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Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Columbia Heights' IHOP Opening Next Tuesday; Still No Word on Ellwood Thompson's

Photo courtesy of IHOP DCUSA twitter
Over the weekend, New Columbia Heights reported that the DCUSA shopping center's IHOP would be opening Tuesday, November 23rd. Apparently their soft opening is today, Tuesday the 16th.

I can't say I'm terribly enthused about this development. DCUSA is already ridiculously chain-y. And, I'm dubious of the crowd a cheap, 24-hour restaurant will attract...I'm thinking, a lot of post-bar crowd which could potentially mean some troublesome loiterers.

Then again, this franchise location is apparently owned by an MPD officer, so presumably the ownership will be keener on preventing noise, loitering and the like. As DCUSA Chief of Building Operations Dave Stein asserted, "There's not going to be any noise associated with it. It's going to be owned and staffed by police officers."

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The development of this IHOP location has been much anticipated. Prince of Petworth first broke the news that IHOP was coming in DCUSA in April 2009. And, according to Washington City Paper, the new IHOP location will bring 110 jobs to the area.

No news yet about the next door Ellwood Thompson's space, which has been advertised as "coming soon" for well over a year now. Washington City Paper's Lydia DePillis reported back in June that the anticipated opening date would be January 2011. However, I've recently walked past the site and it looks like little progress has been made.

Update: Prince of Petworth reported this morning that on 11/23 IHOP will be giving out 1,500 free pancakes to celebrate its opening.

UpdateDCist identifies IHOP's owner as Tyoka Jackson, who is quoted as saying that 95% of the IHOP's employees are DC residents.

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