Natasha Dasher, a third-generation Washingtonian, who as the daughter of a former city housing administrator, knows her way around town. So when she left her corporate marketing job in Houston last year to return home and start a restaurant, she knew which areas to consider before she began talking to brokers and landlords.
She chose Anacostia.
In July, if permitting and construction continue as planned, Dasher will open the Uniontown Bar & Grill, a 1,500-square-foot spot for sandwiches, salads and cocktails that she believes will thrive.
The restaurant would be another new sit-down place to get a bite and a beer after work in the city's east of the Anacostia River neighborhood. It will offer antibiotic-free meats and fresh juices as mixers. The name -- Uniontown -- is what the neighborhood was called when it was first developed as a whites-only suburb in the 1850s.
Dasher, who worked as a marketing manager for Houston-based Satterfield & Pontikes Construction before deciding to open Uniontown, considered space on 14th Street Northwest, near the new Target store. But she isn't alone among local, independent restaurateurs who has chosen a location that many before would have considered less choice. Michael Landrum, owner of Ray's the Steaks in Arlington, opted to open his newest restaurant in Deanwood, another east of the Anacostia River neighborhood, in Northeast D.C.
Dasher made a simple calculation in choosing the 101-year-old building at 2200 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE: There were no competitors in a six-mile radius. Plus, rent was $15 less per square foot than in Columbia Heights.
She said she would be coming to Southeast whether or not the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was building a massive campus nearby -- but she is aware of the number of employees, 14,000, that are expected to arrive.
Please come out and show your support for this new project on June 1, 2010, 6pm at the next ANC meeting being held at the UPO building. The address is 1649 Good Hope Rd SE.
By Jonathan O'Connell
www.WashingtonPost.com
ANACOSTIA RIVER REALTY: The East of the Anacostia River Experts!
http://www.AnacostiaRiverRealty.com
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