Although not in SoCo, you probably already heard that the General Store and Post Office closed its doors this week.
Management said, "the landlord has not paid his back taxes and the county is taking back the building." However, a commenter on SS Singular alerted us to the landlord's version of the story.
The Washington Post spoke to the landlord, Spiro Gioldasis, who is also the GM at Mrs. K's Tollhouse and runs Pacci's Pizzeria in our neighborhood. Spiro admits he is behind on his taxes, but only because Gillian Clark and Robin Smith, the proprietors of the General Store were woefully behind on their rent.
Clark claims Spiro is a bully and uses the courts to get his way. It looks like here he is getting his way. A judge this week found Clark and Smith are on the hook for $160k. They'll have to sell a lot of meals to pull that money together.
Clark and Smith are not immune to disputes and bad press that's for sure. And while never dealing with Spiro in a formal manner, he does seem a decent guy who's simply trying to collect the rent he is owed.
For the opening, we're getting a new addition to Fenton Village. A place called the Fenton Cafe is on the way. It will be located at 8311 Fenton on the east side of the street between Thayer and Easley (right next to Alliance Comics).
Looks like it will be quite a modest place (maybe competition for Fresh Start). Peering through the window, it appears as though they'll have just a few small tables and a counter to order coffee, espresso, sandwiches and maybe other small items. I wouldn't be surprised to see them opening very soon.
I wish them the best and am glad to see a new cafe in the 'hood as opposed to another braiding shop.
Friday, March 25, 2011
An opening and closing
Although not in SoCo, you probably already heard that the General Store and Post Office closed its doors this week.
Management said, "
Management said, "
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6 comments:
Fenton Cafe looks quite cute on the inside and it's definitely 100x better than being vacant space and 10000x better than another freaking ghetto hair salon. If the price/quality of the food works out, I look forward to grabbing lunch there semi-regularly.
Also, hopefully this spurs some general renovation of the building. Whoever the landlord is they should be ashamed of themselves.
The owner of the office building that Fenton Cafe is in is Joseph G. Anastasi of Silver Spring. Constructed in 1961 it is another nice example of Mid-Century Modern architecture, probably destined for demolition like everything else in Fenton Village.
Yeah...now that the Baptist church is going to come down everything else on Fenton needs to go so we can get new buildings and businesses!
The building doesn't need to be torn down, it just needs to have an ounce or two of effort put into it every couple of decades. It looks completely ghetto thanks to the absent landlord. If I lived in the $300-600K condo lofts across the street I'd raise hell over the countless code violations.
I agree we don't need to take down all of Fenton Village. It just needs some TLC. I am not against new development in the hood, but I personally would like to see some of the old character remain. Yes Fenton Village needs work, but it is far from beyond saving. And I think some new businesses that would appeal to new (and existing) residents would be great.
The Fenton Cafe sells crepes!! I'm there at least once a week.
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