A reader writes in:

“A big line on 14th Street, NW between Harvard and Columbia — they’re waiting for Section 8 housing. In a very long line, in 30 degree weather.”

Dear PoP,

You think you could Post something on the little corner store at the southwest corner of 13th and Otis? It has been closed for two days or so and I’m getting concerned. I love the store and the charming Ethiopian woman who owns it. One time she gave me a free meal when I complemented the wonderful smell of whatever was cooking. I hope the place will be open again soon.

I think it may have been involved in the recent bust by the major narcotics unit of MPD. Anyone else know/hear anything?

UPDATE: A commenter writes:

“The owner went home to Ethiopia until Feb 22/23. No drug bust! It will reopen before the end of the month.”

Photo by PoPville flickr user r_bowley

Dear PoPville,

I have been looking everywhere for the number of the so called “best kept Mexican food in DC” and I have had no luck. It’s called Rosa’s, its in Columbia Heights and the only access is by finding her phone number. I thought maybe you might know more about it or how I can find the number. Anyway below is a article talking about it.

“What’s the best kept food secret in Washington?

It’s Rosa’s, said chef Spike Mendelsohn, owner of the Good Stuff Eatery and We, The Pizza restaurants on Capitol Hill, during a panel Wednesday. He explained that to eat at Rosa’s, you must find and call a secret phone number. The mysterious Rosa, a resident of Columbia Heights, answers and makes sure you’re downstairs before throwing a set of keys out her window. Once you let yourself into her apartment on the second floor of a residential building, you can feast on what Mendelsohn says are the best tacos he’s had.”

We recently spoke about how good the trolley park renovations were looking at 11th and Monroe St, NW but I just noticed this fantastic old photo at the park. And now we know why it’s called Trolley Park:

Dear PoPville,

A year ago I wrote in asking if the Columbia Heights fountain should be protected from damage from skateboarders. As per usual there was probably a 50/50 split saying yes it should be protected, the fountain was brand new and should not be damaged. The other half was arguing for skateboarder’s rights and yuppies should apparently move away if they want nice things. Well, it’s a year later and if you walk over the fountain you’ll notice there are broken or chipped tiles on every other square foot or so. Granted the tiles can break from absolutely anything but the most obvious and highest level of abuse I’ve ever noticed is from skateboards.

Should we keep letting this happen untill the tiles are all broken? Or until all the fountain heads break?

At least they were caught. From MPD:

Shortly after 3 AM on February 5, 2012, three complainants were driving in the 1400 block of Park Road, NW, when they were cut off by three vehicles. Four people exited one of the vehicles and approached the complainants. Two of the suspects produced handguns and pulled one of the complainants out of the driver’s seat. The suspect attempted to take the complainant’s car, but the other two occupants fought the suspect off. The suspect took the complainant’s property, exited the complainant’s vehicle, and fled in the suspect vehicle.

The complainants chased the suspect vehicle onto Georgia Avenue, NW, when they observed a Fourth District patrol unit and reported the robbery/attempted carjacking. The Fourth District unit located the suspect vehicle and conducted a traffic stop in the 7000 block of 9th Street, NW. Two of the suspects were apprehended, but two additional suspects fled from the vehicle on foot. The two suspects who fled were apprehended a short time later in the 400 block of Butternut Street, NW. An identification procedure was conducted, at which time the complainants identified all four suspects as the ones who had robbed and attempted to carjack them. The suspects were placed under arrest.

Congratulations go out to Fourth District for apprehending these dangerous criminals and bringing a swift closure to this robbery!

On Sunday afternoon, @MrTinDC noticed some folks at Coffy Cafe coming to 3310 14th St, NW, and was wondering when they’d be opening. I stopped in to get a quick update and indeed they had just finished a staff meeting and are now aiming for a grand opening on Feb. 18th. While the furniture is still getting set up, I did see some awesome mod furniture. Gonna be a great addition to Columbia Heights.

This rental is located at 3541 Holmead Place NW:

The listing says:

“Beautiful renovated basement unit in great area!! Fascinating architecturally designed. All new appliances and freshly painted. Can be used as a 2 bedroom or as a one bedroom with a den/family room. All utilities included. Washer/Dryer. Full kitchen. Rear entrance with parking space in the rear.”

This 2 bed/1 bath is going for $1,700/Mo.

Photo by PoPville flickr user KJinDC

From MPD:

Based on an ongoing narcotics investigation in the Third District in the areas of Spring Road and Place, Perry Place, Meridian Place, Oak Street, Holmead Place and the 3300-3600 blocks of 14 Streets, Northwest , the Third District Vice Unit in coordination with other MPD Vice Units and the Major Narcotics Unit executed 10 search warrants in different areas in the city.

As a result, numerous arrests were made. Additionally, various narcotics, US currency, other evidence, and a firearm was recovered.

Thanks to the community for your continued support in making your neighborhoods safer.

Hipchickindc is a licensed real estate broker. She is the founder of 10 Square Team and is affiliated with Keller Williams Capital Properties. 10 Square Team is a princeofpetworth.com advertiser. Unless specifically noted, neither she nor the company that she is affiliated with represented any of the parties or were directly involved in the transaction reported below. Unless otherwise noted, the source of information is Metropolitan Regional Information Systems (MRIS), which is the local multiple listing system. Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

Featured Property: 1480 Harvard St NW
Legal Subdivision: Columbia Heights
Advertised Subdivision per Listing: Columbia Heights
Original List Price: $549,000.
List Price at Contract: Looks like it was increased post settlement first to $560,000., then to $660,000.
List Date: 12/09/2011
Days on Market: 2
Settled Sales Price: $700,000.
Settlement Date: 01/27/2012
Seller Subsidy: $0.
Bank Owned?: No Short Sale? No
Type Of Financing: Cash
Original GDoN post is: here.
The listing can be seen: here. To see pics, click on the main pic after opening the link and scroll through. In this case, there are more pictures than usual for a property in this condition.

I think everything I’ve written about the real estate market in DC over the past few months has read something like this…“blah blah blah SCARCITY blah blah blah LACK OF ACTIVE INVENTORY blah blah blah FOUR PERCENT (and lower) MORTGAGE INTEREST RATES.” For better or worse, that’s pretty much how it goes right now.

Continues after the jump. (more…)

Back in Aug. ’11 I heard some scuttlebutt that a Cava Mezze Grill was looking at a location by U St, NW. Turned out it was not that location but Cava did confirm that they were looking for more locations around DC. I have it from a very good source that they have found a location in Columbia Heights. They will be moving into the radiance medspa space at 3105 14th St, NW (I believe radiance will be opening in a new location.)  I’m not exactly sure of the timing of when this will all go down but I give this scuttlebutt a 92% accuracy rating.

Cava Grill is run by the same folks who own Cava Wine Bar located on Barracks Row at 527 8th St SE.

Think Cava will be a good addition to Columbia Heights? You can see their menu here.

Photo from PoPville resident TA

Thanks to PoPville twitter follower @jmerzie for sending the word Friday night:

“Joe Biden is @petes_newhaven in my hood right now!!!”

Very cool! Did anyone happen to be at Pete’s Apizza (1400 Irving St NW) when he stopped by?

These are gonna make for some sweet before and after photos.

According to the Neighborhood Development Company:

“The project will consist of a sustainable, mixed-use affordable rental housing development with ground floor retail to be built at the intersection of Georgia Avenue, NW and Lamont Street, NW of Washington, DC.

The project is being jointly developed by NDC and Mi Casa Inc. It will contain 69 units with 10,000 square feet of ground floor retail. At least 50% of the units will be affordable at 60% to 80% AMI. Delivery is scheduled for the 3rd Quarter 2011.”

Not sure when the delivery is scheduled for now, but it’s def. encouraging to see demo start. Here’s a rendering of The Heights on Georgia Avenue (3232 Georgia Avenue, NW):

Jan. 2012

Thanks to a reader for sending the photo above from 11th and Monroe St, NW (Trolley Park). Construction began back in Aug. 2011 but it’s finally starting to take shape. Looking forward to seeing how it looks with blue skies in the Spring. Also looking forward to seeing who patronizes it…

Sept. 2010

Photo by PoPville flickr user Joe in DC

Dear PoPville,

For the past 3 years, 6-7 guys love to hang out on the wall/sidewalk outside of our next door neighbors house. They do not reside there and my neighbor does not know them. We often call the police on them, as they smoke weed, trash our lawns, and harass us as we leave the house. Two of these guys, I believe, are to blame for a series of muggings where intoxicated people are targeted walking home at night. And, these two men have not been caught in the act by the police.

One instance occurred a couple months ago. My husband I were driving home from Baltimore on an early Sunday morning (around 3:30am) when parking into our garage, witnessed the same two casing a mid 20 something male in an attempt to mug him. This man was in bad shape from drinking and was unaware that the two men were following him as he stumbled in an alley behind our home. We intervened, convincing our drunk neighbor to let us give him a ride to his house, thus eluding the mugging.

We reported the incident to the police however the next day the two guys were sitting with their buddies in front of our neighbors home. So we called the police again to make a report. Two weeks later, one of our friends who lives a block over from us reported being mugged while returning home drunk after a night out after work. She works in the service industry and had deposits/tips on her at the time. Two men approached from behind on her porch before she could put the key in the lock. She gave us a similar description of the two guys.

Then, Saturday night, we were home watching movies and I saw blue and red lights flashing on my window. I went outside to investigate. The police had responded to another mugging. Same type of incident – intoxicated guy mugged and violently hit in the face. This man gave a another similar description. I told the police again about the earlier incidents and where we believe the party responsible hangs out.

As far as we can tell, they are targeting people between Columbia Road to Kenyon between Georgia and Warder. And they tend to “hang out” during the day and evenings on Kenyon between the same blocks.

I want readers to be aware of these two men and be safe. Readers be aware – If you are drunk, don’t walk home in this area – get a cab and have the driver wait until you are inside. If you walk, go in groups.

Our best description -
Approx 5′ 10” black male medium complexion with ‘freckle marks’ on his face dreads/braids slim build early 20′s maybe younger
Approx 5′ 5″ black male dark complexion short hair heavier build early 20′s maybe younger

Any advice or information you could provide and what can we do so that these guys stop getting away with this?

The OP assured me they’ve again reported this to the Police but I will make sure they see this as well. I think a dual approach is necessary – MPD needs to patrol this area and patrons need to heed the original advice of not walking home drunk alone late at night.