Update on Royal Blue, the Next Columbia Heights Restaurant to Open? was originally published on Housing Complex on Dec. 09, 2008, at 6:40 pm
Yesterday, City Paper’s Young and Hungry blog reported on restaurateur/chef Gillian Clark’s plans to open up a new establishment in Park Place, a new mixed-use community currently under construction on Georgia Avenue, right across the street from the Petworth Metro Station. This afternoon, I called over to Donatelli Development to see if any other retail spaces in the building had been leased. The man overseeing Park Place had left for the day. But I did get a little tip about Donatelli’s Kenyon Square project.
For as long as I can remember, one of the ground-level retail spaces has had a sign posted in the window, advertising “Royal Blue Mediterranean Bistro.” Prince of Petworth provided an update in July about an opening date (at that point, expected in October). Clearly, that deadline has passed. But progress is being made: “I guess they had some issues with their build out. But I’ve been in there recently and talked to the construction guys and they’re very, very far along,” says Donatelli Development Marketing Director John Groth. “I would be shocked if it wasn’t ready in terms of the build-out to be opened in the next couple of months. It’s a two-level space. There’s seating upstairs, balcony seating upstairs. There’s kind of a big curved bar when you come in. I think one whole wall of the restaurant is the ‘wine cellar.’”
