The X2

Douglas Development is redeveloping an existing building at 1151 Bladensburg Rd NE into offices and retail. The development will be 18,000 square feet, with roughly an even split between office space and retail. The retail portion will be divided into two separate spaces, similar in size. The office portion will occupy two floors on the southern part of the structure. There is a parking area planned for the roof of the building, accessible through the alley. All told, there will be 17 off-street parking spaces on site. I previously heard this property was going to be converted into residential, but looks as if those plans have changed. Renderings of 1151 Bladensburg Rd NE via Douglass Development . The last operating tenant of 1151 seems to have been Lin's Enterprises, LLC, doing business as Columbia Wine & Liquors, which closed shop some time before I moved to the neighborhood.  1151 Bladensburg is the first building I took a photo of after moving to C...

Buredo will open at 625 H Street NE. Target plans to open a small format store in Ivy City [ Bisnow ]. If you've ever been to the Target in Columbia Heights (which turns 10 years old next week), you know that it is busy. I mean, very busy. At all open hours. It's also a very large store at 180,000 square feet. The Ivy City store will come in at 67,000 square feet, less than 40% the size of the Columbia Heights store. The location of the new store will be New York Ave at 16th St NE, just across from Petco. This is adjacent to the first stop on the downtown bound D4 bus. Walking, this is about a 30 minute, 1.5 mile walk from Carver. Plans are for the store to open on 2020, which seems ambitious, but I guess we'll see.  Google Street View capture of 16th and New York Ave NE; future location of Target. *     *     * Buredo looks as if will finally open, today! By the time you read this (well, if it is after 11 AM on Wednesday) they...

GRK Fresh is set to open at 1000 F Street NW this spring. As the name suggest, this is a fast casual restaurant with Greek food, all centered around the gyro, or "yeero." They appear to have some vegetarian if not vegan offerings.  Check the menu . This will be the third DC location (Foggy Bottom, Dupont). GRK Fresh is already open on two continents with more stores in New York, and then Qatar and UAE.

The Daily Rider bike shop reopened last week in the Apollo apartment building at 600 H Street NE. They were previously a few blocks down at 1108 H (now a spin studio). Daily Rider has a stylish selection of city bikes, some sportier bikes, accessories, and a repair section. The hours are weekdays 10 AM - 7 PM, Saturdays 10-6 and Sundays 12-6. Good morning H Street! pic.twitter.com/QER1cFRrT9 — The Daily Rider (@TheDailyRiderDC) February 2, 2018

ABRA placards are up for Truth Hookah and Cigar Lounge. The address is 1220 H Street NE, just west of SingSing Karaoke and Sticky Rice. The traded name is listed as "Truth Hookah/Cigar." and they are seeking a Class C Tavern licence allowing for live entertainment, dancing, and cover charge. Total occupancy load would be 198 with 95 seated. No summer garden or sidewalk seating are requested. 1220 H Street was built nearly 100 years ago, in 1920, and has 2,526 square feet on two floors. Truth Hookah and Cigar has a Twitter account and have shared some pre-construction photos already. They indicate a Spring 2018 opening.

V Street, the vegan street food concept from Philadelphia, is tuning it pitch just a bit. The owners have secured a spot in the Apollo Apartment building at 6th and H NE; the same building as Whole Foods and Wydown Coffee. They are currently building out, but it looks like the concept may be changing even before they open. The Washington Post is reporting that V Street is switching from a casual street food concept to a more traditional upscale restaurant -- complete with a name change to Fancy Radish . The name is a play on a dish served at Vedge, one of their high end restaurants in Phila. I was really loving the idea of the causal street food vibe they presented with V Street , but I can appreciate a little diversity in the scene. There are definitely places to get both the counter-service-casual and table-service-sit-down all vegan experience. On the casual side you have places like NuVegan (aka Woodlands), Sticky Fingers, Khepra's, Shouk, Hip City Veg, Fruitive, an...

Happy New Year! Here's to a healthy, fun, and productive 2018. About this blog: By keeping up with and documenting changes along the X2 bus line --the good, the bad, and the... questionable-- it helps me figure out where the city and our neighborhood are heading. It's more than a hobby and I'm the kind of person that loves to observe change over time, especially in the built environment.  With all the bleak and disheartening news emanating from a certain NW address, it helps to focus on the local things, even stuff like restaurant openings & closings, long term transit/infrastructure projects, and far-from-reality proposals for apartment buildings with ground floor retail. All that goes to say that not every post is groundbreaking news, but it is our news. I'll keep trying to make the posts interesting and relevant. As always, for more timely news, more photos, and #hottakes, Twitter is the place I share most often . Here are some openings and coming-s...