Shadowstone Lighting Opens in D.C.
• April 9, 2015

One of the largest companies for media, film and entertainment lighting on the East Coast, Shadowstone opened at 953 V St. NE March 27 with a grand opening reception. On hand were company founder Frank Marsico, At-large Council member Vincent Orange and Angie Gates, director of the D.C. Office of Motion Picture and Television Development. The Shadowstone facility houses its showroom and rental department, as well as a brand-new light lab that will be used for product testing, demonstrations and workshops. The New Jersey-based Shadowstone has operated in the District for a number of years. Orange has worked to bring more film-production activity and jobs to the nation’s capital.

Thos. Moser Co. Fetes Return to Washington and Founder’s 80th Birthday
• April 4, 2015

The new showroom for Thos. Moser Handmade American Furniture was celebrated March 19, as guests and clients got to meet company founder Thomas Moser. The happy crowd, which included Maine’s congressional delegation, sang “Happy Birthday” to Moser, who just turned 80. Next to the C&O Canal, the store is only doors away from its earlier showroom at 33rd & M Streets. [gallery ids="118134,118127,118123" nav="thumbs"]

EastBanc Buys Gas Station Property for $4 Million
• March 27, 2015

EastBanc, Inc., completed its purchase of the Valero gas station at 2715 Pennsylvania Ave. NW for $4 million.

The site – at the eastern entrance to Georgetown – is a triangle of land between Rock Creek Park, M Street and Pennsylvania Avenue and sits across from the Four Seasons Hotel. The developer bought it from ABC Automotive LLC, the Washington Business Journal first reported.

Anthony Lanier, president of EastBanc, told the Journal: “This site needed to be done. It’s the entrance of Georgetown. I think it’s one of the most important sites in the city, and it shouldn’t be a gas station.”

EastBanc also is developing the Key Bridge Exxon property at 3607 M St. NW on the west side of town and has completed many additions and renovations to the Georgetown scene, including the Georgetown Post Office, Cady’s Alley, Ritz-Carlton, Nike and 1055 High condos. It is building the new West End Public Library and re-doing the West End firehouse.

At a community meeting in November, Lanier talked about the new project, which will include ground-floor retail with apartments or a hotel on the upper floors. He hired Portuguese architect Eduardo Souto de Moura and told the group to “keep an open mind.”

At the Georgetown Valero, Eddie the mechanic said the station was getting new pumps and would be cleaned up.

Onward Reserve
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Preppy and dressy casual men’s clothing store Onward Reserve plans to pop up soon at 1063 Wisconsin Ave. NW, the former address of the Pleasure Place, a enduring sex toy boutique (35 years). Founded by T.J. Callaway and Will Watts in 2012, the apparel and home-goods retailer operates with an extensive online selection. Onward Reserve’s list of brands includes Barbour, Peter Millar, Dubarry and Vilebrequin, as well as up-and-comers like Smathers & Branson, Martin Dingman and Tokens & Icons. Headquartered in Atlanta, Onward Reserve has locations in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee.

Four Seasons GM Departs
• March 26, 2015

General manager Dirk Burghartz has departed the Four Seasons Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue to run a Four Seasons resort in Dallas. His successor will be David Bernand, who worked at the Four Seasons in Georgetown previously. Bernand will be returning from the Four Seasons Resort in Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Yarrow Mamout: African American History on Dent Place
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The property at 3324 Dent Place NW was the home – and possibly the final resting spot – of Yarrow Mamout (c. 1736–1823). Enslaved in West Africa and brought to America as a young man of 16, Yarrow (his surname) was freed at age 60 and chose to stay in Georgetown for the rest of his life. He was a master businessman and investor. The home he built on Dent Place is no longer standing, but the property still exists and could hold valuable historical clues relating to Georgetown’s racial history.

At the March 2 meeting of the Georgetown-Burleith Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E, a unanimous resolution called for “conducting a thorough archeological survey at 3324 Dent Place NW in search of evidence of the life and times of Yarrow Mamout.” The resolution came in response to a request by a developer to build townhouses on the site.

In a determined and strong request, the commissioners resolved: “We urge the D.C. Historic Preservation Office to request that the Historic Preservation Review Board recognize the property at 3324 Dent Place NW as a property likely to possess archeological significance and determine that a thorough survey, including excavation as appropriate, be conducted before any building permit is issued at this location.”

Whether the lot at 3324 Dent Place contains artifacts or the remains of Yarrow Mamout himself is an open question. Some have speculated that his remains may still be there in a corner of the property where he once prayed.

After being declared vacant, the dilapidated house on the Dent Place property was struck by a falling tree in August 2011, crushing its second floor. In November 2013, the house was razed and the land cleared.

James H. Johnston’s 2012 book “From Slave Ship to Harvard: Yarrow Mamout and the History of an African American Family,” uses paintings, photographs, books, diaries, court records, legal documents and oral histories to reconstruct a six-generation family history from Yarrow to Robert Turner Ford, Harvard College, Class of 1927.

Business Leaders Call at Orange Anchor, Spotlight Spotluck
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The Georgetown Business Association met up March 18 at the newly arrived Orange Anchor restaurant at Washington Harbour on the Georgetown waterfront.

GBA President Charles Camp welcomed members and guests to the seafood eatery – which was opened by Reese Gardner – founder of Wooden Nickel Bar Company (Copperwood Tavern, Irish Whiskey Public House and Second State) and caters to landlubbers and boaters alike.

The purpose of the GBA, Camp stressed, is to promote and help Georgetown businesses succeed. The group heard a quick presentation of a local mobile app, Spotluck, headed by Cherian Thomas and Brad Sayler. The app will soon launch its Georgetown hub to help the community discover — and decide — where to eat locally. Also, GBA members now can join the City Tavern Club at a discount.

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Watergate Hotel Marks Topping Off, Set for Summer Opening
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The once legendary Watergate Hotel – part of the equally legendary Watergate complex on the Potomac River, next to Georgetown – marked a ceremonial topping off of the hotel’s grand ballroom during its $125-million renovation March 19.

“Once it was the grandest luxury hotel,” said Jacques Cohen, principal of Euro Capital Properties, which is developing and owns the Watergate Hotel. The group intends to bring back the hotel’s mystique — with luxe appointments as well as a 12th floor rooftop.

The grand ballroom, the “hotel’s crown jewel,” said Rakel Cohen, the director of design and development of Euro Capital Properties,” will be called the Moretti Ballroom after the hotel’s designer Luigi Moretti, the Italian architect who created the complex’s contemporary and ground-breaking style in 1961. The hotel opened in 1965.

The Watergate complex on 2600 Virginia Ave. NW gained worldwide fame because of a burglary there of the offices of the Democratic National Committee and the ensuing investigation that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon in 1974.

The Cohens were joined by Mayor Muriel Bowser, Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans and Foggy Bottom advisory neighborhood commissioner William Kennedy Smith, M.D., costume designer Janie Bryant and hotel managing director Johnny So. Then, the headliners planted small Saliva seedlings in a potting table to indicate the rebirth of the hotel, which has been closed for seven years.

The Watergate Hotel will re-open summer 2015 with retro styling and luxuries that will include 340 guest rooms, whisky bar, fine dining and casual restaurants, grand ballroom, rooftop lounge, fitness center and spa.

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London’s West End Men’s Fashion Comes to Georgetown
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On March 20 and 21, Sterling & Burke, the stylish, upscale leather goods and specialty-gifts store on Pennsylvania Avenue, hosted “Bespoke: Jermyn Street Comes to Washington, D.C.” The trunk show featured London’s West End tailors Benson & Clegg, shirtmakers Budd and shoemakers Foster & Son.

Pennsylvania Ave. Bridge Falling Apart
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Falling debris from the Pennsylvania Avenue Bridge closed the southbound lane of the Rock Creek Parkway and brought engineers to the scene to assess the damage on Tuesday, March 24. U.S. Park Police said that a parkway driver reported debris on the road below the bridge around 1 a.m. Tuesday.

When structural engineers arrived on the scene for repairs, they were greeted with a flurry of falling debris with pieces as large as golf balls fallinh on them from underneath the bridge.

The bridge underwent repairs early this year and is slated by the D.C. Department of Transportation for substantial improvements starting this summer. No word yet on whether the March 24 incident and its aftermath will force DDOT to act on the bridge sooner than planned.