Thursday, May 29, 2014

H Street Great Streets Grant Recipients [UPDATED]

view
Rendering courtesy of Fundrise

Here's the newest round of grant recipients:

Powell’s Barber Shop, a barber shop located at 1232 H Street. $85,000 for improvements to roofing, flooring, drywall, plumbing work, bathrooms, windows, HVAC, painting, and masonry.

Old City CrossFit, a fitness facility located at 810 H Street. $57,750 for storefront folding door, plaster wall, shelving, masonry, bathroom addition, wall reconfiguration, painting, and window/floor/door repair.


Maketto LLC, a community retail marketplace located at 1351 H Street. $85,000 for façade improvements, flooring, installing store displays, and POS system.

Oliver Opticians LLC, an eye care center located at 331 H Street. $42,500 for build out, plumbing, electrical work, and signage. This is next door to Island Dyes (formerly the home of Newcomb Daycare).****[UPDATE APPEARS BELOW]****

Proven Strength and Conditioning (AKA CrossFit DC, a gym located at 1365 H Street. $85,000 for demolition and repair of walls and floors, leveling of concrete floor, and electrical repairs.

Wilson-Epes Printing Company, Inc., a printing-publishing firm located at 775 H Street. $68,076 for signage, repainting, and equipment.


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UPDATE
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I've been sent a copy of a letter written on behalf on ANC 6C to the Office of the Deputy Major for Planning & Economic Development. According to this letter, Oliver Opticians LLC should have been ineligible to receive this grant because they are neither the owners of 331 H Street NE, nor have they signed a lease for that location (the landlord leased 331 H Street to a different tenant).
ANC(6C)letter H St grant-page-001

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

How did Maketto get a grant? Bars, restaurants, and similar businesses are supposed to be prohibited from this grant process. Are they not going to serve food anymore?

Anonymous said...

We'll, it appears they have a POS System, so that system probably should get fixed. My car is a POS. I wish someone would give me money to get it fixed.

inked said...

12:01,
Maketto was designed with a strong retail component. Durkl will sell clothing there.

Matthew Lesko's Free Govt Money said...

1) The pug sells shirts and hoodies too, but I wouldn't consider them a clothing store.

2) The Crossfit in the 1300 block of H Street NE has been operating for some time now, with the interior demolition and concrete work performed months ago. If this for additional demolition and concrete work to the newly opened place?

3) It seems awfully convenient that the amount awarded for repairs/upgrades works out to be exactly the maximum allowed for these grants ($85k).

Rob said...

Isn't Proven Strength and Conditioning (AKA CrossFit DC) brand new? Why would they need a grant if they are finished construction?

Anonymous said...

I hope the other non food businesses are trying to get some of that money.

Parks Hardware: you need better organization

Art galleries: you always could use $

Thrift Stores: clean your stuff up

Animal Stores: safe de icers, poop clean up educational outreach classes

Furniture Stores: need to carry more rustic wooden bookshelves, and unique music stands

Get the money before it's gone!

todd said...

Is this the same grant program that you wrote about on May 26?

inked said...

todd,
It is the same.

Anonymous said...

Free money everybody! So glad we finally got our act together and decided to subsidize two crossfit gyms five blocks apart.

Anonymous said...

So did Oliver Opticians get the grant money or not? Neither the blog post nor the ANC letter definitively said if they received grant money or not.

Anonymous said...

Oliver was probably high off the Island Dyes fumes

Alan Page said...

Anon @1:37

The letter says the optician shop was "ineligible". I presume that means they won't be getting the grant.

Does this mean that Newcomb Day Care is closed? Because the day care next to Murry's appears to be closing to make way for the Whole Foods/Apollo project. Wouldn't that be the only two day care centers on the whole corridor? What are the other day care options for area parents?

Anonymous said...

I got my hair cut in Powell's once. They badly needed that rehab money.

inked said...

1:37 & Alan,
The ANC letter says that Oliver Opticians LLC was ineligible, but five days later the District announced they had received a grant. So yes, they were awarded a grant. I don't know if they will actual receive any funds. Hopefully not since their only location is in Virginia.

Matthew,
The Pug's occasional t-shirt sales are clearly incidental. Durkl, which is a major partner in Maketto, is a clothing maker that will have a large retail area inside Maketto. That's hardly a proper comparison.

C. Smith said...

Pictures of the old Newcomb Daycare Center show an address of 333 H St. NE (pic in link below). I believe that Island Dyes is the current tenant at 331. Perhaps this is part of the confusion?

Pic showing the old NDCC's 333 address: (http://www.loopnet.com/Listing/18003134/333-H-Street-NE-Washington-DC/)

Anonymous said...

Ridiculous waste of taxpayer dollars. Economics 101 Fail.

inked said...

C. Smith,
You are correct that 331 H Street is actually the Home of Island Dyes. But I'm also pretty sure that Newcomb shut down/moved quite some time ago. I know that their phone number is long disconnected.

C. Smith said...

Agreed. I understand that Newcomb has been closed (or relocated) for some time now and that 333 h is still vacant.

Anonymous said...

You all may not know how the H street retail grant funding process works. When you are awarded the grant you are given zero money. You must hire a contractor, pay for the work and submit permits, plans and receipts to be to be reviewed by DC in order to be reimbursed. Oliver Opts may have won the grant but they probably recieved no funds.

Anonymous said...

I'd much rather see money go to these small groups, and toward cleaning H Street and Bladensburg Road than to big out of town developers. It would take decades and hundreds of small business grants to receive the tax dollar give away that Sturart got to build the Giant.

h st ll said...

+1 anon 6:17

@alan page - there are several on 8th st NE. One at 8th and F NE, another at 8th and D and one more on 8th I believe.

I agree that it seems like the neighborhood could support more. Though free universal prek3/4 takes 3 and 4 yr olds out of the equation.