Proposed changes to Wisconsin Avenue's Tenleytown corridor have threatened to close Babe's Billiards Cafe and Martens Volvo, near the Safeway grocery store, and put larger residential and mixed-use buildings in their place.
IBG Partners, LLC, a real estate acquisition company, has entered into a contract-purchase agreement with the owner of the building at 4600 Wisconsin Ave. NW, which currently houses Babe's Billiards, a popular hangout for AU students. IBG spokesman Scott Fuller said this agreement would allow the company to seek approval for a planned development consisting of a six-story condominium before finalizing purchase plans.
If the plans become a reality, Babe's Billiards would be closed - at least at its current location. However, this doesn't frighten Babe's manager Thala Arnouck.
While Arnouck said he is only bound to the location by the same one-year contract that he has been continually renewing, development firms like IBG "have been trying for five years to force us to move, and it hasn't happened," he said. "I'm not worried."
If Babe's were to close, Arnouck said that he would have to examine his options, and one includes staying in Tenleytown near the AU community.
At Marten's Volvo, at 4800 Wisconsin Ave. NW, similar plans threaten the continued presence of the dealership.
Donohoe Development has proposed a mixed-use site that would include both residential and commercial space.
According to a Web site, Donohoe created the development plans, which would include 166 units and be six stories tall.
Both plans require zoning changes to proceed, and applications to the D.C. Zoning Commission are currently under review.
Bruce Lowrey, a Tenleytown resident and founder of the Coalition to Stop Tenleytown Over-development, is opposed to the two proposals. He previously told the Washington City Paper that he plans to make every effort to prevent the development companies' plans from becoming a reality.
"We're not leaving any stone unturned," he said. "We are David, and the Goliaths are Donohoe and IBG."
In a letter addressed to Tenleytown residents last Feb. 23, Lowrey expressed his fears about the proposed plans.
"The proposed apartment building at the Martens Volvo site ... will contain 193 apartments, a prime housing location for American University students," the letter said. "So brace yourselves for the loud, all-night parties, fast cars and garbage."
Lowrey also said the proposed buildings are "too big, they're too tall and they're too dense ... the alley I live next to will be used as a high-speed cut-through, and it will cut off the light to my house," according to the City Paper.
Lowrey declined to comment to The Eagle.
However, Fuller defends IBG's plans.
"We set out to get community input on our design," he said. "An independent consultant published a draft report on the Wisconsin corridor recommending zone changes."
In an open letter to the D.C. Zoning Commission, the law firm Holland & Knight, which represents Donohoe, said the proposed plans for the current Martens Volvo site were changed in response to concerns of Tenleytown residents.
The number of proposed stories was reduced from eight to six and the number of units to 166 from 191. Also, the proposed facade of the new building was changed to "break down the scale of the building."
The D.C. Office of Planning recently completed the Upper Wisconsin Corridor study, which states that zoning laws should be amended for the Tenleytown area to allow higher and denser buildings.
Information about the developments can be obtained from the project Web sites. The site for the Donahoe development, www.4800Wisconsin.com, is currently up and running. A similar site for the IBG development, www.4600Wisconsin.com, is still under construction. The coalition also has a Web site stating the neighbor's concerns at www.stopibg.com.
