Monroe St Market : Big Addition to Edgewood & Brookland

East face of Brookland Works apartment building.

Monroe Street Market is a development of retail, residential, and arts spaces located on the border between  the Edgewood and Brookland neighborhoods. The main part of the development consists of four multi-unit apartment buildings constructed just west of the Brookland Red Line Metro station. The apartments are well and good, but the most exciting parts are the first floor retail spaces and "Arts Walk" studio components. 

On the retail/restaurant side, the major additions open to date are Barnes & Noble Bookstore (as the official CUA bookstore), &pizza, and Potbelly Sandwich Shop. On the way are Busboys & Poets, Brookland Pint (same owners as Meridian Pint), and Filter Coffee Shop. There's also a farmers market at Arts Walk on Saturdays 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM

The Arts Walk features 27 studio work and presentation spaces for artists of all types. There are studios featuring painters, printmakers, clothiers, woodworkers, photographers; it's a neat mix. The spaces are cozy, ranging from 300 square feet to 625 square feet; although many have magnificently high ceilings and cool roll-up garage doors. 

When I visited last weekend I stopped in a studio that was hosting open hours, the American Poetry Museum's Gallery and Reading Room (Studio 25). I had a chance to chat with the executive director who has a really positive outlook about the concept a new creative district in Brookland. For its part, the Museum conducts writing workshops and hosts readings onsite and also travels to schools to take its educational programming directly to students. They also feature multi-media art exhibitions in the Gallery Room.

The best part about the Museum and other studios on the Art Walk is that they are located about 100 feet from an entrance to the Brookland Metro station. Hopefully that will eventually translate to more visitors from outside of the immediate neighborhood. The Monroe Street Market buildings are located on the 600 and 700 blocks of Monroe St NE; between Michigan Ave and the the Brookland Metro Station. Aside from Metro, the development can be reached from Mount Pleasant via H2/H4/H8 buses or a mostly flat bike ride.

Retail spaces are mostly empty to date, but Busboys has singed on.

Typical studio frontage.

American Poetry Museum has open hours on the weekend.

Arts Walk is located on the ground level between the Brookland Works buildings.

Crafty Bastards Returns to Union Market

Photo courtesy of Crafty Bastards

Crafty Bastards is back! This is the 10th iteration of the Washington City Paper backed arts & crafts fair. It's one of the District's best fall events. The fair is still going strong after outgrowing the Marie Reed site on 18th Street in Adams Morgan. It is now a two-day event, happening on Saturday and Sunday September 28-29, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM each day. The site is Union Market; 1309 5th St NE, between Florida and New York Avenues. It costs $5 per day. 

There is usually an eclectic mix of product, from colorful handmade scarves, to quirky jewelry, screen printed posters, whimsical baby onesies, and decoupaged (insert unexpected household item here). The vendors get better every year as the organizers always try to add a few new high quality participants. The crafters are from all over the U.S., with the 2013 crop from places like Chicago, Denver, North Carolina, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Oregon and elsewhere. Still, the locals are in the house with sellers like Mount Pleasant's Nana Clothing representing the District. 

See you there! I'll be there on Sunday, as another great event is happening that Saturday, VegFest DC!!! Cool weekend.

Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

Crafty Bastards is Saturday, in New Location

After this busy, busy week in DC, the weekend kicks off Saturday with an old festival on a new date, and at a new venue. After years of hosting Crafty Bastards at Adams Morgan's Marie Reed school, the Washington City Paper is moving the indie arts event to Union Market in Northeast DC.

Crafty Bastards will feature over 140 vendors with textiles, hand-bound books, jewelry, screened t-shirts, photography, clothing accessories, stationary and much more. Unlike previous years, there will be a $5 charge to shop and peruse the creative wares from crafters from all over the East Coast. The festival will be held outside, in the parking lot just across Neal Street NE from the Union Market building (between 5th and 6th Sts) . Haven't been to Union Market yet? Not to worry; there are several transit options. Even better, the weather is forecast to cooperate: a sunny high of 62 degrees.

Crafty Bastards opens at 10:00AM this Saturday and ends at 5:00PM. (2 for 1 admission if you purchase online by Friday.)

Oh yeah: Happy Election Day!!!!

Out and About: North of Massachusetts, Part II

Part I, from yesterday. Part II, from today:

Retail is often the most visible measure of vitality (if not the most accurate) of a mixed use neighborhood. Residential can be hidden or low key, office space only shows itself during the daylight hours and nite life spots are often dark on weekdays and even some weeknights. But retail is pretty easy to eyeball. Either it's there or it's not.

The retail collection in NoMa is eclectic, but fitting for an area with more workers than residents. TD Bank, Potbelly, and Tynan Coffee & Tea recently opened. A small strip of retail including Five Guys and Pound Coffee is located across from the Holiday Inn Marriot Courtyard. These are all retail options that can serve residents and tourists, but also feed a growing office worker contingent. 1,900 DOJ workers just moved in and 1,400 GSA employees are moving in as we speak.

Harris Teeter is opening a grocery this week, a CVS is opening in January and NoMa's first white tablecloth sit down restaurant is scheduled to open in April inside the new Hilton Hotel. That is a lightening fast opening schedule for the next six months. I guess I wonder who will patronize the businesses until a critical mass of residents move in. There are obviously residential areas right across North Capitol St, NY Ave and the other side of the rail tracks, but at what point is it worth actually coming into NoMa for those residents. Potbelly probably won't do it, but perhaps having Harris Teeter as an anchor will help bring nearby residents to the area and the other businesses (Tynan, TD Bank, Pound) will start get regular use from non-office workers. And Walmart --still unbelievably-- has very early plans for 801 New Jersey Ave NW. For all the new construction though, there has to be more than Potbelly's, CVS and a few dry cleaners in order for NoMa to be considered a destination.

I hope there are places that normal people can live in this neighborhood. The limited new residential projects price out anyone in my salary range and probably the next tax bracket up, too. Really a shame. I guess that's my real hope for this neighborhood. That it can be unique as a tightly knit, very planned, vibrant community, but also that it can be a place that will create options for more than just the wealthy. More on NoMa as it develops, on paper and on the ground. And more photos!

Constitution Square

ATF HQ and NY Ave Metro

Public seating; a nice touch

Looking north on 1st St NE

Office with retail, future Hilton on the right

Archstone's 469 unit apartment building underway

Future NPR site

Constitution Square

Out and About: North of Massachusetts

 NoMa --or North of Massachusetts Avenue-- is what can best be described as a fledgling, but ambitious, engineered, mixed-use neighborhood. The typical Washington anchor is there (government offices filled with employees). The transportation is there (Metro, bike share, Amtrak, bus station). Even the retail is coming along (grocery store, coffee shop, bank). Add to that mix a hotel, new residential and built-in nite life spots, and you're on the way to a real live neighborhood, right?

I visited last week. To me the neighborhood is dressed for prom --well dressed-- but still waiting for its date who has yet to show. The set up is quite nice. The boundaries are generally Mass Ave, North Capitol St NE, New York Ave NE and 3rd St NE. The official BID lines expand a little further. (NoMa BID is one of the driving forces working to shape and market the neighborhood). Essentially, the neighborhood is adjacent to Capitol Hill. You can see and walk to the Capitol Building and Senate office buildings without breaking a sweat. And the rail yard and tracks are all that separate NoMa from the greater Capitol Hill neighborhood and H Street NE/Atlas District.

There are two Metro stations; New York Ave and Union Station, both on the Red Line. Union Station is the southern anchor. The beaux arts temple to transit looks stately, especially next to the equally beautiful National Postal Museum and Bureau of Labor and Statistics. There is an established, if slightly less beautiful, office complex built just north of Union Station and it is fairly developed. CNN, CareFirst, Community College of the District of Columbia are a few of the larger tenants.

But just north of K Street, construction cranes dominates the landscape. New buildings are rising in between older structures and more recent ones. Former industrial and warehouse buildings are being re-adapted or torn down to make way for newcomers (NPR's new HQ for example). Seeing this part of the neighborhood makes me inclined to keep tabs and actually want to see how it all turns out...

I took a few photos, and here is the first batch. More thoughts and photos tomorrow.

Opening this week

Bikeshare, bike parking, Metro trains in the background

Hotel next to NY Ave Metro station

Coffee and French fries; Vice City

Older office park near Union Station

1st St NE twists and turns next to rail yard

DC Home to Target, Costo and Walmart?

The District's first major big box discount retailer opened in 2008 just blocks from Mount Pleasant. Target is the anchor of Columbia Height's DCUSA development. Any questions about being profitable in an urban location were answered quickly. It has been busy daily from day one. Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, Marshalls and Staples are other big box national chains operating in DCUSA.

Now Walmart is attempting to get into the mix. Only six months after news of Costo's plans to open in DC, Walmart may very well join them in Northeast. The world's largest retailer is banking on several perceived advantages in attempting to penetrate the urban market in cities like DC, Boston and Chicago. 1)They're following Target and Costo. 2)They'll play up the "creating jobs" factor. 3)They'll argue that residents in cities like DC are undeserved, especially regarding full service groceries. The location would be an 11 acre parcel on a triangle shaped piece of land bound by Montana Ave NE, New York Ave NE and Bladensburg Rd. Google map of the site is below.

Will Walmart have to concede the Superstore model and settle for a smaller store in DC? The Target store in Columbia Heights is 180,000 square feet, which is actually larger than the average. However the DC store is two floors. The average Walmart Supercenter store is 185,000 sq feet, but almost always on one floor, and almost always accompanied by a large parking lot. The NE store would be one floor and include parking.

Of course the big questions will be the result of community wants, needs and input. Who wants it, who doesn't and who's indifferent. And will the city be as financially involved as they are with DCUSA?: essentially building and operating the parking facilities for the mall, making road and landscape improvements and brokering deals to get specific desired retailers to join the shopping center. Very interesting development for the city and Walmart. The outcome will certainly set precedent for both entities.

Proposed site:

View Larger Map

Photos: H Street Festival

H Street NE/Atlas District. Last weekend. Hope it happens again in two thousand ten.

Phelps Raising the Bar for DC Education

Recently, I had the distinct pleasure of touring the District's newest and most unique high school, Phelps Architecture, Construction and Engineering Career High School. Think of it as vocational technology 2.0. Its more than that though. During the year in which DC has taken some very public criticism (88% can't read, presidential debaters mentioned the troubled system) Phelps has opened and demonstrates all that is going right for the District of Columbia Public Schools.

The school is a traditional high school in the sense that students still compete a core curriculum with English, of course, mathematics, art, music and all the other requirements of graduating DCPS. However, during their sophomore year, students begin tailoring the remainder of their high school career into one of three tracks; architecture, construction or engineering. The learning spaces and resources are unbelievable. A construction equipment simulation room (cost = $80,000+) gives students a chance to work the controls of actual vehicles and observe physical forces at work. Everything is geared towards teachable moments: water, electrical and data wires and piping were intentionally left exposed, color coded and are used to make the building a teaching tool, the courtyard is surrounded by brick walls with patterns that will be taught in class, and the walls and flooring in hallways are tiled with patterns and materials straight from the textbooks.

The Phelps building is in the Langdon Park, a part of Kingman Park in Northeast. The address is 704 26th Street NE, about two blocks from Springarn High and less than a mile from Eastern High School. This year there are only freshman attending the school, but the principal and DCPS are looking forward to fully populating the school over the next three years. They have a wish list of items related to the building arts such as magazines, journals and other trade publications. Contact the school if you'd like to help them out. I was very impressed with the facilities and program; a move in the right direction for DC schools.

Festival on H Street in Photos

Not sure how long this fest has been going on, but it was great fun last Saturday! The weather was excellent and all were in a great mood. Not quite as dense as Adam Morgan Day Fest, but that's a good thing! Many restaurants were open and serving lunch or drinks. I rode my bike down and was not alone. There was some pretty good music and even a fashion show starring some younger folks, on a real runway! It was nice to see some of these places in the light of day, I'm usually there after dark... Another great addition to the fall festival scene in DC.