Coffee lovers in D.C., rejoice! The first Starbucks drive-thru in the District opened for business Friday.
Mayor Muriel Bowser and other city officials celebrated the grand opening during a press conference located outside the shop in Skyland Town Center in Ward 7.
“Roaming Rooster, the wildly popular fried chicken restaurant, will celebrate the Grand Opening of its Skyland Town Center location on Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022.
The eatery will open its doors to the public at 1pm, after a private event and ribbon cutting for restaurant staff and community leaders. A DJ will be on hand to spin music all weekend.
This Skyland Town Center location will be Roaming Rooster’s fifth restaurant in the District, and sixth overall. It is the first branch to open east of the Anacostia River, the first branch to launch a homemade custard milkshake program, as well as the first time the chain will open in a first-generation restaurant space. In partnership with WC Smith and Rappaport, more than $1 million has been invested in the Skyland restaurant. Roaming Rooster anticipates employing up to 40 people there.
The Black-owned, Washington-based business started in 2015 as a food truck operating in the District; the family parlayed its loyal following into a brick-and-mortar operation in 2018, since then opening DC locations in Tenleytown, U Street, Western Market and Woodridge.
Members of the media are invited to attend the private event, which will begin at 11am. Please note that all attendees will be required to present an ID and proof of COVID vaccination. Masks will be required.
The Roaming Rooster marks the start of an exciting year of openings at Skyland Town Center. A drive- through Starbucks, the first in DC, is slated to open this month, and the Lidl grocery store is anticipating a late 2022 opening.
Later in the year Skyland Nails and Spa, and Like That Barber, a neighborhood “institution” that has been serving families in Wards 7 and 8 for 30 years, will come online, along with Tropical Smoothie Café, &Pizza, Mezeh, Maizal, and Fuji Steakhouse and Seafood.
A Trek Bicycle store has signed a lease to locate at Skyland Town Center.
CVS and Chase Bank Community Center opened in 2021, as did The Crest at Skyland Town Center, a 263- unit residential property.”
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, along with Ward 7 Councilmember Vincent Gray and other officials, celebrated on Friday, February 11 the grand opening of the Starbucks drive-thru in Ward 7, the first in the city.
Bowser held a press conference outside the new Starbucks location in Skyland Town Center at 2800 Alabama Avenue, Southeast.
The mayor praised the opening, saying it is part of the ongoing development at Skyland.
Among those who participated in the event were John Falcicchio, Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, and a number of Starbucks administrators.
The new shop is the second Starbucks located east of the Anacostia River, and the first drive thru Starbucks in DC.
Ward 7 residents and leaders say they’re thrilled that Lidl, a supermarket chain based in Germany with stores throughout the U.S. including Maryland and Virginia, will open its first store in the District at the Skyland Town Center located in the ward.
“This is absolutely fantastic,” D.C. Councilmember Vincent Gray (D-Ward 7) said at the groundbreaking ceremony on Jan. 8.
“We have worked long and hard to bring more grocery stores to Ward 7 and elsewhere on the East End of the District. Lidl will provide residents with more options and serve as an anchor to Skyland. The East End is a valuable market location for retail and hospitality providers. I am pleased that Lidl is investing in our community and leading the way,” he said.
Gray participated in the ceremony with city officials including D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, D.C. Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development John Falcicchio, Ward 7 advisory neighborhood commissioners Tiffany L. Brown and Kelvin Brown, and corporate leaders from Lidl and Rappaport Companies, Skyland’s development company.
In the affluent suburbs of the nation’s capital, a new grocery store could almost go unnoticed — a small addition to a spectrum of food retailers that spans tastes and price points. Some prefer Trader Joe’s to Wegmans, or Costco to Safeway, but those choices are rarely discussed in terms of a neighborhood’s survival.
Much of Southeast Washington has no such luxury. No new supermarkets have opened in wards 7 and 8, the city’s poorest, in more than a decade, even as dozens have cropped up in the District west of the Anacostia River. And so it was that dozens of people stood in a parking lot off Good Hope Road SE on a below-freezing Saturday morning to celebrate the groundbreaking for a store that will end that streak: a Lidl food market in the unfinished Skyland Town Center development.
The store itself won’t open until later this year — for now, there was just a ceremonial pile of earth into which Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) sank a shovel. But even its promise was enough to draw a crowd to the site in Ward 7, where many have pinned their hopes on a store that might begin to reverse Southeast’s reputation as a “food desert,” where many residents procure their sustenance in the aisles of gas stations and convenience stores.
In the affluent suburbs of the nation’s capital, a new grocery store could almost go unnoticed — a small addition to a spectrum of food retailers that spans tastes and price points. Some prefer Trader Joe’s to Wegmans, or Costco to Safeway, but those choices are rarely discussed in terms of a neighborhood’s survival.
Much of Southeast Washington has no such luxury. No new supermarkets have opened in wards 7 and 8, the city’s poorest, in more than a decade, even as dozens have cropped up in the District west of the Anacostia River. And so it was that dozens of people stood in a parking lot off Good Hope Road SE on a below-freezing Saturday morning to celebrate the groundbreaking for a store that will end that streak: a Lidl food market in the unfinished Skyland Town Center development.
The store itself won’t open until later this year — for now, there was just a ceremonial pile of earth into which Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) sank a shovel. But even its promise was enough to draw a crowd to the site in Ward 7, where many have pinned their hopes on a store that might begin to reverse Southeast’s reputation as a “food desert,” where many residents procure their sustenance in the aisles of gas stations and convenience stores.
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DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and city officials broke ground on January 8 on a new Lidl supermarket at the Skyland Town Center, the first new supermarket that will serve residents in Wards 7 and 8 in more than a decade.
“Today, we celebrate a significant milestone that brings fresh, affordable, and healthy food to the residents of Ward 7,” Bowser said. “The new Lidl Food Market at Skyland demonstrates our commitment to delivering more grocery stores and food access points to neighborhoods East of the River. This grocery store has been a long time coming, and we are proud to be delivering for a community that has worked so hard to get to this groundbreaking.”
The Southeast DC store, which is scheduled to open by the end of 2022, is expected to provide around 45 new jobs, with wages from $16.50 per hour. All positions at Lidl include healthcare and other benefits.
“We thank Mayor Bowser and local leaders for their support and warm welcome to the District,” said Michal Lagunionek, CEO of Lidl US. “We are confident that DC residents will appreciate Lidl’s unique and high-quality approach to grocery, which allows shoppers to save money on our award-winning selection of fresh and high-quality products. We look forward to building a great team at Skyland and opening our store once construction is completed later this year.
The new Lidl Food Market comes as part of the mayor’s efforts to expand food access points East of the River. Bowser recently established a $58.6 million Food Access Fund and altered the Supermarket Tax Credit to prioritize areas most in need of grocery stores.
The District also started the Nourish DC Fund to provide flexible loans, catalytic grants, and technical assistance to locally owned small food businesses in the city.
The Skyland Town Center, where the new Lidl is located, is a major project launched by the Bowser administration. The multi-year initiative aims at bringing retail and residential space to Ward 7, as well as creating hundreds of jobs.
Celebrated comedian and actor Kevin Hart made a surprise visit at a local bank where he stressed the importance of African Americans becoming more financially literate as a means of living a better life and achieving their goals.
Hart spoke at the Chase Bank branch at the Skyland Town Center in Southeast on Nov. 3 before a group of 40 people. During an hour-long discussion moderated by Alfonso Guzman, the regional director for the Chase, Hart said becoming financially solvent took time and a lot of learning on his part.
“The financial journey never stops,” Hart said. “You need access to information in order to be financially independent. It won’t be given to you. You have to go out and find it.”
In a 2021 edition of WealthyGorilla.com, Hart counts as the 14th richest comedian in the world with an estimated worth of $200 million. Since launching his career in 2001, Hart has performed stand-up comedy shows in person and on television, starred in two Jumanji films and launched the Laugh Out Loud Network, a subscription video streaming service in partnership with Lionsgate.
Hart said he became wealthy by becoming educated in the best ways to save his money, investing his funds in a deliberate manner and learning about financial markets and commercial tools.
The comedian said his road to financial prosperity came with plenty of bumps.
“There were times when I was upside down financially,” he said. “I didn’t understand the world of taxes and I would put my money in the wrong things. It took me time to learn that it was better if I used an LLC to house my earnings instead of getting a straight paycheck for my work.”
Hart said he practices thriftiness by “living off a quarter.”
“Out of every dollar, I live off of a quarter,” he said. “Taxes take up 40 to 45 cents and the other portion goes to paying bills and other obligations. The rest, a quarter, is what I live off of. I also try to put something to the side.”
Mayor Muriel Browser announced that a $49 million grant program called the Food Access Fund will help D.C. restaurants open locations in wards 7 and 8, areas bereft of many grocery and restaurant options.
The first seven recipients will divide $9 million to use toward building out a restaurant, paying rent, and hiring employees.
Ward 8
- DCity Smokehouse will open its lauded barbecue to Anacostia. Its signature is the DCity half-smoke covered in brisket chili, cheddar-jack cheese, onions, and mustard.
- Gourmet bakery Sweet Tooth will also open in Anacostia.
Ward 7
- HalfSmoke will bring its half-smokes and cocktails to two new locations at Skyland Town Center and Minnesota Avenue.
- Highlands Cafe will open a new spot in Penn Branch.
- MLK Deli plans to bring crab cakes and hearty sandwiches to a new location in Deanwood.
- Roots 657’s certified Master Chef Rich Rosendale will bring the cafe and market to Skyland with barbecue, burgers, and “pantry essentials.”
- Sala Thai will open in the Hill East neighborhood.
- Fresh Food Factory will bring healthy groceries to Keniworth.
The first newly constructed market-rate residential property to open east of the Anacostia River in the past 40 years is now available for leasing. Known as the Crest, the 263-unit apartment building at 2219 Town Center Dr. SE in Washington is part of a mixed-use development with a pharmacy and bank.
The project is being developed by WC Smith.
WC Smith and Rappaport have led the residential and retail leasing and strategy for the past 15 years for Skyland Town Center, a mixed-use project under development in the southernmost part of Ward 7 bordered by Alabama Avenue, Naylor Road and Good Hope Road. The companies have partnered with the D.C. government, Washington East Foundation, Marshall Heights Community Development Organization and Skyland D.C. to develop Skyland Town Center, which has been planned for more than 30 years.
The Crest has 84,500 square feet of retail space that includes a CVS and a Chase Bank now and will include Roaming Rooster, Skyland Nails and Spa, and Like That barber shop. The retail center being built across the street from the Crest will include a Lidl supermarket, a drive-through Starbucks and four restaurants.
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The lease is the latest for the mixed-use project by Naylor and Good Hope roads SE.
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