It appears that the Decca Group who were proposing a nightclub/bar disguised as a family restaurant has 
put their building up for sale. As you will remember from earlier posts, you know that they attempted to get a tavern license but was denied because of their proximity to a school. Instead, they were given a restaurant license but the fact that they still wanted to have live music and stay open until 3am on weekends, was enough to get residents to do what they could to shut them down.
It seems it worked. Several residents are going to make sure that the liquor license does not transfer to the new owners as well.
After what the residents have faced at King Solomon’s Temple (only one block from this proposed site), those residents have a right to be concerned about developments that want live music and late hours. How about a REAL family restaurant buy this location and open up?
Do we deserve less?
rhodeislandavene.com 
How amazing would it be to have a sit down restaurant on ri ave? I watch with some amusement the bickering back and forth going on on the brookland listserve. At least they have options.
Wasn’t the Lace Club just a block away, near the Sandwich shop and opposite Family Dollar supposed to be a sit-down restaurant on RI Ave.? Artmosphere on RI Ave had a very nice interior just like the Brookland Cafe on 12th Street and the Microbiotic sit-down restaurant near Glut in Mt. Rainier. Atmosphere went out of business because the community didn’t support it. They had a foreclosure sale earlier this year. Both this Decca Group building and the Jamaican restaurant can furnish two places for sit-down restaurants on RI Ave.
I seriously feel the quality and businesses on 12th Street have gone down significantly in the past years. 12th Street was supposed to be undergoing redevelopment of the small business kind. During this time, Ellis Island Restaurant went into foreclosure. Bubba Muscogee on RI Ave near 15th was a very nice sit-down restaurant. It just closed within the past year.
I don’t know about Lace being a sit-down at one point, but as someone who lives close to Lace, I have never heard a peep out of them. I feel that community support is vital to these businesses staying in business, and more importantly, bringing businesses into the community. One of the biggest issues I have found with the 12th St. restaurants and Bubba Muscogees is that the food is not good, and they don’t look like places I would want to eat. Bubba’s was a dump, and a lot of the other “restaurants” in this area are just not attractive in the least. If I’m going to go out to dinner somewhere, I want it to have a nice ambiance. These mom-and-pop joints aren’t what I have in mind. I’m not asking for the Palm, just somewhere nice to go eat. Redrocks Pizza in Petworth, Granville Moore’s and Sticky Rice on H Street NE, and the “Ray’s” restaurants are all great restaurants that are locally owned and do a great business. That is what the members of this community need to be fighting for.
On a final note, unless we can clean up the streets and prove to these business owners that there is a decent clientele to frequent their establishments, we don’t have a prayer of getting anything but crap up here. We’ve already been targeted as a “lower income” area by Cricket Communications http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/breaking_ground/2009/09/dc_corridors_welcome_cricket.html Let’s Get Started building a better Rhode Island Ave Corridor!
Mr weederson, you are so right. When my real estate agent sold me my house, she said bubbas was a great place. In 5 years, I never tried it because it doesn’t look good. I go to red rocks all the time! Its nothing fancy, but it looks clean, and the food is dynamite! And while that neighborhood is improving, that immediate area isn’t so much better than what we have here.
I used to go to artmosphere. I found the food to be good and loved the free wifi. I think that block is a tough one…I just hope someone takes a chance on ri ave.
Wow- you’re excited about a group wanting to invest in Rhode Island Avenue having to abandon their plans and sell after sinking a lot of money into renovating a dilapidated storefront? No wonder no one will invest in this corridor!! Just another group of NIMBYs like Cleveland Park, Tenleytown, and Brookland. You reap what you sow.
It comes down to this: would you rather have nothing (ie the current state or RIA) or take a chance on businesses willing to locate here? The fact is that the first wave of places that open have to be alcohol and entertainment establishments. Look around the city, starting decades ago- the H Streets and U Streets of the world could support only destination nightlife at first, but once the foot traffic is there other retail is able to open. But you can’t have boutiques and fine dining without having other places to draw people in.
RT – I think the residents would have been agreeable had they Decca Group been truthful in their attempts to locate. They wanted to have a quasi-nightclub. Fitting for a neighborhood corridor? NO. That is why they are leaving. That is the problem with many places: residents just allow anything to move in just to get something, then turns out they got the short end of the stick. Your statements about being NIMBYs is not accurate either. There was no opposition to Lace (a bar on RI Ave) because they didn’t try to circumvent residents and were upfront. They also have been very quiet and not have caused a disturbance. The issues residents are trying to avoid is late night clubs and live entertainment bars that will cause issues like the King Solomon Temple parties were doing. You state “the fact is”- which in my experience in the real estate market (I do consulting for developers on commercial locations) is that better class establishments follow better class commercial establishments. Bars and clubs only attract a certain other tenants of the same. H Street and U Street have some quality establishments because quality establishments went there first, not bars and clubs. Too often in my experience, residents get what they want in terms of the type of commercial development when they take an active role in it.
So please, don’t use “the facts are” on my site unless you can point me to qualitative reports/studies that back your hypothesis.