The Georgetown Current
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
Vol. XXV, No. 50
Serving Burleith, Foxhall, Georgetown, Georgetown Reservoir & Glover Park
ANC gives nod to EastBanc project
SUMMER SPLASHING
■ Georgetown: Mixed-use
building to replace gas station
By CUNEYT DIL
Current Correspondent
The eastern gateway into Georgetown through Pennsylvania Avenue currently features a Valero gas station, perched above the Rock Creek Parkway. Now, the sometimes-controver-
sial plan for a five-story mixeduse building at the 2715 Pennsylvania Ave. NW site is heading for the Zoning Commission, with the support of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E (Georgetown, Burleith). The 60-foot-tall brick building with inset balconies, designed by Portuguese architect Eduardo Souto de Moura, would feature seven apartment units above a ground-level restaurant.
The project would also bring park benches, plantings and other public space improvements to the site. “The proposed structure represents an improvement to the Georgetown cityscape in comparison to the unruly appearance of the site’s existing gas station at the threshold of the historic district,” ANC 2E wrote in its resolution of support to the Zoning CommisSee Zoning/Page 5
Georgetown gondola idea gains traction By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer
Brian Kapur/The Current
With temperatures soaring into the 90s with high humidity over the weekend, many locals took to the fountain at the Georgetown Waterfront Park.
When Mary-Claire Burick, president of the Rosslyn Business Improvement District, first heard the idea of an aerial lift or “gondola” connecting Georgetown and Arlington, Va., across the Potomac River, she had her doubts, dismissing the possibility as “a little nuts.” She wasn’t the only one. Georgetown advisory neighborhood commissioner Bill Starrels told The Current he scoffed at the notion when he first heard about it several years ago. “It just seemed to be kind of an out-there idea,” he said. Starrels initially assumed the idea would lose traction. But to his surprise, residents and other stakeholders on both sides of the river took to the gondola concept enough that Georgetown and Rosslyn’s business improvement districts decided to keep exploring See Gondola/Page 13
Rendering courtesy of the Georgetown BID
Business leaders are studying the feasibility of a gondola that would go alongside the Key Bridge between Georgetown and Rosslyn.
Local expats gobsmacked over fellow citizens’ vote on Brexit
Van Ness building set to debut retail tenants By MARK LIEBERMAN
By MARK LIEBERMAN
Current Staff Writer
Current Staff Writer
A massive mixed-use complex has arrived in Van Ness after years of development — and along with 271 apartment units, two new businesses opening later this year mark one of the neighborhood’s latest attempts to upgrade its amenities. Park Van Ness celebrated its grand opening at 4455 Connecticut Ave. NW in May, and by the end of the year, it will boast Italian fine dining at Sfoglina and a deli with prepared foods at Soapstone Market. Customers of Broad Branch Market in Chevy Chase will recognize many aspects of Soapstone, which comes from the same owners. The new market, which derives its name from Rock Creek Park’s Soapstone Valley, will likewise have a deli and tables for eating in, but Soapstone will place a stronger
Anna Chisman has lived in Foggy Bottom for four decades, but she was born and bred a Brit. From the moment she heard about the “Brexit” controversy, she was opposed to the notion of her home country exiting the European Union. But she never thought it would actually happen. “The fact that the vote to leave actually won has astonished almost everybody I know, on both sides of the Atlantic,” said Chisman, who came to the United States for graduate school and has
Brian Kapur/The Current
The Connecticut Avenue development opened this spring and is now readying its ground-floor retail space for Soapstone Market and Sfoglina.
emphasis on prepared foods and grab-and-go options, said co-owner John Fielding. In another twist on the Broad Branch model, Soapstone will also sell beer and wine at an on-site bar. “We’re still developing the concept as we open,” Fielding said. He said developers have been courting the Broad See Openings/Page 5
been here ever since. “Talking to my friends and family over there in England, they’re just baffled and trying to find answers.” They’re not alone. Interviews with numerous British expatriates living in Northwest D.C. seem to suggest that most Brits living here assumed their country would vote against the controversial Brexit referendum. They assumed wrong. Now they’re left to wonder, and in some cases lament, what will become of their old home. All of the expatriates interviewed for this story said they don’t know anyone in the U.S. See Brexit/Page 14
NEWS
SPORTS
DIGEST
INDEX
Livability study
Speedy Eagle
Road closures ahead
Calendar/16 Classifieds/22 District Digest/4 Exhibits/17 Getting Around/15 In Your Neighborhood/12
Agency seeks comment on various recommendations for Ward 4 streets / Page 3
National Cathedral School’s standout track star Page Lester wins Gatorade honors / Page 9
Pennsylvania Avenue office project to bring daily interruptions due to blasting work / Page 4
Opinion/6 Police Report/8 Real Estate/11 Service Directory/20 Sports/9 Week Ahead/3
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