Anonymous
04/05/2024 00:24
Subject: Board of Historic Chevy Chase declined to support the current historic district nomination by the CC Conservancy
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Not likely 9 stories, but the owners of the building rejected a proposal that would have had the space opened and active a year ago and instead it remains vacant and unused. So if the owners want to redevelop it, or make it into something else, that is their perogative.
It will likely suffer the same fate as the Penn Theater on Capitol Hill, which was nicely restored with multi-family residential or offices on top, but no more movies.
I really hope someone with deep pockets reopens the Uptown as a working movie palace. It was DC’s last intact single screen theater and an incredible place to watch movies. Indie films could definitely fill a niche there. Even a dinner theater would be nice, like the Greek-themed ABBA one (Mama Mia the Party) that sells out in Stockholm every single night.
the movie theater industry is not a growth industry
Good thing it's owned by a NON-PROFIT then...
Anonymous
03/31/2024 20:53
Subject: Board of Historic Chevy Chase declined to support the current historic district nomination by the CC Conservancy
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Not likely 9 stories, but the owners of the building rejected a proposal that would have had the space opened and active a year ago and instead it remains vacant and unused. So if the owners want to redevelop it, or make it into something else, that is their perogative.
It will likely suffer the same fate as the Penn Theater on Capitol Hill, which was nicely restored with multi-family residential or offices on top, but no more movies.
I really hope someone with deep pockets reopens the Uptown as a working movie palace. It was DC’s last intact single screen theater and an incredible place to watch movies. Indie films could definitely fill a niche there. Even a dinner theater would be nice, like the Greek-themed ABBA one (Mama Mia the Party) that sells out in Stockholm every single night.
I saw Ford vs Ferrari at the Uptown and it was a pretty bad movie experience. Horribly uncomfortable chairs and terrible audio. It needed a fairly substantial overhaul regardless.
However, movie theatres are a dying business. Dinner theatre also isn’t particularly popular.
Anonymous
03/31/2024 20:16
Subject: Board of Historic Chevy Chase declined to support the current historic district nomination by the CC Conservancy
The uptown is still a landmark in a historic district, so even with upzoning, the adaptive re-use oppportunities will be limited.
Anonymous
03/31/2024 18:43
Subject: Board of Historic Chevy Chase declined to support the current historic district nomination by the CC Conservancy
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Not likely 9 stories, but the owners of the building rejected a proposal that would have had the space opened and active a year ago and instead it remains vacant and unused. So if the owners want to redevelop it, or make it into something else, that is their perogative.
It will likely suffer the same fate as the Penn Theater on Capitol Hill, which was nicely restored with multi-family residential or offices on top, but no more movies.
I really hope someone with deep pockets reopens the Uptown as a working movie palace. It was DC’s last intact single screen theater and an incredible place to watch movies. Indie films could definitely fill a niche there. Even a dinner theater would be nice, like the Greek-themed ABBA one (Mama Mia the Party) that sells out in Stockholm every single night.
There is a solid business plan, developed by an industry insider, for a nonprofit to run it as a film and arts venue with a ground floor restaurant. Unfortunately the Uptown owners rejected the plan in favor of some other unidentified tenant - a year ago. Since then, it’s been crickets from the Uptown owners, leading to speculation that they are letting the Uptown sit empty until there is upzoning and they can flip the property to a developer.
Anonymous
03/31/2024 18:23
Subject: Board of Historic Chevy Chase declined to support the current historic district nomination by the CC Conservancy
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Not likely 9 stories, but the owners of the building rejected a proposal that would have had the space opened and active a year ago and instead it remains vacant and unused. So if the owners want to redevelop it, or make it into something else, that is their perogative.
It will likely suffer the same fate as the Penn Theater on Capitol Hill, which was nicely restored with multi-family residential or offices on top, but no more movies.
I really hope someone with deep pockets reopens the Uptown as a working movie palace. It was DC’s last intact single screen theater and an incredible place to watch movies. Indie films could definitely fill a niche there. Even a dinner theater would be nice, like the Greek-themed ABBA one (Mama Mia the Party) that sells out in Stockholm every single night.
the movie theater industry is not a growth industry
Anonymous
03/31/2024 16:47
Subject: Board of Historic Chevy Chase declined to support the current historic district nomination by the CC Conservancy
Anonymous wrote:Not likely 9 stories, but the owners of the building rejected a proposal that would have had the space opened and active a year ago and instead it remains vacant and unused. So if the owners want to redevelop it, or make it into something else, that is their perogative.
It will likely suffer the same fate as the Penn Theater on Capitol Hill, which was nicely restored with multi-family residential or offices on top, but no more movies.
I really hope someone with deep pockets reopens the Uptown as a working movie palace. It was DC’s last intact single screen theater and an incredible place to watch movies. Indie films could definitely fill a niche there. Even a dinner theater would be nice, like the Greek-themed ABBA one (Mama Mia the Party) that sells out in Stockholm every single night.
Anonymous
03/31/2024 15:44
Subject: Board of Historic Chevy Chase declined to support the current historic district nomination by the CC Conservancy
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I hope at least the Chevy Chase Arcade and the Avalon Theater would be retained in any high density redevelopment plans.
They are both already landmarked.
Only the facades are landmarked. They could save the facades and put “vibrant dense mixed use” on top.
No, the buildings are landmarked. There are very few interior designations, though it is possible, if not probably that the interior of the Arcade is designated. The Avalon has had substantial interior renovations so there is nothing to protect there.
That’s great news about the Arcade interior. While I don’t like the idea of losing the last of DC’s neighborhood theaters, if the theater facade becomes the ground level of a multi-story housing project, perhaps a small cafe or other retail could activate the sidewalk there, keeping it lively. I’d hate for an apartment building lobby to kill the vibrancy. So many apartment buildings along Connecticut Ave lack a vibrant, active ground level.
The non-profit that runs the Avalon also owns it, I believe. So unless they want to cash out or change their model, nothing there is going to change.
The Uptown Theater is more likely to become the Upscale Towers. DC is changing zoning to allow it to allow 9-floor buildings there. The Uptown facade would stay but nothing else.
Avalon is not Uptown.
Anonymous
03/31/2024 15:38
Subject: Board of Historic Chevy Chase declined to support the current historic district nomination by the CC Conservancy
Not likely 9 stories, but the owners of the building rejected a proposal that would have had the space opened and active a year ago and instead it remains vacant and unused. So if the owners want to redevelop it, or make it into something else, that is their perogative.
Anonymous
03/31/2024 15:19
Subject: Board of Historic Chevy Chase declined to support the current historic district nomination by the CC Conservancy
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I hope at least the Chevy Chase Arcade and the Avalon Theater would be retained in any high density redevelopment plans.
They are both already landmarked.
Only the facades are landmarked. They could save the facades and put “vibrant dense mixed use” on top.
No, the buildings are landmarked. There are very few interior designations, though it is possible, if not probably that the interior of the Arcade is designated. The Avalon has had substantial interior renovations so there is nothing to protect there.
That’s great news about the Arcade interior. While I don’t like the idea of losing the last of DC’s neighborhood theaters, if the theater facade becomes the ground level of a multi-story housing project, perhaps a small cafe or other retail could activate the sidewalk there, keeping it lively. I’d hate for an apartment building lobby to kill the vibrancy. So many apartment buildings along Connecticut Ave lack a vibrant, active ground level.
The non-profit that runs the Avalon also owns it, I believe. So unless they want to cash out or change their model, nothing there is going to change.
The Uptown Theater is more likely to become the Upscale Towers. DC is changing zoning to allow it to allow 9-floor buildings there. The Uptown facade would stay but nothing else.
Anonymous
03/31/2024 15:15
Subject: Board of Historic Chevy Chase declined to support the current historic district nomination by the CC Conservancy
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Personally, I’d like to see all the white people around lafayette give back their stolen property to black dc residents.
What about the native Americans?
Exactly. Does that make the black DC residents “colonizers”? And what’s this with a DC peoples’ school named after some white European militarist?
Anonymous
03/31/2024 11:56
Subject: Board of Historic Chevy Chase declined to support the current historic district nomination by the CC Conservancy
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I hope at least the Chevy Chase Arcade and the Avalon Theater would be retained in any high density redevelopment plans.
They are both already landmarked.
Only the facades are landmarked. They could save the facades and put “vibrant dense mixed use” on top.
No, the buildings are landmarked. There are very few interior designations, though it is possible, if not probably that the interior of the Arcade is designated. The Avalon has had substantial interior renovations so there is nothing to protect there.
That’s great news about the Arcade interior. While I don’t like the idea of losing the last of DC’s neighborhood theaters, if the theater facade becomes the ground level of a multi-story housing project, perhaps a small cafe or other retail could activate the sidewalk there, keeping it lively. I’d hate for an apartment building lobby to kill the vibrancy. So many apartment buildings along Connecticut Ave lack a vibrant, active ground level.
The non-profit that runs the Avalon also owns it, I believe. So unless they want to cash out or change their model, nothing there is going to change.
Anonymous
03/31/2024 11:31
Subject: Board of Historic Chevy Chase declined to support the current historic district nomination by the CC Conservancy
Anonymous wrote:Personally, I’d like to see all the white people around lafayette give back their stolen property to black dc residents.
What about the native Americans?