Walter’s streatery is a partially enclosed wooden structure that houses tables, chairs and even TVs.

Lucian Mattia / DCist

Update: Two days after the District Department of Transportation demanded they remove their streateries ahead of the Nationals first home game tonight, Walters Sports Bar and Mission Navy Yard will be allowed to seat customers in the outdoor seating areas.

According to Walters’ Twitter page, DDOT agreed under the condition that concrete jersey barriers be put up between the outdoor eating structures and the road. Mission managing partner Fritz Brogan told DCist/WAMU via text that officials were installing jersey barriers around the streatery on Thursday morning.

The update came this morning not long after Walters questioned the need for the barriers on game day. “We do [wish] DDOT would admit that cars on non game days are more dangerous than cars gridlocked leaving Nats park after a game,” Walters tweeted. “Unfortunately Jersey barriers aren’t small, and we will need to remove a portion of our streetery so that the traffic lane isn’t restricted too narrow. While this sucks we aren’t opposed to safety.”

It was not immediately clear how the city plans to regulate streateries in the long-term, or why these two were shut down so close to Opening Day. Both restaurants said they plan to have streatery seating available for Opening Day.

Original: Two restaurants across from Nationals Park are waiting to hear about the fate of their streateries — but they aren’t expecting to use them on Nationals’ Opening Day Thursday after the District Department of Transportation shut down the outdoor seating this week.

Walters Sports Bar, which is located right next to the stadium, was gearing up for an influx of customers for the Nationals’ first home game of the season when DDOT showed up Tuesday morning and said that the streatery structures in front of Walter’s and neighboring Mission restaurant would need to be removed, Walters’ owner Jeremy Gifford said on Twitter and to WUSA9.

DDOT cited pedestrian and traffic safety as the reason to remove them.

Representatives from Mission Navy Yard and Walters met again this morning with DDOT staff, and DDOT backed off the demand that the structures be removed from the street, Mission’s managing partner Fritz Brogan told DCist. But he said the restaurants will not be allowed to seat customers in the outdoor seating areas for the time being. DDOT said it will conduct a traffic study through the weekend to determine its next course of action, Brogan said.

“DDOT has identified ways to enhance safety on N Street, so restaurants can continue to operate during this homestand. Between the two homestands, we will work with our restaurant operators to make necessary safety precautions,” DDOT Director Everett Lott wrote in a statement Wednesday evening to DCist/WAMU. “As DC opens, we will continue to work with our restaurant operators to ensure safety. Now, we can focus on rooting for our Nats! Let’s play ball!”

Gifford said on the bar’s podcast Wednesday that DDOT said it is looking for “concrete jersey barriers” to place between the streateries and the traffic on N Street SE that would satisfy the agency’s safety concerns, but he didn’t sound convinced that would happen before the Nats’ 4 p.m. game versus the New York Mets Thursday.

Walter’s wooden streatery — which has been open since at least 2021 and which Gifford told WUSA9 cost $40,000 to build — was prepped and staff were already scheduled to work the outdoor area this weekend. He told Fox 5 DC the stop order he received from DDOT Tuesday morning asked for the streatery to be taken down three hours before baseball games and for two hours after, which is impossible for his structure.

“It seems very much that someone dropped the ball that should have come two months ago to have a conversation with us,” Gifford told WUSA. “The timing couldn’t be worse.”

The incident captured the attention of Councilmember Charles Allen.

Mission’s streatery has greenery and is surrounded by metal barriers. Lucian Mattia / DCist

“I just don’t think it makes any sense to go to a business less than 48 hours from the first pitch of Opening Day and and shut down a place where they they’ve been operating now for quite some time,” Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen, who represents Navy Yard, told DCist/WAMU. Allen said he spoke to Lott, the DDOT director, yesterday after learning about the incident on Twitter. Allen said Lott told him he was committed to finding a solution.

“We know this is a really important part of our local businesses being able to recover, and it just makes for a more active and vibrant streetscape anyway,” Allen said. “I just think removing the outdoor seating so that some drivers and season ticket holders can get to South Capitol Street just a little bit easier — it’s just not the right trade off.”

The start of baseball season means a boost in business for Navy Yard’s restaurants and bars, especially those closest to Nationals Park. The inability to serve customers outside means a 20 percent cut in business for Walters, Gifford told Fox5 DC. Eight of his employees were expecting to work outside on Thursday.

In 2020, 428 restaurants and bars received grants from the city to winterize their outdoor dining structures. The so-called streateries were vital to keeping the industry going through the pandemic during much of which indoor dining was banned, but their long-term fate is still to be determined.

This week, the D.C. Council passed the Re-Open D.C. Bill, which would extend streatery permits through 2023.

“People really enjoyed being able to dine outdoors, and frankly, it’s just a much smarter use of our public space. You trade off a handful of some car parking spaces for a lot of tables,” Allen said. “It’s good for the workers. It’s good for the business. It’s good for the residents. It’s really just a no-brainer.”

The legislation is headed next to the desk of Mayor Muriel Bowser, who has already expressed her support.

This story has been updated with a statement from DDOT.

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