New 14th Street Coffeeshop Liquor License Supported

The outlines of a new "high-end coffee shop with evening cocktails" on 14th Street were drawn before a committee of Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2F/Logan last night (Thursday, September 19). The liquor licensing affairs committee of ANC2F heard the testimony of Ryan Fleming, sole owner and aspiring proprietor.

Future site of the coffee house

The coffee shop will be located on the ground floor of 1333 14th Street NW, on the ground floor of the building currently housing Fathom Events. The establishment is currently going by the name Glass House Coffee.

"This will be our legal name, not our trade name," Fleming said.

Fleming told the committee his shop would be "an improvement on the traditional coffee shop". The shop would break from the familiar pattern of customers lining up and barking out orders to a barista. Instead, Fleming said, the coffee preparer would function more as an expert bartender who is available for consultation and recommendation.

The establishment is in its early planning, design, and layout stage. It will be another 6 to 8 weeks to work out complete drawings for the site. After that, a possibly lengthy certificate of occupancy process would have to be negotiated. Fleming estimated that the shop would be ready for opening by early 2014.

The shop will have a small bar of 10-14 seats and a seating capacity of 40-45 in the main room. A sidewalk cafe on 14th Street with 4-8 tables was also planned.

A summer roof garden was being planned, using part of an existing deck. An existing gallery on the second floor of the building would continue to operate as now.

The shop will serve light food. It will have no kitchen, and "outsourced pastries".

Fleming said the plan was to ask for 7am-2am opening hours, 7 days a week.

There is no intention to seek an entertainment endorsement on the liquor license.

Fleming told the committee the required placards had just been received that afternoon and would be posted on the site the next day.

The committee voted unanimously to conditionally support the application for a liquor license and recommend Glass House Coffee negotiate a settlement agreement with the district ANC representative, who is Commissioner Chris Linn (district 03).

The committee's recommendation now moves to the full ANC for a vote. The next scheduled meeting of ANC2F is Wednesday, October 2.

The committee meeting was led by committee chair Commissioner John Fanning (district 04). Commissioner Jim Lamare (district 05), a committee member, also participated.