Bar & Grill coming to MLK Ave!

We. Have. Arrived. (or at least with this news we're further along) With a tentative opening of summer 2010, Uniontown Bar & Grill will be the neighborhood's first sit-down non-coffee watering hole.



Its location at 2200 MLK Avenue is within a block of both the Gallery at Vivid Solutions (digital photolab, gallery) and Big Chair Coffee. The building might not look like much now, but don't worry, it's just the before picture for what will be a pretty great project. Despite some complications with the TIF financing the owners were awarded in 2008, the restoration will finally move forward, bringing it back to the future (old design, modern functionality).

What it used to look like:


What it will look like (but probably with different colors):


Tentative Food Menu:

Starters

Crab Dip
Chips & Salsa
Wings
Popcorn Shrimp
Catfish Pieces

Sandwiches

Gourmet Grilled Cheese
Maryland Style Crab cake
Tuna Melt
Turkey Burger
Signature Burger
Roast Turkey Sandwich
Chicken Salad Sandwich
Cajun Chicken Sandwich

Salads

House Salad
Caesar Salad
Green Salad

Soups

Baked Potato Soup
Seafood Gumbo

Sides: Fries, Salad, or Sweet Potato Fries

The local entrepreneur opening Uniontown Bar & Grill decided on Anacostia because of its strong population of daytime workers with no place to relax with a cold one after work, as well as the exciting promise of Homeland Security moving close by. The restaurant bar will have a total seating capacity of 153 spread across a large bar, booth seating, and tables. Woohoo!

Bury Building to get Makeover

in March I posted on this building at 2200 MLK, and asked that a reader please restore it to its original grandeur. Well, that is exactly what's happening. Thanks to the help of $1.1 million in TIF financing from the city, developer Four Points LLC will give the building a total back-to-the-future makeover:

then, July 4th circa 1919:

I wish the building next door still had its crown

now:

I will be glad to see this mural go



future, 2009-2010:

drawing not entirely to scale


loving the restored windows and doors

old photo courtesy of the Library of Congress, new ones by DG-rad, and renderings courtesy of Four Points, LLC

New Retail & Restaurants

It has been rumored for a little while now, but this article in the Washington Business Journal gives the news a little bit more credibility.

We heard in February that Four Points LLC had begun plans to transform the Curtis Companies' office buildings and parking lots on MLK Avenue in downtown Anacostia into a massive mixed-use development (stay tuned for more on that in the next few days). Turns out Curtis also owned many of the older retail buildings along MLK, and that Four Points is working with them to reignite and redevelop all of their real estate in Anacostia.

With plans for over 1.5 million square feet of redevelopment just across the street, Four Points wants to fill all of their existing retail buildings with stores and eateries before the other projects deliver. That way, the corridor will be more attractive and much more alive than it is right now.

Announced today are three new retail / restaurant possibilities:


Fat Face Bar-B-Que, a bbq joint with a menu honed from generations of North Carolina recipes, to be located at 2204 MLK Ave.


a sporting goods and clothing store, to be located at 2200 MLK Ave. Reminder, please restore this building to original amazingness. Thanks.


Jazz ‘N Soul Café, with live music, cocktails and sit-down eating, possibly opening on Shannon Place between U and V Streets, or at an undisclosed location along MLK Ave.

photos and graphic by DG-rad

Bury's Delicious Ice Cream

There is something very tragic about this change. Can one of my readers please restore this building at 2200 MLK Ave to its former glory? Thanks in advance. I mean, how amazing was that corner entrance?

Then:

ice cream trucks are so much less charming now...

Now:


old photo courtesy of the Library of Congress, new one by DG-rad