Brookland's Colonel Brooks' Tavern Demolition Within the Month

Despite significant pushback from some locals, Colonel Brooks' Tavern in Brookland is set to be demolished in the next month, marking the end of one of the neighborhood's most recognizable landmarks.

"We anticipate the raze permit coming in the next thirty days," said David Roodberg, President at Horning Brothers.  (The application was filed on August 7th.)  "Of course, it could come sooner.  At this point we're thinking about when we're going to do the work.  We'll probably raze in October and then start in immediately on construction, which should take about two years."

The five-story project at 901 Monroe Street slated to replace the tavern will feature 220 residential units over five stories.  Jointly developed by Horning Brothers, The Menkiti Group, and owner Jim Stiegman, the Esocoff and Associates-designed project is said to be designed to blend in with the neighborhood's brick townhouse aesthetic, and will offer 12,000+ s.f. of ground floor retail space.  (And thanks to an agreement with the ANC, these commercial spaces will be leased to small- to medium-sized stores.)

The project has had a sometimes-rocky road to fruition, though, as community groups feared the new building would usurp the intimate scale of Brookland's commercial strip.  In deference to these concerns, developers revised their plans to shrink the new building's footprint by 12%, reducing its footage down to 197,000 from an original estimate of 220,000 s.f.  The development will also create 150 below-grade parking spaces and 66 bicycle parking spaces, as well as much wider sidewalks, thanks to 15-foot setbacks.

While the tavern will certainly be missed, tavern owner Jim Stiegman has said that business dried up after the tragic robbery/murders in 2003, essentially forcing him to sell.  Rumor has it that Stiegman proactively approached the Menkiti Group about development, and that Horning Brothers were brought in shortly after.

Brookland has seen a surge of development as developers woke up to the potential of a walkable, small scale neighborhood in such close proximity to transit and Catholic University.  The 901 Monroe project follows on the heels of Bozzuto's $200 million Monroe Street Market project that broke ground in late 2011.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Your Next Place

Shiny new townhouses in an emerging neighbor- hood - what's not to like?  Come in, get a bargain, sell off in a few years for twice as much as you paid, use your windfall to buy a house in Bethesda, and for the next ten years of cocktail parties tell your story about "that one night in your old house you heard a gunshot, you're pretty sure it was a gunshot, though it might have been a firecracker or car backfire or maybe the tv downstairs, it's hard to say since you were sort of asleep at the time."

Seriously though, everyone knows it wasn't a gunshot.  But enough about that.  These two townhouses, collectively named Randolph Row, are total gems.  Three levels, beautiful brick facade, all the modern finishes you could possibly ask for.  Large rooms, large windows, tons of light, recessed lighting, hardwood floors.  There's an open-style kitchen with Carrara marble countertops and stainless steel appliances, and a beautiful wooden deck.  And the yard is massive; you could legitimately play a full 11-on-11 football game back there.

Brookland, of course, is home to Catholic University, and is going to see quite a bit of development in the near future.  Before you know it, it'll be a second Columbia Heights, though hopefully much much less annoying.  The metro is only a block away, and each townhouse also has a garage, so you can drive instead of taking the metro.  I hate taking the metro.  If I want to be in close physical proximity to unhappy people staring straight ahead, I'll just visit my family, thank you very much.

1222 Randolph Street NE
3 Bedrooms, 2.5 Baths
$599,990

Washington D.C. real estate news