Cambria Suites Announced as CityMarket at O's Hotel!

I just noticed that a post from last Friday on the CityMarket at O blog announcing that Cambria Suites will be the hotel at CityMarket at O!

From the announcement:

The hotel will offer 182 all-suite guestrooms, an expanded food and beverage area and a rooftop featuring a pool, fitness center and an outdoor patio with views of the U.S. Capitol and the National Monuments. . . .

Designed as a lifestyle hotel brand, Cambria Suites offers more than just a place to sleep at night. It features a larger lobby to give guests a more social atmosphere, all-suite rooms that are larger than standard hotel rooms and include separate living, working and sleeping space, providing business and leisure travelers a haven to relax, socialize and network.

Like all Cambria Suites. the hotel will feature:  Reflect, a casual dining and gathering area serving a dinner menu, liquor, wine, beer, freshly prepared grab-and-go gourmet salads and sandwiches, a barista bar featuring Wolfgang Puck® coffee, Cheesecake Factory® desserts and a hot breakfast buffet; Refresh, a state-of-the-art fitness center with an elegant pool and hot tub/spa area; and Refill, a 24-7 convenience store that offers energy drinks, snacks and sundries. . . . .

Also included in the blog post is this new-to-me rendering of the hotel entrance at Ninth and O, complete with Cambria Suites signage:

Exciting!

Light Blogging

Sorry for the light blogging of late -- September had me away from DC a lot, and now I'm in the final countdown for my wedding (woot!). I'll try to get a few posts up here and there, but expect a light October. 

Here are a few items of interest involving the Shaw area:

Art All Night this past weekend sounds like it was a lot of fun and a really interesting event and draw to the neighborhood.  Check out some photos here.

Commissioner Rachelle Nigro has the scoop that Bozutto has plans for a 63 unit residential building at 460 New York Avenue, eleven stories high with lift parking. There are still a lot of hoops to jump through before dirt will fly, but to the right is an early rendering.

A few neighborhood businesses are nominated for Express Night Out's Best of 2011 Poll, including Etete and Beau Thai.  Vote for them by October 3 here!

Mark  your calendar:  Sunday, October 30 is the annual Shaw Main Streets Tulip Planting.  This year's project will focus on upper Ninth Street, notably the 1900 block.

The west wall of the historic O Street Market has been dismantled as part of the initial phase of the development of CityMarket at O.  Check out the webcam for the site, and view a timelapse of what's taken place to date, here!

Catching Up

I just returned from an extended vacation, thus the lacking blog posts of late.

Last week, I missed out on reporting on one of the more major stories of the year as it unfolded – the closing of the O Street Giant to make way for the new CityMarket at O development. Fortunately many others covered it. 

Here a few things on my radar:

The original callbox project kickoff meeting had to be cancelled because of Hurricane Irene. If you’re interested in helping lead the project, the rescheduled meeting will take place this Saturday morning at 10 a.m. at the Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Neighborhood Library. RSVP to shawcallbox@gmail.com if you can attend.

Shaw’s Inaugural Bar Crawl is this Saturday (September 17) afternoon! Buy tickets now for what should be a fun time (I’ll be bartending at Beau Thai if it’s any enticement). There’ll be a shuttle to take crawlers between venues. Buy tickets and find out more here.

Art All Night is a week from Saturday (September 24) night. It’s going to be a really fantastic and unique art celebration throughout the neighborhood.

More posts to come later this week.

Long View Presents Thomas Burkett

Tonight (September 1, 2011), Long View Gallery celebrates the opening of its latest show with a reception from 6:30 to 8:30. The show, called Containment and Diversion, features works by Thomas Burkett. The show will run from now until October 2.

From the gallery's press release:

Long View Gallery is pleased to announce Containment and Diversion, featuring approximately 15 mixed media works on paper by Washington-based artist Thomas Burkett. This marks the first solo show of Burkett’s young career. Thomas’ work explores topics currently headlining news stories around the country. Wide spread water shortages in much of the south caused by the breakdown of manmade containment and diversion equipment, exemplifies his belief in our inability to exact control over nature.

Growing up in the grandeur of the Western United States, Thomas Burkett gleaned an impression of invincibility and an air of confidence that abundant land resources is a right of passage. Now, as an outside observer, he realizes his Utopian West is both a place of grandeur and illusion. An urban identity now confronts his notion of abundance with the reality of a water crisis and a realization that we have settled in an environment that challenges our subversive tactics of control. Determined to examine our control of water, the work in Containment and Diversion portrays the damming, diverting, and polluting of water – life’s most vital substance.

Long View Gallery
1234 Ninth Street, NW
202.232.4788