District Digest Week of 4/10/19

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Image: Nancy Pelosi donating her gavel to the Smithsonian.  Beside her are other objects from the institute’s collections representing women’s firsts.  Photo courtesy: Smithsonian Institute

Bipartisan support for a Women’s History Museum

Twenty-six bipartisan co-sponsors have signed a bill supporting the creation of a Smithsonian Women’s History Museum.  Findings in the bill state that it “deserves a prominent location on or very close to the National Mall,” and that “private sector funding should finance construction.”

Representatives of the Smithsonian are certainly in support of the idea, yet state that they don’t have the resources to dedicate to it at the moment.  “I think that might be a ways down the road.  Our last museum took 13 years, plus,” a Smithsonian spokeswoman, Linda St. Thomas, told WTOP.

Penn Quarter fitness center planned

Byrd Fitness has applied for a permit at Terrell Place, 650 F Street NW, across from Capital One Arena.  Though not much is known about the project, the site is expected to become a large gym complex.

Hamilton returning to Kennedy Center in 2020

Mega-hit musical “Hamilton” will return to the Kennedy Center for its second run in June 2020.  Single tickets, which will go on sale in Spring 2020, will cost between $99 and $550, with an eight ticket limit per household. 

Compass Coffee opens in Georgetown

Popular coffeeshop Compass Coffee is now open in the Old Georgetown Theatre at 1351 Wisconsin Avenue.  The company, owned by two former marines, now operates nine café locations. The Georgetown location will be open everyday from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Metro offering HQ building for development

Metro announced this week that it is offering its DC headquarters site, the Jackson Graham Building, for development under a long term ground lease.  The location and size of the offering are rare for DC.  The 1.1 acre site spans an entire city block in the heart of the city’s Gallery Place retail and entertainment district.

Mark Ein takes over management of the Citi Open

Under a deal announced last week, venture capitalist Mark Ein will pay a fee to take over management of the Citi Open tennis tournament from the Washington Tennis & Education Foundation, which owns the sanction that conveys the right to stage the tournament on the top men’s tour.  The Citi Open was founded in 1969.  “My goal is for everything about this event to be lifted to a new level,” he told the Washington Post in an interview.   The event will continue to include a women’s tournament, which was launched in 2012.