Google image of 1240 Mt. Olivet Road
The Washington Business Journal reports details on Joe Englert's latest venture that combines beer, coffee, and bouldering...and is next to Mt. Olivet Cemetery. The property is at 1240 Mt. Olivet Road and is the former home of Strauss Photo Technical Service. This is on the Ivy City side of Mt. Olivet Road (pretty much across the street from Kovak's). A beer garden at this location is sure to draw the attention of ANC 5D Commissioners, but please note that it is actually located in ANC 5C04 (Jackie Manning's SMD). Proximity alone will almost certainly mean we'll soon see Joe Englert (or someone else from the venture) presenting in front of ANC 5D.
Google Maps image
This clip of a DC gov map shows where ANC 5C04 meets ANC 5D
I would expect to see a lot of ANC 5D attention focused on this, especially from Commissioner Shropshire (ANC 5D02), Commissioner Lewis (ANC 5D01), and Commissioner Roberts (ANC 5D03). You might also want to take a look at a handy map Commissioner Roberts created of all current liquor licenses in ANC 5D with license info and links to corresponding agreements.
16 comments:
Am I alone in thinking this is maybe the whitest business ever?
@Anon805 No, there are a lot of other racists around here.
It definitely scores high on the things white people like index, but I doubt it will have trouble attracting all sorts of people. Lots of small projects quietly popping up in that area.
this will definitely clash with the large number of drunk degenerates hanging out on that block. I can't wait!
@Inked Yeah, the coffee drinking gene is no doubt linked directly to the one that controls for melanin levels in the skin. Also, they probably evolved a propensity to cling to the underside of rock outcroppings as a way to keep their pale skin from becoming too sunburned. It all makes perfect sense.
Can someone please tell me things that score high on the things black people like index? I feel as though there is a double standard. Why is it ok to rag on white people?
Beer gardens are so hot right now. Beer gardens.
Terrible location. It's like they are providing mugging victims and fodder for car/bike thieves. It is hell across the street.
12:38,
I completely agree that the area immediately to the south has historically been a trouble spot. But I think we will likely see somewhat of a turn around in that area in the near(ish) future. As I said above, there's been a lot of lower profile business/development activity in that area recently. And the flurry of activity in Ivy City places pressure on this area from the north. We'll have to wait and see, but I wouldn't write it off so quickly.
People were saying the same when he bought all those buildings along H street and turned them into bars long before H street was on the map. Much of his success has to do w/ the fact that he isn't shortsighted as most people.
plus 1 anon 4:23
I was going to say the same thing.
This is very interesting. Aaron Weiner (City Paper) warned developers about an Ivy City bubble last week in his final column. I think the area has potential but the amount of people falling all over themselves to get in over there seems bizarre to me. The housing stock is pretty terrible and much of the area is very separated from the rest of the city in terms of geography and transit.
Englert is no dummy though, and a rock climbing gym is really needed in this city. People regularly travel out to the boonies to visit the climibing gyms in VA so they'll likely make the much shorter drive to this location. Just as restaurants make their margins from drinks, this place will make it on beer and coffee (neither of which Washingtonians can get enough of).
My opinion is that this business is going to do well, but this is separate from the insane housing speculation in Ivy City right now. Just as SportRock does great business in a VA industrial park without needing proximity to substantial housing markets.
Joe Englert is a shrewd business man. This place will do well. This venture is a partnership. It sounds like the rock climbing thing is not his. And gym memberships are contractual. It's not like this thing will fail overnight if it does fail. Even if the entire thing fails, its presence will be a success for that neighborhood. RIP to the Red and the Black and the Palace of Wonders. It was weird businesses like those that started this neighborhood.
It's been a while since Joe's name has popped up on here. I'm glad he's back (or at least making public moves back).
Maybe he can have neighborhood night and provide free entry-level climbing courses to the kids that live in that area.
i'm curious. what are the other "quiet" happenings in/near that area? anything we haven't heard? englert has a few things that are upcoming near rhode island and eastern avenue - which is another area ripe for transformation. but he's edging his way across the border and into maryland these days. outside of anacostia, ivy city is one of the last bastions for any kind of "affordable" development - so I get it.
i'd be VERY wary of parking anything around those parts though. it's the kind of place where even massively alarmed cars will get their windows busted out, just so folks can smell that "clean car smell".
i do wish him the best of luck though, and will probably make the walk to check it out when it opens. cuz it WILL open. booze or not, it'll open. you'd have to be high on crack to oppose anything like this in that neighborhood. oh, wait.....
I wonder if they will have fixed gear parking only.
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