We haven’t written much about the development of the site of the old George Washington University Hospital since last January when we reported the University had announced they would conduct not one but two studies about what to do with the land. The situation is this: GWU could make quite a bit developing the site as commercial retail, office, and housing. Neighborhood residents resent the university’s relentless growth and see the massive plot of land…

Leafing through the June West End Guide we came across an article about an interesting new business in Georgetown. Opened by two 23-year-old school buddies Toby Moore and Justin Lesher, eSpot is an eBay listing and sales service. For 30% of the first $500 of the sale amount and 20% of anything higher the duo will photograph your item, list it on eBay, and mail you a check when it sells. They only accept items…

Like the double-faced Janus, there are two Smith Points. One is the Georgetown restaurant loved by neighbors for its food, the other is the exclusive club environment that gets going later toward midnight, made famous by two infamous patrons, the Bush twins. And numerous people (including these women who were apparently White House interns last summer who posted their W.H. photos on Webshots) have followed in their wake. As some community interests in Georgetown continue…

The corner of New Hampshire Avenue and M Street has never been known as one of the city’s most beautiful. With Don Shula’s steakhouse, Lulu’s Club Mardi Gras and the Exxon gas station in the center, you may wonder why the West End Ritz Carlton decided to set up shop on the edge of what could be described as a garish, undefined regurgitate semi-urban, semi-suburban architectural mess. Lulu’s attempts to transform the corner of M…

It’s hard to miss the giant “Hoya Saxa” mural while driving past Georgetown University on Canal Road NW. The mural has been an institution since it appeared on the wall sometime in the early 1990s, yet some, such as Barbara Zartman, vice president of the Citizens Association of Georgetown, say the mural is “grafitti” and should be removed. Well, it looks like that won’t be happening anytime soon. The West End Guide reports that at…

Walking through the campus of George Washington University last fall, we wondered aloud to a friend what the university intended to do with the site of the old George Washington University Hospital, also known as the ginormous empty lot next to the new GW hospital off Washington Circle on Pennsylvania Avenue. The site is seen to the right in a GW photo. At the time our companion mused that it would probably sit empty for…

The West End Guide reports that Trader Joe’s, the gourmet Los Angeles-based grocery chain, is set to open its first location in the District by 2006. Trader Joe’s is eyeing the old Columbia Hospital site in the West End, which is being converted to retail and residential use. Anticipating Trader Joe’s arrival, the team from the WEG did a market basket survey to compare Trader Joe’s prices with those at the Social and Watergate Safeways,…

The Wisconsin Avenue building once occupied by Britches is slated to become the new home for Ralph Lauren and luxury lofts above. The properties in question are 1245 and 1247 Wisconsin Ave., near Prospect Street. It was the flagship store for Britches, the locally owned mens clothing retailer that went out of business last year. (Just to be clear, Ralph Lauren hadn’t signed a lease yet, but it was fully expected that it would, the…

Is the Watergate historic? That’s the question that faces the District’s Preservation Review Board on Thursday. Certainly the building that redefined the art of political scandal has a place in American history, but its residents are locked in a pitched battle that mixes property rights with history. The West End Guide reminds us what’s at stake. A group of residents opposed to the conversion of the complex’s hotel into new condos want the building declared…

While much has been written about the O Street home of Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry (or should DCist say Teresa Heinz Kerry?), the West End Guide has the skinny on the home of Kerry’s vice presidential nominee, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina. His home, built around 1830, is just a block away on P Street. It is currently assessed at $3.7 million. The Edwards bought the Georgetown home after selling a seven-bedroom 30th Street…