Gray and Wells Award H Street Retail Grants

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Four businesses on H Street NE received grants this morning that District officials hope will boost daytime retail on the corridor, which is bustling any given evening, but much quieter when the sun is up.

Mayor Vince Gray and Councilmember Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) presented awards totaling $330,400 to a pharmacy, a yoga studio and a pair of clothing stores that are angling to grow their operations as the Atlas District evolves into supporting what Wells called "five-minute living." (The notion that all of one's needs are located within walking distance.)

The growth of H Street is "one of the most remarkable renaissances of any business corridor in the country," Wells said at the presentation at the Atlas Performing Arts Center. "One of the things that's been missing is daytime retail," he said.

As he often does, Gray reminisced about growing up just a few blocks away from the H Street strip, mentioning a high-school job bagging groceries at a Safeway.

The grant recipients, though, are much smaller than a supermarket. The H Street NE Retail Priority Area Project is a $1.25 million program by the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development that aims to help small businesses in the neighborhood expand their storefronts and hours of operations.

First to receive a grant was Stan's Inc., a clothing store at 822 H Street NE that provides uniforms for employees of D.C. agencies. Stan's has a long institutional memory of the neighborhood, first opening downtown in 1947, and moving to H Street in 1978. The store's owner, Leon Robbins, said the $85,000 grant would help pay for renovations and the addition of a women's line.

The Studio Group, which operates a Bikram yoga studio at 410 H Street NE, received $83,400, which owner Elizabeth Glover says will allow her to add a collection of yoga supplies and expand her hours beyond 30 minutes before classes. Gray noted that Glover, who opened her studio in 2006, has played host to a few notable customers—the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., Lady Gaga and D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown.

Almost intuitively, Brown arrived at the grant presentation and talked about how he's been going to the hot yoga classes there since 2007. He said he wore sweatpants and a sweatshirt to the class, which is held in a room heated to 105 degrees.

"You must be new," Brown said a more seasoned yoga enthusiast told him. Since then, Brown said, he's gotten his whole staff into the activity, to which he now wears more comfortable attire. (Lady Gaga, Glover said, did her yoga sessions in her skivvies, to which Brown remarked, "You can catch Lady Gaga in her underwear!" as one of the features of the exercise routine.)

Also receiving grants were H Street Care Pharmacy and Wellness Center at 812 H Street NE and The C.A.T. Walk Boutique at 1404 H Street NE, both of which opened in 2010.

Carolyn A. Thomas, the clothing shop's eponymous owner, was visibly moved as she accepted her $80,000 award, which she said will help make her store more hospitable. She described a recent day in which two of her employees left early because the store was too drafty in the cold weather.

"This grant is going to make me be able to put in new heating and flooring and make it more welcoming," she said.

Jose C. Sousa, the communications director for ~~the Office of Planning~~DMPED, said the grant applicants needed to "demonstrate what they'd be spending it on" and that the amounts awarded are just a fraction of any expansions or improvements the winning businesses are seeking to make.

A second round of applications for the grant program closed last week and will be presented in March, Sousa said.

Correction: This article originally identified Jose C. Sousa as the communications director for the D.C. Office of Planning. He is communications director for the Office of the Deputy Mayor of Planning and Economic Development.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@dcist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Benjamin R. Freed in News on January 10, 2012 12:35 PM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

Tom Aloisi

So wait- DC will give money to business owners with landlords who don't heat their buildings properly or have decent floors? So we have to pay to improve these buildings?

And why are we buying new equipment (yoga supplies) to give to for-profit businesses? I'm not convinced that buying a Yoga studio new equpiment is going to help daytime business. At all.

And what happens to one of the few nonprofits in the neighborhood- The H Street Playhouse? They get priced out of the neighborhood and will have to relocate. I guess this is a for-profit business can move in and get free stuff from the city.

HStreetLandlord

I'm a huge fan of the Playhouse, and it sounds like health problems and a death in the family caused financial problems, but they weren't exactly "priced out of the neighborhood." They sold their building for 800k more than they bought it for.

Samuel A. Moore

I've seriously wondered whether they'll ever actually run streetcars on H... just putting the rails is has induced development, property values are up, gentrification (however the heck you want to define that) is on the rise, and the X2 is as "popular" as ever.

Christopher

By "as 'popular' as ever," do you mean that the likelihood of a wino barfing on your shoes is as high as ever?

Samuel A. Moore

Winos... on a nooner.

Samuel A. Moore

So, I'd have to own a small biz, tell the government how I'd spend the money... and then no followup from the city? Guess we know who'll be buying the drinks tonight.

I'm just here for the snark

Team Moore for Public Private Partnership #1!

Kittyliteral

HH is tomorrow night. You can buy the beers then. :)

Samuel A. Moore

I like H Street as much as anyone (and I live in the neighborhood) but how much money are we going to dump here?

First we're giving money to tide businesses over while we rehab the street, then we're offering grants to businesses who couldn't figure out the place was gentrifying and they might want to change their business model / plan. And now we're giving money for the heck of it... No wonder banks (supposedly) won't lend to local small businesses, what's the point if they can get free money from the city?

scooterj2003

If the city hadn't abandoned the corridor for the last 40 years, it probably wouldn't be having to pump so much money into it now. You reap what you sow, or in this case, what you don't sow.

gtsix

If the citizens hadn't burned down the corridor 43 years ago, it would not have become the abandoned hell it became, and it would not now be the gentrified asshatzone it has become today.

Thank you Stokely!

Guest

"... and it would not now be the gentrified asshatzone it has become today."

I'm always interested by comments like this. Where is your ideal DC neighborhood?

I'm not being snarky, I'm curious. But if you say Takoma Park I reserve the right to laugh at you.

Under the River

But they dumped money on The Hamilton also, as if it needed it.

scooterj2003

Yeah seriously. They should have named the restaurant Grant instead of Hamilton.

mensan98th

Cheers.

DCTransplant

""You must be new," Brown said a more seasoned yoga enthusiast told him. Since then, Brown said, he's gotten his whole staff into the activity, to which he now wears more comfortable attire. (Lady Gaga, Glover said, did her yoga sessions in her skivvies, to which Brown remarked, "You can catch Lady Gaga in her underwear!" as one of the features of the exercise routine.)"

This paragraph is very disturbing. (nothing to do with the writing, but rather the content). The mental images are haunting.

Kittyliteral

...

Benjamin Freed

I think of all the things you've said to me, that's the closest to a compliment. I'll take it.

DCTransplant

Everything I say to you Ben is for your own benefit. It's called tough love.

Christopher

Interesting that the C.A.T. Walk Boutique at 1404 H Street NE got a grant, seeing as the landowner has applied to raze that property.

I wonder if it's for renovations, as some of the other awards are. Nothing quite like spending tax money to renovate some retail space right before the building is torn down.

mattashburn

It also was, according to teh blogz, open in March 2010. DCRA's PIVS system shows it first obtained a business license in December 2011, even past the grant application deadline.

Samuel A. Moore

This seems like a slightly more legal form of Team Thomas... we'll see how many of these recipients donate to Wells & Co.

scooterj2003

Well they can't raze it until it's vacant, so it's bad news for the property owner, good news for the business owner. Of course the property owner will find some way to raze the property, probably by quadrupling the rent.

sbraverm

"you must be new here"--yoga practitioner, to Kwame Brown.

Pete_eats

Hot Yoga is the new Hot Yogurt

monkeyrotica

"You must be new," Brown said a more seasoned yoga enthusiast told him.

Step right up! Say the magic word and win yourself a DCist teeshirt. Tell 'em where ya been by wearing a teeshirt!

IMGoph

i can't believe that two dcist memes have merged into one today.

SockPuppet

You must be nooner here. ™

monkeyrotica

"five-minute living" = nooners

I'm just here for the snark

A couple years ago I had a lunchtime dental appointment, so I told my boss I had a "nooner." Despite the look he gave me, I still think that's an apt way to describe an event at that hour.