The hotel planned for old church at Euclid Street and Columbia Road has apparently won final approval.
This news prompted an exchange of notes on the Adams Morgan Listserve.
One person wrote that the hotel "will be the end of affordable housing and affordable businesses in Adams Morgan. Goodbye Latino community, ethnic diversity, and income diversity. Only 6-figure-income singles and DINKs need apply."
It's a thought worth considering.
If poll were taken, most would probably support the hotel. It will bring some new restaurants, bar, and meeting area. It will solve a problem. Something, eventually, had to happen to the old Church of Christ Scientist building.
But will the hotel turn Adams Morgan into a 6-figure-income singles DINK haven?
Visually, the hotel will create a commanding presence from some angles. This view, above, is from Adams Mill and Lanier and Calvert. From the distance of a block, this former church will be striking once work is completed.
The broader economic changes are already in place. Two new condo complexes are being built, and slowly -- very slowly -- the restaurants are increasingly getting a little more sophisticated and trendy. The hotel may increase that trend.
What seems certain is that the visual impact of the hotel will be significant, particular from the vantage above and from Columbia Road. (See rendering)
