News on the Avenue: Old Friends Leave, New Friends Arrive

On our stretch of Connecticut Avenue, change is not a stranger. But the rate of change seems to have accelerated in recent months.

Since late 2011:

• Walgreen’s has opened.
• Jake’s American Grille has opened its basement Boiler Room bar/arcade.
• WAMU has announced it’s buying 4401 Connecticut and moving in by this time next year.
• IntelSat is reportedly thinking (again) about selling its headquarters and moving out. (BizJournals.com)

More recently:

• New restaurants Sushi Para and the 876 Cafe have moved in next door to Walgreen’s. (Watch this space for an upcoming profile of the husband-and-wife team behind 876.)
• UDC has put a chain link perimeter fence around the large plaza at Connecticut and Van Ness, in preparation for a new student center. (ANC Commissioner Adam Tope writes about the plans for the Forest Hills Connection.)
• Clover Market has closed. A former teen employee will write about his time there.
• New sidewalks are going in along the Avenue. The crew seen below, across the street from the Day’s Inn, got started with the jackhammer at 7 a.m. one recent morning. The hotel’s guests probably enjoyed that. We’re certainly going to enjoy the new sidewalk, now free of cracks and holes.
• And Pet Needs is closing on Saturday, April 28^th, perhaps sooner if it sells off its inventory before then.

We look forward to covering the changes along the Avenue as they unfold.