Media-Shy District Property Owner Comes Out Talking

And that does not take into account repaying the $650,000 he has borrowed to convert his townhouse into a restaurant. It is expected to open sometime next year.

Offering an explanation, any explanation, was a turnaround for Austin and Angela Spriggs, who had not responded to e-mails, telephone calls and written requests for interviews for more than a month. The father and daughter were so publicity-shy that Austin Spriggs once denied that he was Austin Spriggs when a reporter knocked on his door and asked to speak to him. On a different occasion, Angela Spriggs pulled up to the office, saw a reporter waiting nearby and sped away.

"I didn't know what to say, so I drove away," she said yesterday.

But as they stood outside the peeling 1890 townhouse at 433 Massachusetts Ave. NW, father and daughter were all smiles after calling the news media to promote their plan for the Ledo Pizza franchise.

"I've never been a public person, but once The Washington Post puts your name on the front page, it's time to tell your story," said Spriggs, smiling behind bifocals in the bright sunshine. "I never expected this kind of publicity. But now that it's here, I think it's great."

The two Spriggses enthused over their plans. They swore they wanted to keep the property on Massachusetts Avenue because they were committed to the city.

"We stayed here through the good and bad times," said Spriggs, who bought the two-story building for $135,000 in 1980.

Father and daughter, often speaking at the same time, said they had endured tough years on the block and wanted to enjoy its renaissance.

"It was crazy around here," interjected Angela Spriggs, who recalled the 1980s when drug addicts, homeless people and prostitutes gathered around the building and posed such a threat that she would run from her car to the front door.

Now, her father said, "We want to stay in the community and provide employment opportunities for the youth."

"Give back," Angela Spriggs said, nodding her head of curls in agreement.

And the architecture practice they have run from the building for more than a quarter century? It will be moved in part to Silver Spring, they said.

Angela Spriggs got the idea for the pizza franchise after developers declined her father's financial terms and his request to be the architect of record for the planned condominium and office tower.

"There's nothing wrong with someone who has practiced for 26 years at a location wondering why your phone isn't ringing when some of the big developers have come to do projects where you are," Spriggs said. "Is it because we're a minority firm that we don't get opportunities to design a lot of private work?"

As Spriggs stood outside his building, curious motorists pulled up. "I'd have sold, but I respect him for doing what he wanted," said Paul Green, as he pulled up in his Ford Ranger to get a free pizza.

Spriggs expressed no regret. "America's a great country, and the fact that everyone can choose makes it a great country," he said. "I have no animosity towards anyone."

And then, he stopped one of the Beall brothers from cleaning up. "I want to take one of those pizzas home," he said. "That's dinner."