Developer Has the Past in Mind for Shaw

A few youngsters on a field trip to study architecture and design passed by the chain-link fence in front of the brick, two-story theater and paused to listen to Ellis.

Milan Grissom, 13, a student at Terrell Junior High School, chimed in with a suggestion.

"You should have classrooms for art programs, and a place for the community to gather, and even a museum of what this neighborhood is about," Grissom told Ellis, who said those were good ideas that he would consider.

Ellis has been buying properties along Seventh between S and T over the past two years, and he has his eye on more. Today the block has a family-run barber shop, a CD store, a nail salon and takeout food joints.

Many residents and business owners in the neighborhood welcome Ellis's project. In the streets around it, Victorian homes in Le Droit Park have been renovated, causing a surge in property values as redevelopment has spread east.

"I think the vision Chip's group has is a great one," said Antoinette Charles, the owner of Tobago's, a Caribbean takeout and catering business on Seventh Street. "My whole thing is when, when, when?"

Her landlord sold the building to Ellis's group. "I don't want to go, but hopefully they'll build a space that I can come back to and have a nice, sit-down cafe and restaurant," Charles said.

Some people in the neighborhood are worried that the development will make doing business in the neighborhood too expensive, forcing them out.

Wanda Henderson, who has run a nail and hair salon in the 1800 block of Seventh Street NW for 2 1/2 years, said Ellis is buying the building where she leases space so she will have to find a new location.

"It's a great change that's coming for this community," Henderson said. "As for the business owners, it doesn't give us much opportunity because I doubt I'll be able to afford it later."

Ellis said he plans to offer some subsidized rents for retailers and small businesses from the neighborhood in the first few years. But many nearby business owners say that wouldn't be enough to help them stay. Rents in the new retail space will probably be $25 to $30 a foot, Ellis said, compared with the $15 to $20 a foot that many tenants pay now.

A few doors down from Henderson's nail salon, brothers Gennaro and Lionel Ballard reminisced about how vibrant Seventh Street was -- with upscale restaurants, a grocery store and boutiques -- back when their uncle and father started the barber shop.