Nwe 04 06 2016

Page 1

The NorThwesT CurreNT

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Nonprofit to debut Ward 2 shelter shortly

Tenleytown’s Safeway to shut at end of April

POUNDING ThE PAVEMENT

■ Development: GDS had

wanted store to stay longer

By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer

When Mayor Muriel Bowser introduced her comprehensive “All Eight Wards” plan to tackle family homelessness in January, Ward 2 stood out as the only one without a proposed new family shelter. Instead, the proposal listed the women’s shelter at 810 5th St. NW in Gallery Place, which was already in the works. In March, the city announced that the nonprofit N Street Village would be that shelter’s service provider, offering space for more than 200 women in the new facility. The first shelter under the mayor’s broad homelessness initiative will open its doors to 54 women by April 14, according to N Street Village executive director Schroeder Stribling. If everything goes according to plan, the shelter will be fully functioning by May. The five-story Patricia Handy Place for Women will offer several different types of housing in “mini-villages,” which will be organized to gather people of simSee Shelter/Page 3

By BRADY hOLT Current Staff Writer

Safeway is abruptly closing its Tenleytown supermarket at the end of this month, more than a year before Georgetown Day School will be ready to raze the site as part of its campus consolidation project. The school purchased the 4203 Davenport St. NW site from Safeway in June 2014, at which point the grocer signed a 10-month leaseback agreement for the site. Safeway then extended the agree-

ment through spring 2017, with the option to terminate the lease with 60 days’ notice. Safeway took the termination option last Thursday. The store will close to the public April 30, ■ BUSINESS: and Safeway School signs will then spend interim leases the remainder with two retail of its 60 days tenants. Page 2. emptying the building. Most items are already on a liquidation clearance at 30 percent off, with liquid dairy items and tobacco products being the main exceptions, according to Safeway spokesperson Chris Wilcox. See Safeway/Page 16

Board allows commercial reuse of Takoma Theatre

Brian Kapur/The Current

■ Preservation: Neighbors

Mayor Muriel Bowser helped kick off the District’s annual “Potholepalooza” campaign on Friday along the 3200 block of Brandywine Street NW.

had fought residential option

By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer

C&O Canal lock due for disruptive repair By BRADY hOLT Current Staff Writer

An 18-month rehabilitation of the C&O Canal’s Lock 3 will begin this fall, requiring the D.C. stretch of canal to be drained for the duration of the work and blocking off canal access between 30th and Thomas Jefferson streets NW. The canal’s system of locks isn’t currently in use in Georgetown, as the replica canal boat that traversed it stopped operating several years ago. But the Georgetown Heritage nonprofit, an arm of the neighborhood’s business improvement district, ultimately hopes to resume that tourist attraction.

Vol. XLIX, No. 14

Serving Chevy Chase, Colonial Village, Shepherd Park, Brightwood, Crestwood, Petworth & 16th Street Heights

Brian Kapur/The Current

The rehabilitated locks will allow boats to resume using the canal.

The National Park Service concluded last summer that Lock 3 needed a $5.5 million investment before those boat trips can take place, and that Lock 4, a block away, also needed $1 million in repairs. The agency now has fund-

ing for the Lock 3 work, C&O Canal National Historical Park superintendent Kevin Brandt said at Monday’s meeting of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E (Georgetown, Burleith). “When we took that [boat] out of service, we knew we had some problems with the locks the boat typically passes through,” Brandt said at the meeting. “In the intervening years, the lock has continued to deteriorate at a very rapid rate.” At Lock 3, the Park Service will carefully deconstruct the original 1830s lock, store the salvageable materials on the open lawn the agency owns adjacent to the canal, and then meticulously See Canal/Page 8

Developers of the historic Takoma Theatre site secured key support from the Historic Preservation Review Board on Thursday for their plans to restore the longvacant building for commercial use. Rock Creek Property Group purchased the revival-style building for $2.2 million last May and reversed course from previous developers’ plans for an apartment building. Built in 1923, the movie theater at 6833 4th St. NW closed in 1980, and the building has been empty ever since. Original owner Milton McGinty tried several times to demolish the building, only to be rebuffed by the preservation board each time. McGinty died in September 2013. Shortly before that, his daughter submitted a plan to the preservation board for a two-story residential building with a third-

Brian Kapur/The Current

The former theater at 6833 4th St. has been vacant since 1980.

floor dormer on the site. Board members approved the project in concept but asked for design and location revisions, which never came. Last week, the preservation board voted unanimously to find the Rock Creek firm’s proposed concept consistent with the neighborhood’s historic character and delegated final approval to Historic Preservation Office staffers. “I know this has been a long and tortured process, but I think See Theater/Page 9

NEWS

PASSAGES

SPORTS

INDEX

Ward 4 race

Aberfoyle Baroque

NFL goals

Calendar/20 Classifieds/29 District Digest/4 Exhibits/21 In Your Neighborhood/18 Opinion/10

Todd faces three challengers in bid to retain D.C. Council seat that he won last year / Page 2

Chevy Chase neighbors present renowned harpsichord performers in their homes / Page 19

Former Maret standout, now at University of Maryland, prepares for professional draft / Page 13

Police Report/6 Real Estate/17 School Dispatches/26 Service Directory/27 Sports/13 Week Ahead/3

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