Trapped by Change, Economy

Mount Pleasant is not the only area feeling the effects of a pinched economy. In Adams Morgan, there are almost a dozen vacant storefronts along Columbia Road and 18th Street, a number described as unusual by Pat Patrick, president of the Adams Morgan Business and Professional Association.

Patrick said he is representing six restaurants seeking rent reductions of as much as 50 percent. "The traffic we're seeing up here has been greatly diminished," he said. "Because of the economy, because of the competition from other areas, we're losing customers."

Mount Pleasant's decline was aggravated by the apartment fire, which forced dozens of families from the neighborhood, many of whom shopped on the main street. To residents and merchants, the barbed-wire fence and concrete barriers in front of the surviving facade are a forbidding eyesore. The building's owner, Eric Kretschman, did not return calls seeking comment.

D.C. Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), whose district includes Mount Pleasant, said he plans to push the city to "make a case for eminent domain" if the owner makes no moves to rebuild.

"We can't have something of this prominence being a blight for the city as a whole and for Mount Pleasant in particular," Graham said.

No evidence exists that DC USA is pulling shoppers or retailers from Mount Pleasant, community leaders say. They also say that, as District officials pumped tens of millions of dollars into development in Columbia Heights, they funneled a fraction of that to help existing small businesses in the area.

"Mount Pleasant is being bypassed by all this development," said Alejandro Yepes, of Mount Pleasant Mainstreet, a not-for-profit group that promotes economic development. "We're not hurt by Columbia Heights' development. But it's lost opportunity."

At a recent meeting, community leaders implored Neil Albert, deputy mayor of planning and economic development, to help promote their neighborhood by changing signs at the Columbia Heights Metro stop to include Mount Pleasant .

They went so far as to ask Albert to call landlords to urge them to lease their spaces at cheaper rents.

"That's not something I want to get my office involved in," Albert said, encouraging the leaders to call the landlords and "appeal to their civic mindedness."

Two owners of vacant properties said that they are actively seeking tenants but that interest has been minimal, particularly since the onset of the credit crunch.

"I have not had that many calls," said Kathie Dematatis, owner of a storefront she has been trying to lease since early September. "Everyone is waiting to see how the economy will moderate before they go into any new venture."

Roselyn Abitbol recently reduced the rent for a corner storefront she has been trying to lease for six months. Besides the economic hurdles, she said, potential investors often skip over the neighborhood because of activists who make it difficult for restaurateurs or tavern owners to obtain liquor licenses.

"Anytime they want to do something, have music, everyone screams and yells," Abitbol said. "They don't want to deal with the activists, the aggravation."

One prospective tenant, a woman opening a boutique shoe store, cited a different reason for not leasing Abitbol's space. She preferred a spot two blocks to the east, next to DC USA's underground parking and across from the Metro station that delivers a gold mine of potential patrons to Columbia Heights.