ANC Airs Fillmore School Plans and Concerns
• March 26, 2015

At the March 2 Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E meeting, neighbors who live near the Fillmore School property at 1801 35th St. NW expressed concern about development plans for the 1.2-acre site. The owner, George Washington University, will review purchase bids next month.
The Fillmore School building and land served as the Georgetown campus of the Corcoran College of Art and Design. After GW took over the Corcoran school last year, it put the Georgetown property up for sale for $14 million.
Proposed concepts envision 12 to 14 residential units in the old school building on 35th Street and six to nine three-story townhouses on the 34th Street side, currently a parking lot. The plans follow the examples of the rehabilitated Phillips School, developed in the late 1990s on the east side of Georgetown, and the Wormley School, developed in the 2010s on the west side.
ANC chair Ron Lewis said at the March 2 meeting: “Bidders should be well aware of what is likely to be welcomed by the community and what is likely to infringe on the community’s view of what should be there – and the consequences that could flow from that.”
Lewis and the commission outlined “community expectations” that include not more than 10 units in the old building and no major change to it, new townhouses on 34th Street that match the height and massing of existing adjacent homes, access to the north side of the property from a 34th Street driveway and retention of the playground on 35th Street.

2nd District Cmdr. Michael Reese Retires
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Michael Reese, commander of the Metropolitan Police Department’s 2nd District, headquartered at Idaho Avenue NW, has retired. After 30 years as an MPD officer, Reese has moved on to become the deputy chief of police for the D.C. Housing Authority. His cell phone remains the same; his new email is mreese@dchousing.org.

Clarification: Georgetown Garden Club’s New Website
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An expired website was listed in the Georgetown Garden Tour story that ran in the March 11 issue of The Georgetowner. The correct address is GeorgetownGardenClubDC.org. Meanwhile, the Georgetown Garden Club has published “Gardens of Georgetown: Exploring Urban Treasures,” profiling 38 neighborhood gardens, available for sale during the May 9 garden tour and on the website.

J.Paul’s Names Jack Evans, Paul Cohn Inaugural Icons of Georgetown
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The inaugural Icon of Georgetown Awards presentation filled the back dining room of J.Paul’s restaurant March 11 with well-wishers for two Georgetowners who have served the town for more than 20 years.

Ward 2 council member since 1991, awardee Jack Evans was among old friends and his three 18-year-old children, Christine, John and Katherine. Evans noted that his political life began upstairs at J.Paul’s with the likes of Max Berry, Richard Levy, Bill Jarvis and Paul Cohn. He won his first council race by 320 votes. The longest-serving council member also recalled his first stay in Georgetown at 35th and N Streets in the summer of 1975.

Awardee Paul Cohn, who founded J.Paul’s in 1983 and began many other restaurants, such as Paulo’s, Old Glory, Georgia Brown’s, Georgetown Seafood Grille and the River Club, was introduced by Greg Casten of Tony and Joe’s Seafood Place. Cohn’s latest effort is Boss Shepherd’s on 13th Street in downtown D.C. “The biggest thing about Paul is that no one has anything bad to say about him. As a friend, he is always there,” said Casten.

The awards party benefitted Georgetown Heritage – a nonprofit coordinated by the Georgetown Business Improvement District – which seeks to restore and revitalize the mile-long section of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, including the purchase of a new canal boat and the replacement of locks. The long-term, large-scale efforts call for donations that will likely exceed $25 million.

Host Tom Gregg, the new CEO of Capital Restaurant Concepts, which owns J.Paul’s, Old Glory, Paulo’s and other eateries in the D.C. area, presented the awards to Evans and Cohn.

Gregg said that the C&O Canal is one of Georgetown’s treasures. Among the many other C&O Canal plans, Georgetown BID CEO Joe Sternlieb said that, if all goes according to plan, the canal barge, The Georgetown, will be available for rent on Saturdays for group dinners or parties.

Summer Opening for Watergate Hotel with ‘Mad Men’ Styling
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Closed for seven years, 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 – part of a $125-million renovation – on 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 retro styling and luxe appointments, as well as a 12th-floor rooftop bar. Other amenities at the hotel, which will re-open this summer, include a whisky bar, fine dining and casual restaurants and a fitness center and spa.

The grand ballroom, the “hotel’s crown jewel,” according to 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. Completed in 1971, the mixed-use Watergate complex with three residential buildings, two office buildings and a hotel was constructed by Italy-based SGI and developer Giuseppe Cecchi.

The Cohens were joined by Mayor Muriel Bowser, Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans and Foggy Bottom advisory neighborhood commissioner William Kennedy Smith, M.D., “Mad Men” costume designer Janie Bryant and hotel managing director Johnny So.

Georgetown U. Community Veep Lauralyn Lee to Depart
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Lauralyn Lee, associate vice president for community engagement and strategic initiatives at Georgetown University, plans to resign by the end of May to become a consultant. At Georgetown for 13 years, Lee worked on the recent campus plan that resolved many issues and created the Georgetown Community Partnership, a standing group of university administrators, students, community leaders and residents.

In a university letter, Erik Smulson, vice president for public affairs, wrote: “Lauralyn was a key contributor to the negotiations that resolved long-standing tensions with our neighbors, and subsequently developed the strategy and designed the infrastructure to support our community engagement efforts across the region.”

Georgetown Public Library Partly Reopens
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As of March 19, only the lower level and first floor of the Georgetown Neighborhood Library at 3260 R St. NW has reopened, due to ongoing water damage repairs. Cold temperatures caused a pipe to rupture and the resulting water flow shut down the entire library Feb. 13.

David Bernand Returns to Four Seasons as GM
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David Bernand returned to Georgetown this week as general manager of the Four Seasons Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue. Seven years ago, Bernand had been the hotel’s manager and, before that, the director of food and beverage. Most recently, the French native was general manager at the Four Seasons Resort in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He succeeds Dirk Burghartz, who left for a Four Seasons resort in Las Colinas, outside of Dallas.

“Returning to D.C. is like coming home,” Bernand told the press. “All of the best memories I have with the company are here in Washington. From attending to high-profile clientele to working with loyal staff, each aspect of the operation made a difference in my decision to return to this iconic hotel.”

Bernard is the eighth general manager to lead D.C.’s only Forbes Five-Star and AAA Five-Diamond hotel with its 222 rooms, Seasons Restaurant, Bourbon Steak and M29 Lifestyle store, overseeing 450 employees. He arrives at a time when D.C. is seeing hotels opening or being renovated in time for the 2016 General Election and 2017 Presidential Inauguration – and in time for a $13-million renovation of his hotel’s rooms this summer.

Business Leaders Spotlight Spotluck at Orange Anchor
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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 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 explore where to eat locally. Also, GBA members now can join the City Tavern Club at a discount.

Thos. Moser Opens at 33rd Street and the Canal
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Thos. Moser, Handmade American Furniture, opened a new store in Georgetown over the weekend. After being at the corner of 33rd and M Streets for 10 years and closing in June 2012, the Thos. Moser Showroom is a few doors down the same street, at 1028 33rd St. NW. Company founder Tom Moser met clients and fans and made new friends in the new space – which he considers the company’s finest – next to the C&O Canal. Also on hand were other company employees, including head craftsman Warren Shaw.