Mark's Mashup

Last evening we joined a group of Stanford alums in DC real estate at the new NoPa Kitchen & Bar in Penn Quarter (formerly the Zola space). Developer Jair Lynch, second from right, an Olympic silver medalist in gymnastics in '96, explained why he hasn't done parallel bars in 18 years (short answer: you have to be in training, or things break). Other diners were from Greenfield Partners, Co-Star, Ditto Residential, Ballard Spahr, Cafritz, Point Forward, Carderock Investments, Greenberg Traurig, Studley, Goulston & Storrs, SK&A, Smislova, LUXbnb, Enterprise Community Investment, and Arent Fox. And yes, being a very smart group, they started early and left before the snow. Especially your publisher who feared his Mini Cooper would float away.

On an eating spree yesterday, we also had lunch at the Arlington Hyatt with new Rosslyn BID president Mary-Claire Burick. The former Allbritton Communications VP has been on a “listening tour” since starting in October, including Tuesday night with 75 residents over wine and cheese. She’s aiming for more high-end restaurants and bars and a livelier street scene, telling us there are more Millennials in the RB Corridor than any other such stretch in the US. Other news: Ben’s Chili Bowl arrives in March, Pier 1 just moved in, UberOffices and The Ground Floor do co-working spaces, and ASB Capital (by buying the Sedona and Slate apartments) has joined other gold standard owners in the BID like Monday, Brookfield, Tishman, JBG, Penzance, and Paramount. (Stay tuned for our Bisnow March 17 summit on the State of Rosslyn.)