beautiful library back and a new restaurant as well. Very cool.

Library Moving to Mount Pleasant Street

The Mount Pleasant Branch Library will temporarily move into the space last occupied by Super Save Market. The DC Library system is in the process of renovating and rebuilding libraries all over the city. We're in line for a renovated and expanded library in 2011. In the meantime, the empty retail space at 3164 Mount Pleasant Street NW will serve as the temporary library while the 17 months renovation is being completed. That may very well put the opening of the "new" library sometime mid to late 2011 (although the scheduled time frame is in the spring).

The changes will be major, including an entire addition to the rear of the building,a reconfigured and unified entryway, and new, dedicated children's room. A few renderings of the changes are below. Keep up with the renovation plans on this page: Mount Pleasant Library Construction Update.

Super Save --formerly located at 3164 Mount Pleasant Street-- was my favorite little bodega on the strip. It closed abruptly more than two years ago. Since the closing, the building has sat vacant, but available for rental. Now that space will be activated once again.

The temporary library is being designed and constructed by MCN Build. MCN is a local firm who's linked to some pretty cutting edge design projects such as the Policy an Sweet Green restaurant build outs as well as the nearby Tubman School renovation. So, a least the temp library will look good, although there's no way it won't be a little cramped. I look forward to all the changes and know that it's all for a better (and bigger) permanent Mount Pleasant Branch Library in 2011.

Renderings:

I Miss Super Save Market

I know, I know, its gone for good, but I still miss it. Bestway is not quite as fun. I'll work on finding a replacement... I guess.

Super Save Space for Rent

Add another Mt Pleasant Street property to the available list. The building which most recently housed Super Save is officially for rent. The past few weeks has seen workers in and out of the Super Save space cleaning up and moving out. Fixtures, equipment and even food stuffs remained in the store for months after the closing and only recently have been cleared. Super Save closed after a rent dispute with its landlords earlier this year.

What's your wish for the space? I have no idea at this point. The economy and NIMBY are fairly daunting to a person like me, but then again, I'm not exactly a business entrepreneur. Hopefully someone with a unique plan and some great business ideas will come along sooner than later to fill this space.

Super Save May Be Gone

Super Save, the gem of Mt Pleasant Street bodegas, may be no more. The business has been closed for more than three months, with the owners and landlords tied up in rental dispute. Now, via word of mouth, or rather keyboard, I fear Super Save may never reopen. The owner of the bar and lounge Asylum (18th St in Adams Morgan) recently posted a proposal on the Prince of Petworth forum site. The proposal solicited for investors and partners in a venture to open up a natural foods and "high end" beer and wine establishment on Mt Pleasant Street. While not mentioning any business by name, the message notes that the potential space used to be occupied by a grocery store and had an existing alcohol and wine license; two conditions which point only to Super Save. It appears that Super Save lost the dispute with their landlord and was either forced out of or voluntarily left the space.

This loss would be another serious blow to the established fabric of our main street. Within the last 6 months, the neighborhood has seen the recent burning of an entire apartment building, the closing of three long time business residents on the street (Yoly's, Speedwash, Mt Pleasant Super Market) and now the apparent loss of Super Save. Laundry facilities come and go. As do variety stores. However, groceries and bodegas leave much larger shoes to fill when leaving. The owners usually operate on paper-thin profit margins, but provide one of the most important services for a neighborhood. Thriving communities have convenient places to shop for basic food items. Some can get by on Safeway, Giant and Harris Teeter, but locally owned small shops with diverse food choices make our neighborhood what it is, and I'm sad to see that slipping away. I do support the idea of an actual natural foods store on Mt P Street, and I think the wine/beer store could have success there as well. I just wish it didn't have to come a the expense of such a great market.

Super Save

First Yoly's, now Super Save. The popular bodega (my personal favorite) on Mount Pleasant Street has been closed since the new year. I naively thought the owners were taking an extended winter vacation, or observing a special holiday. No such luck. They're involved in a rent dispute with the owners of the property, Alexander Realty. Super Save's owners are being summoned to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, Landlord and Tenant Branch, to work out the dispute. The court summons posted on the front of the property alleges non payment of January 2008 rent totaling $9,030. In addition, there is an outstanding real estate tax levied of $4,938. Add in court fees and the total disputed amount listed on the document is $14,419. That's not a small amount. The court case will be beard on February 19, 2008. The 42 Bus wishes good luck upon the business owners and wishes that Alexander Realty see the value in having such a business in that space. Hopefully Super Save will be up and running soon.