How Gentrification Changed A D.C. Neighborhood - Part 1

Although DC's neighborhoods have felt the influx of investment through the residential real estate market, most of these areas have not seen the commercial revitalization that many would expect to occur. 14th Street south of T Street, NW is moving in the direction, but is it for the best? One of the remaining elements to D.C.'s urban renaissance is revitalizing the commercial corridors such as 14th & T.

"It has been more than a decade since the crosswinds of urban renewal started blowing across Shaw, once the crown jewel of black Washington that slipped into blight and is now being re-imagined by baristas and purveyors of tapas.

...In the late 1980s, urban pioneers began snapping up nearby houses at rock-bottom prices, and multigenerational black families were suddenly neighbors with white gay men and other bargain hunters, a demographic trend that only gathered in strength. In a 10-year period, housing costs doubled, then tripled.

Fourteenth and T remained essentially untouched until 2003, when Cafe Saint-Ex arrived, bringing Dutch lager to a crossroads that was home to the 40-ounce. Replacing an Ethiopian restaurant and Laval's Good Food To Go, Saint-Ex was a cause for celebration for some, an elegy for others.

...Now, the conversion from rough-and-tumble intersection to a smooth-blend urban utopia is in full gear."