The American in Blagden Alley - Update

Update 11/01/2013:

Blagden Alley & Naylor Court Association has published the agreement between Xavier Cavera and itself.
This agreement reflects the hours and the specific concerns expressed by neighbors at the ANC 2F Alcohol Policy Committee meeting.
The agreement will be voted on at the 6 November meeting of the full ANC, it should be noted that the formal protest period has already passed. You can read the full agreement here...

Original Post:

 

Still playing catch-up, after missing 3 weeks of news etc. A number of local meetings happened that addressed the proposed restaurant "The American" in Blagden Alley NW. Here's the update;

Building will be renovated and re-modeled, not demolished

For those also in catch-up mode, "The American" is a proposed restaurant from Xavier Cavera, to be located in Blagden Alley.
"Xavier Cavera is a well establish restauranteur who has opened many restaurants on Capital Hill including the Chesapeake Room, Box Car and Hawk & Dove. Most of these locations are in C2A properties immediately adjacent to or backing up to residential zoned property."  This is intended to be an affordable reasonably priced restaurant - something similar to the Box Car where you can have something to eat and a beer for under $20.  The new restaurant will be located in what is now the Boxing Gym in Blagden Alley and the Rent a Wreck parking lot behind it. 

Currently a parking space, the planned outdoor dining area is equal in size to the indoor space

The building will not be demolished. It will, instead, be renovated, retaining the existing structure. Additions will be installed to upgrade the structure...insulation, all new systems, door, windows, etc. there may be an addition, but that has not been decided on yet.

Some comparisons: The current structure is about 30' deep by 60' long - about 1800 square feet.  Xavier also intends to establish a garden dining area on what is currently the parking lot for the car rental business behind the boxing gym - this lot is about the same size as the existing Boxing Gym Building. Based on the proposal, this would be 75 seats each for both  inside and outside spaces. For comparison Thalley, which just opened at 1316 9th Street occupies about 2400 square feet but only seats about 50 or so.  Baby Wale that just opened, on 9th Street, is about 3000 square feet plus another 1000 square ft in a mezzanine and seats about 150 people.

The restaurant hours have gone through some changes, since our last blog posting.  

Inside Hours: (opening time not confirmed)
7am till 1am - Sunday through Thursday 
7am till 2am - Friday and Saturday
Exterior Hours (when open)
7am till 11pm - Sunday through Thursday - last call at 10.30pm
7am till 1am - Friday and Saturday - last call at 12.30am

These hours were approved in a 5-0 vote at the ANC 2F Alcohol Policy Committee last month and closely follow the standard the ANC has been negotiating with other bars and restaurants.  
In addition, Xavier has agreed to a long list of accommodations which includes: 

• Hand truck deliver of supplies
• Acoustic insulation for the building
• HVAC, exhaust unit and fencing placement of the exhaust (to minimize impact on local residents)
• The trash dumpster will be located within the property

Xavier will discourage any smoking outside the property and provide a smoking area within the garden area, he will also, actively work to discourage noise from patrons entering and leaving the property.  

So, it seems that The American is on its way, I have no dates as yet but things seem to be moving along quickly......I will continue to update the blog as things happen

My gratitude to Greg Melcher ANC2F06 commissioner, who provided much of the content and information for this article