Gin & Tonic becomes Mason Inn

Adapted from the September 2011 edition of the Glover Park Gazette:

Gin & Tonic (2408 Wisconsin Ave.) served its last gin &/or tonic on August 6 and shut down for “a face-lift,” according to co-owner Fritz Brogan. It was set to reopen in early September as Mason Inn, “a Southern-themed sports and live music restaurant and bar,” Brogan tells us. The renovated space will feature a longer bar, new seating, and “at least six” 60-inch HDTVs with all the sports cable packages, Brogan adds.

We hear the bar was already open as Mason Inn for a Hurricane Irene party on August 27. The club’s owners plan a grander renovation in the future, to include a full kitchen and rooftop seating, Brogan says.

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JP’s strip club wins liquor license renewal fight

From the September 2011 edition of the Glover Park Gazette:

JP’s Night Club (2412 Wisconsin Ave.) won a significant battle on August 17, when the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board renewed its liquor license, over neighbors’ protests. Foes of the strip club—closed since a January 2008 fire—are now pondering their next move in trying to block the bar’s reopening.

The bar’s opponents may soon gain an advantage in the fight. Although no official word had come by our press time, we hear the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board will likely decide that JP’s must face a separate renewal process—and probably a separate round of neighbor protests—when the interior of its new building is complete. James Charles, a representative of the club’s owner, has said that the prospect of more protests could scare off an investor who plans to pay an estimated $600,000 for interior construction.

The ABC Board did make some concessions to concerns raised by the protestants—the Advisory Neighborhood Commission and a group of 16 neighbors. In renewing the club’s license for three years, the board ruled that live entertainment there can’t start until 5 p.m. (Before the fire, nude dancing at JP’s started as early as 11 a.m., which is when the neighborhood’s other strip club, Good Guys, opens.) The board also ruled that JP’s would need to provide “VIP” or valet parking, as well as creating a smoking area in the rear of its building to reduce loitering on the sidewalk.

Representatives of protesting parties say they are still discussing whether to appeal the ruling. JP’s representative Charles did not respond to a request for comment.

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Former Wisconsin Overlook, Vixen property sold

From the September 2011 edition of the Glover Park Gazette:

The vacant beige behemoth at 2136 Wisconsin—the former home of an unlicensed party house known as Wisconsin Overlook and The Vixen—has a new owner. On July 29, the property was sold for $2.5 million to “2136 Wisconsin Avenue Venture, LLC,” a company controlled by Seung Lim, according to a spokesman for the seller.

In 2009, the building came to the neighborhood’s attention when its lone resident, Tyrone Green, held a string of noisy, open-bar parties there. Green and other party promoters charged for admission without having secured a license to sell alcohol. In fact, the building was not even supposed to be occupied, because construction on a major renovation begun in 2007 was never completed.

In late 2009, the mortgagee, Mid-Atlantic Federal Credit Union, foreclosed on the property and took possession of it. Green was evicted, and he still faces legal charges stemming from one of the parties—plus a $100 bench warrant for failing to appear at an arraignment in January.

Frank Amantia, an attorney for Mid-Atlantic, says he believes Lim plans to develop the building “in a manner consistent with the original plans filed with the DC government: four apartments above a commercial unit…. I think that Glover Park should be very happy with the results.” Lim could not be reached for comment.

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