Nw 07 13 2016

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The Northwest Current

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Vol. XLIX, No. 28

Serving Communities in Northwest Washington Since 1967

ANC backs extended AU deadline

bastille day

■ Zoning: Neighbors wary of

recent enrollment increases By CUNEYT DIL

Current Correspondent

American University’s contentious relationship with the local advisory neighborhood commission continues as the school seeks a one-year delay on a housing requirement because of issues fac-

ing its East Campus project. In its 2011 campus plan agreement, the university agreed to house 67 percent of its full-time undergraduate population on campus by fall 2016. The new East Campus is supposed to make that possible, with 590 beds spread across three dormitories — but construction has fallen behind schedule, and the school now hopes to bring parts of the campus online throughout the fall and

winter. At a meeting last Wednesday, Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3D voted 7-1 to support American’s zoning request for their housing deadline to be pushed to fall 2017. (ANC 3D includes Foxhall, the Palisades, Spring Valley and Wesley Heights.) But with the support also came a slate of questions and accusations that American UniverSee Zoning/Page 5

Park Van Ness set to debut retail tenants By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer

Brian Kapur/The Current

Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens hosted its annual French Festival on Saturday. The event celebrated Bastille Day with games, art projects, and live dance and music performances.

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 emphasis on prepared foods and grab-and-go options, See Openings/Page 5

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.

Local expats gobsmacked over fellow citizens’ vote on Brexit

Georgetown gondola plan gaining traction By MARK LIEBERMAN

By MARK LIEBERMAN

Current Staff Writer

Current Staff Writer

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 busi-

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

Rendering courtesy of the Georgetown BID

If constructed, the gondola would go alongside the Key Bridge from Georgetown to Rosslyn.

ness improvement districts decided to keep exploring it together. The latest step in that process came last Thursday, when the two organizations hosted a community meeting with nearly 100 attendees to provide an update on the project’s feasibility study and gather early ideas as design work gets underway. While specific designs and schedules haven’t yet been drawn up, architects have been looking to a See Gondola/Page 13

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

Tips? Contact us at newsdesk@currentnewspapers.com


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