Busboys and Poets Signs on to Open in Anacostia

• May 2nd 2014

by Lark Turner

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Busboys and Poets owner Andy Shallal has signed a letter of intent to open a store and training center in Anacostia, The Washington Post’s Jonathan O’Connell reported on Friday.

The new outpost would be located in a former furniture store at 2004-2010 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE (map) with a restaurant on the first floor that would also serve as a training program for culinary students. The DC-based Local Initiatives Support Corporation is reportedly an investor in the project.

Shallal has been talking about opening a Busboys east of the river for years. In 2012, he was speaking on a panel in Historic Anacostia hosted by River East Emerging Leaders when a moderator asked whether he’d open in Anacostia.

“I am going to open a Busboys and Poets east of the river,” Shallal said. “When is the question.”

His response was greeted by a chorus of cheering.

Busboys, like Whole Foods, has been known as a harbinger of development and gentrification, though Shallal told UrbanTurf he believes it is “short-sighted” to initiate development without respecting the history of a neighborhood. In 2012, he assured the forum’s audience that when he expanded into Anacostia, he would do so in a respectful way.

“I always do my research on a community,” he said at the time.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/busboys_and_poets_plans_opening_in_anacostia/8439.