The GeorGeTown CurrenT
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Vol. XXVI, No. 42
Serving Burleith, Foxhall, Georgetown, Georgetown Reservoir & Glover Park
Heating plant wins Fine Arts nod
EASY RIDER
■ Preservation: Approval
reversed previous decision
By BRADY HOLT Current Staff Writer
Georgetown’s West Heating Plant project won conceptual approval from the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts last Thursday, a surprising reversal of objections from the panel’s Old Georgetown
Board subsidiary. The project envisions demolishing most of the vacant 1948 industrial building at 29th and K streets NW to construct a luxury condo building with about 60 residential units. The proposed design emulates the heating plant’s shape, but a dressier facade would provide windows for the residences. The Old Georgetown Board last month rejected the plans as insufficiently respectful of the histori-
cally protected building, but the developers successfully appealed to the Fine Arts Commission. Commission secretary Tom Luebke said the proposal presents “kind of a funny hybrid” between reconstructing a historic building and starting from scratch. Presented with such a design, he said, the Old Georgetown Board and Commission of Fine Arts went in opposite directions: The former See Plant/Page 3
Burst pipe floods homes on MacArthur By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer
Brian Kapur/The Current
The Georgetown Business Improvement District, along with Commuter Connections and the Washington Area Bicyclist Association, hosted Bike to Work Day events on Friday morning. Throughout the region, nearly 17,000 commuters joined in a celebration of bicycling as a clean, fun and healthy way to get to work.
Jeff Adkins came home last Wednesday afternoon to find an unusual sight on the basement level of his MacArthur Boulevard building. When he opened the staircase door to head toward his studio apartment, he found more than three inches of standing water. “It was like a free swimming pool in here,” Adkins said. “They rained on our parade downstairs.” As he stood outside The Palisade, 4540 MacArthur Blvd. NW, on Monday, Adkins seemed amused by the situation, laughing and joking with a Current reporter. But last week was no laughing matter — the water breached his home as well, ruining quite a few of his possessions, including rugs and lamps. “Small things, but a lot of things,” he said. Adkins was one of numerous Foxhall area residents along MacArthur and down Q Street and Clark See MacArthur/Page 5
Brian Kapur/The Current
The 30-inch-wide pipe under MacArthur Boulevard NW flooded homes and closed the street when it failed last Wednesday.
Wegmans confirms plans to open in D.C.
Community protest remains over Smith Point noise issue
By MARK LIEBERMAN
■ Georgetown: Bar owner
Current Staff Writer
The much-anticipated redevelopment of the Fannie Mae headquarters at 3900 Wisconsin Ave. NW will be anchored by the District’s first Wegmans supermarket, the project team announced this week. Other details are also emerging on plans for a robust project with diverse retail, residential units and a sizable community space on the existing front lawn. Roadside Development purchased the site, located a few blocks south of the Tenleytown Metro station, for $90 million in December and has been working with surrounding communities since then on ambitious plans for the site, occupied since 1958 by Fannie Mae. On Sunday night, Roadside confirmed widely cir-
seeks compromise amid sale
By BRADY HOLT Current Staff Writer
Courtesy of Roadside Development
Wegmans will move into the lower level of 3900 Wisconsin Ave. NW no earlier than late 2021.
culated rumors of an 80,000-square-foot Wegmans grocery store on the existing building’s lower level, with an entrance at the rear of the property. The rest of the site will most likely have 600 to 700 apartment and town house units, including at least the minimum allotment of affordable housing required under incluSee Fannie Mae/Page 5
Georgetown’s Smith Point tavern, which is now up for sale, achieved prominence in its early years as a favorite of D.C.’s party circuit for young affluent conservatives — and a frequent target for derision. Complex, a New Yorkbased pop-culture magazine, ranked it No. 3 in a listing of D.C.’s “25 Douchiest Bars.” But for residents living near the
1337 Wisconsin Ave. NW establishment, the problems are more typical of nightlife establishments located close to residential areas. They say Smith Point allows noisy patrons to use its rear patio space, and the resulting ruckus is heard in the single-family homes along N and O streets. Accordingly, even though owner Bo Blair decided in January to try selling the business, there’s a community effort to protest the renewal of its alcohol license, or at least change its terms. Any modification to the liquor license — such as reducing hours for the See License/Page 3
DIGEST
SPORTS
SHERWOOD
INDEX
Comprehensive Plan
Burke repeats
Security envy
Calendar/14 Classifieds/22 District Digest/4 In Your Neighborhood/12 Opinion/6
City extends deadline on proposed amendments amid community pressure / Page 4
Bengals captures back-to-back PVAC softball crowns with strong win over Oakcrest / Page 9
For official D.C., traffic-stopping motorcades are a must-have in many quarters / Page 6
Police Report/8 Real Estate/11 School Dispatches/13 Service Directory/20 Sports/9
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