The two blocks of Seventh Street Northwest between O and Q streets are typical of Shaw’s revitalization. The west side of the corridor is consumed by Roadside Development’s CityMarket at O and Jefferson Apartment Group’s Jefferson MarketPlace. In the southeast quadrant is the popular, decade-old Kennedy Recreation Center.
The northeast quadrant is a work in progress. But change is coming.
Valor Development on Dec. 22 was issued permits to raze 1509 and 1511 Seventh St. NW, a pair of single-story brick commercial buildings constructed around 1909. One is the former home of Buffalo Wing House. The other is the former Variety Market. Both are vacant.
What’s to come, per Valor’s website, is an “impressive building with significant retail and 100+ apartment housing units in the heart of one of the city’s most vibrant submarkets.” The same website describes Seventh and P as the “intersection of hip, cool, and emerging.”
The D.C.-based Valor controls a significant chunk of the square, including 1525 Seventh and 631 P St. NW. Though it remains key to the development plans, Valor does not yet own the actual corner of Seventh and P (1501-1503 Seventh). That lot is owned by the District, and city officials say it will likely be competitively bid, though the final decision will rest with Mayor-elect Muriel Bowser’s administration.
Outgoing Mayor Vincent Gray on Monday was scheduled to cut 17 ribbons in Shaw, including five new businesses. Among them are Beau Thai at 1550 Seventh, part of Jefferson MarketPlace, Dolci Gelati at 1420 Eighth St. NW, part of CityMarket, and Compass Coffee at 1535 Seventh — four storefronts north of the Valor site.
Have a look in the gallery for what’s going, and what’s on its way.
