News of another option for rooftop imbibing in D.C. is always welcome. So obviously, we were excited when perennial DCist event venue DC9 held the soft opening for its new roof deck last night. The official grand opening party (with DJ) is tonight at 9 p.m. — but we swung by last night to take an early peek.

The space is impressive, comfortable and spiffily decked out in wood from top to bottom. Construction took place over the summer and even involved flipping the stairs to avoid sending patrons through the middle of the second floor performance space. (DC9’s Twitter feed has more details and pics of the work in progress, via a series of tweets posted on September 11.)

The weather tonight might be about as perfect as it gets for an outdoor opening party, so we expect there will be a good crowd on hand to put the new space through its first paces. Even if you can’t make it tonight, it’ll still be the perfect place to catch your breath and cool off during any Friday night Liberation Dance Party.