The X2

The Wydown opened at 600 H St NE over the weekend, bringing coffee, pastries --and eventually adult beverages-- to the new Apollo apartment building. This is the second shop for Wydown, which operates a coffee-only venture on 14th Street NW.  The S Street shop is attached to the lobby for the Apollo apartment building and the two spaces are really one, as customers of the coffee shop are allowed to venture into the atrium space that serves as the entrance to the Apollo. There is plenty of space to sit inside the coffee shop, too. Great to have another quality coffee shop on H that is walkable from Carver Langston. The shop was open 8 AM - 7 PM on the weekend, but I'll update with the regular hours when available. Good luck Wydown! Our new shop in @TheApolloDC is open! Come by. Photo and fantastic design by Edit Lab @realstreetsense pic.twitter.com/3Ld25ZWNpj — The Wydown (@thewydown) December 17, 2016

The Washington Business Journal is reporting that Events DC has reached a tentative deal that would allow Apple to lease the Carnegie Library for use as a retail store. Just months after being closed (and temporarily putting out the Historical Society of DC) due to a persistent mold issue, the Carnegie Library is now set to confirm a new use for the space: leasing to a retail store for Apple. This is in stark contrast to the more public, educational nature of the entities that have inhabited the space in the past, including the Historical Society (current), a museum of DC history, the University of the District of Columbia, and the main library for the District. The Carnegie Library building functioned as a library for the better part of 70 years before the construction of the new central DC library at 9th and G NW. Apple is the largest tech company in the world and typically uses its retail stores as sort of "living commercials," showcasing (and yes, selling) it...

Foreground: Site of new Flats at Atlas addition. Background: Existing building. Kettler, a Virginia-based real estate development and property management company,  recently purchased the Flats at Atlas apartment building located at 1600 Maryland Ave NE. The Flats development was always planned to have two phases. The first was built and currently has 257 rental units, an interior parking garage, and a small retail component on the Bladensburg Rd side. Now Kettler is starting the process of adding a second, adjoined building. All we know so far is that the new building will have five floors and 325 units, amenities similar to those of the first building, and will share a common driveway roundabout and parking deck with the existing building (it was originally built for the combined capacity). The new building will fill out the block bound by K Street, 17th St, Maryland Ave, Neal St, and Bladensburg Rd. The lot where the new structure will exist is currently occupied by t...