The Waffle Shop and Other Nostalgic Properties Will Redefine DC Corner

• December 5, 2019

by Nena Perry-Brown

UPDATE: Fast-casual restaurant Stellina Pizzeria announced it will occupy 2,700 square feet of the project, to open next summer.

A downtown-proximate corner is being re-envisioned to have a bit of a throwback feel. 

Douglas Development has assembled three commercial buildings at 6th and K Street NW (map) to create a nostalgic, activated gathering place for the Mount Vernon Triangle community. By the end of the year, over 4,000 total square feet of retail will be reestablished at the corner, featuring the return of the Waffle Shop previously at 10th and F Streets NW. 

In addition to the Waffle Shop, Douglas Development was a long-time owner of the other two buildings which were moved to form this project: the Lord Baltimore Filling Station and the Hodges Roast Beef Sandwich Shop, which were respectively sourced from the opposite corner of the 6th and K intersection and from New York Avenue between 6th and 7th Street NW. The filling station was constructed in the 1920s, followed by the sandwich shop in the 1940s and the Waffle Shop in the 1950s.

The assemblage is the result of years of collaboration between Douglas, the DC Preservation League and Historic Preservation Office staff. The length of time it took to achieve the project and the selection of this site is in part due to efforts to ensure the buildings fit each other and were configured in a way which respected their design.

Although the new site is zoned to support high-density mixed use development, Douglas opted not to pursue a project which would build atop the assembled commercial buildings to avoid "forcing too much density on too small an area," Paul Millstein of Douglas Development explained to UrbanTurf.

Bonstra|Haresign managed the design and restoration of the buildings, including reconstruction of the Waffle Shop in the original Art Moderne style, complete with a replica neon sign. While the Waffle Shop will reopen as a "waffle shop", Douglas anticipates announcing food and beverage tenants for the other two buildings in the first quarter of 2020.

Between this project, a 7-Eleven with sidewalk seating expected to open this month just steps away, and the potential for an eventual maglev station across the street, this intersection is shaping up to become one of the city's standouts.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/waffle-shop-and-other-nostalgic-properties-to-redefine-mount-vernon-triangl/16212