Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Under Construction

DSC_0087

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

when will it eeeeeeeeeennnnnnndddd?????

Anonymous said...

it wont. it never has. ask anyone thats been around for 20+ years...no one can remember when h street/benning road was NOT under construction.

Anonymous said...

June 30th.

Anonymous said...

under construction for the last 20+ years? I've been in the area almost 15 years and can only remember construction being done starting around 2008 or 2009ish.
If I had to guess I'd say it'll end sometime in mid 2013

Kiki said...

Maybe slightly off topic, but still construction related, I noticed some folks working in the big abandoned industrial space at 3rd and M last night. Looked like they were setting up for a concert or club. Anybody have any word on it?

Anonymous said...

The construction ends June 30th. It has been going on for just over two years. It has gone slightly over due to things like snowmageddan.

Dave B said...

kiki,

Are you talking about the old Uline Ice Arena? The building with the rounded roof.

This was the latest I've found on it.

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2007/08/27/story1.html

I would have loved to have seen what that place looked like back in its day. I love old arenas, stadiums, etc.

I dont know if DC has a reason for another 9000 seat venue anymore, but it would be sweet if they brought it back for something like that and kept some of the character.

andrew said...

"Another 9000 seat venue"?

Pray tell -- what 9000-seat venues *does* DC have? As far as I'm aware, they're all significantly smaller or larger.

The 9:30 Club's owners are rumored to have been interested in that property for quite some time, given that their current venue is undersized for many of the acts that it hosts. The counter-rumor is that Jemal's asking price was too high for the 9:30 folks to even consider. (Clearly, it's much more profitable as a parking lot and derelict building)

Unfortunately, a 9,000-person capacity would be massive overkill. If the arena was repurposed as an entertainment venue, odds are good that its capacity would be deliberately reduced from the building's original design.

Dave B said...

Verizon Center fits 18-20k. That would be the other 9k seat venue. Yes it is bigger, but we are saying the same thing. 9k seats is probably too big for most things.

I will rephrase. The 18k seat VZ Center and a 9k seat venue probably would be an excess supply of larger venues.

Rayful Edmond said...

to Anon 9:57,

It was a media photo op for the Swampoodle actors.

charles said...

Given that the article on the old Coliseum is four years old I'm not sure those plans are still in play. In fact there was recently a "for sale" sign on the building.

The Beatles concert in that building in 1964 was an historic event and hopefully the space can ultimately be used for some purpose that acknowledges that history.

curmudgeon said...

Anon 10:50am wrote: "Pray tell -- what 9000-seat venues *does* DC have? As far as I'm aware, they're all significantly smaller or larger."

There isn't one; but as far as purpose is concerned, in-between the 9:30 Club and the Verizon Center, you have Lisner Auditorium at 1500, two 2300-2500 person venues at the Kennedy Center, and DAR Constitution Hall at 3700 people. For concerts, Bender Arena is somewhere around 4000 capacity as well, I think. But then nothing indoor that I can think of until the Verizon Center.

Anonymous said...

Regarding the construction, you folks living around H Street are lucky. I can think of a lot of neighborhoods that would kill for that trolley. I wish it were coming to Ledroit/Bloomingdale/Shaw area!