Photo via LoopnetThe City Paper’s new food writer Jessica Sidman reports that Eric and Ian Hilton have decided against opening a restaurant along H Street NE. The brothers and nightlife impresarios sold the lease they’ve held on the old house at 1337 H Street, though they’re not saying to whom.
As Sidman notes, this is the second property in recent months that the Hiltons have walked away from after scrapping plans to open up shop on commercial strips where their restaurant and nightclub group does not yet have a presence:
This is the second property the Hilton Brothers have let go of in recent months. They had a letter of intent (but not a finalized lease) for the former HR-57 jazz club space at 1610 14th St. NW. Initially, they planned to turn it into an Italian gastropub and “arts incubator,” but after receiving neighborhood opposition to the liquor license, they decided not to pursue the project further. (Scott says 67 people initially signed on to protest the license.) Acqua al 2 chef Ari Gejdenson, who planned to partner with the Hilton Brothers, has since signed a lease for an Italian restaurant of his own there.
The Hiltons took control of the house at 1337 H Street NE last year. At first, the former funeral parlor was supposed to be split between artists’ residences and a basement bar. But not every event held at the space was a success. People took well enough to “The Living House,” a multi-sensory tour of the building engineered by Bluebrain, but an underground art fair a few weeks later organized by the performance artist Adrian Parsons devolved into a scene resembling a Roman orgy, which prompted the eviction of one of the house’s residents and a change in plans for the venue.
