About the "Shirt Laundry" space...

We've fielded some inquiries about about the Shirt Laundry site at 14th and Q streets, so just to clarify a couple of things:



Last June, we wrote about exciting plans for two new restaurants in the Logan/14th Street area: restaurant group The Whisk Group, in partnership with Abdo Development, announced plans to open an upscale Italian restaurant at the current site of Abdo's offices at 1404 14th Street, and to open an Italian bakery-style restaurant at the so-called "shirt laundry" building at 14th and Q streets.

Unfortunately, plans for the restaurant have no been shelved. Last month, the Whisk Group announced that they were pulling out of the project because of unexpectedly high cleanup costs. (Dry cleaners tend to leave a lot of mess in their wake.) This now leaves an open question as to what might end up there, if not a food-serving establishment? Several ideas have been floating around (it's been a poorly kept secret that Walgreen's would like to set up shop in the neighborhood, for instance) but nothing has been announced at this point.

What we *do* know is that while the building continues to sit empty, it continues to look worse and worse (the shot above is clearly from before the graffiti monster began attacking it). Anyone who has walked by the Shirt Laundry site over the past few months can attest that, not only has there been no movement on a restaurant there, but the building has deteriorated and is covered in posters and graffiti, and parts of the roof are blowing off.

The building is owned by one Stephen Jaffe of Potomac. If that name sounds familiar, it may be because he also owns the building across the street (1618 14th Street) that formerly housed the sex club, until the city shut it down following the death of a man inside the building. (We're betting that his wife's upscale clothing store in Bethesda--Pirjo--is kept in somewhat better shape.)

With regards to the other restaurant in the works--the Italian Cinema--we understand that that one is still a go.

DCPD On Sex Club Death: "Not Yet" a Homicide; Looking to Shut Down Club

EDIT (10/8/09): NBC4 did a story on yesterday's newscast about the club, which has now been identified as both a "gay sex club" and a "men's social club". ANC2F Chairman Charles Reed has also indicated that he would like to see the operation shut down.

EDIT: Amanda Hess over at the City Paper has more information about the investigation into the man's death.

At this evening's ANC2F meeting, DCPD PSA307 Lt. Vanessa Moore was questioned about the recent death of a man inside the sex club located at 1618 14th Street, and a few new details emerged.

It seems that a 47 year old white male was found at the bottom of a staircase in the building, possibly with a broken neck. Moore indicated that the circumstances of his death, or even the cause of death, remain unclear, and that the police were not yet ready to rule as to whether or not the death was a homicide. Lt. Moore did indicate that the police were looking into allegations of illicit drug use at the club, which is unlicensed and operating as a nonprofit.

Although professing to know next to nothing about the operation or its history, she did indicate that the DCPD was working with DCRA to "shut the club down." At 14thandyou, we question how sincere the District is at looking into the operations of the club. A fire at the club in 2005 raised similar questions about the legality of its operations, although to our knowledge nothing against the club was ever pursued.

ANC2F Meeting Tonight: Cafes and Sex Clubs?

ANC2F has their monthly meeting scheduled for tonight, and all looks to be pretty much standard fare for ANC meetings: you have your church parking discussion, your ABRA discussion for a new cafe coming to 14th Street (Cafe Trebant), some assorted DC government reports, and so forth.

However, the most interesting part of the meeting may come from something that is not listed on the agenda. It seems that Washington CityPaper reporter Amanda Hess has been sniffing around the story of the death that occurred over the weekend at the sex club that operates at 1618 14th Street. City officials, it seems, have not exactly been forthcoming regarding the individual's identity, nor the circumstances under which the death occurred. Hess has indicated that she plans to attend this evening's meeting to raise the issue before the ANC--ostensibly, we can only assume, to urge the ANC to launch some sort of inquiry or investigation.

If you're thinking that this property has been in the news before, you would be correct. A few years ago, a fire broke out in an upstairs room of the building, leading to an investigation into the use of the property by the District. The club that runs the sex parties hosted at 1618 is the "DC Wrestling Club," which is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. However, the property is currently zoned residential, and nothing in the property records indicates that it is a staging area for functions conducted by a nonprofit entity.

There are many questions surrounding the property, and likely non of them will be answered tonight. But a good conversation could ensure nonetheless.

The full agenda for this evening's meeting can be found at the ANC2F website.

14th Street Pet Store and Comic Book Shop Closing

In yet another sign of the struggling market for local retailers along 14th Street, we have some sad news to report regarding a couple of local neighborhood businesses:

Linda Welch, owner of environmentally friendly pet supply shop Green Pets and comic book shop Big Monkey Comics has told us that both establishments will soon be shuttering due to the loss of their lease at their current location. Although a definitive closing date for each store is not yet known, the longtime 14th Street establishments will likely vacate their current homes sometime in the next 2 to 6 months. According to Welch, the two businesses are victims of rising commercial lease rates along 14th Street.

Welch indicated that she is exploring options for reopening both businesses in new locations. Green Pets might end up in the recently completed View 14 building at 14th and Belmont, which was developed in part by fellow 14th Street business owner (Universal Gear) David Franco. As for Big Monkey Comics, its future is a bit more uncertain.

The inevitable question that arises from this is what might take the space of these businesses? Nothing is certain yet of course, but we have heard that preliminary discussions are underway to bring in a "sex ed" (sex club?) entity called "WholeDC" on the second floor.

And no, we're not kidding.