1pm, Monday, June 14
Northeast corner of 9th & P Streets NW

A groundbreaking ceremony will be held for a new mixed use development that will include the first DC location of Silver Spring, MD's renowned Mandalay Restaurant.

DC Councilmembers Jack Evans (Ward 2) and Kwame R. Brown (At Large) and Bridget Bean, District Director of the U.S. Small Business Administration's Washington Metropolitan District Office will help turn the first ceremonial shovels of dirt at 1501 9th Street, NW. The 6,000 square foot building, developed by the District's Inle Development, replaces a former used car lot that the community considered a blight for decades. Residential units will be located above the restaurant.

The 1501 9th Street, NW groundbreaking will be the first construction start for a new mixed use structure in central Shaw's Shaw Main Streets commercial district since before the 2008 financial crisis. The construction and restaurant build out are being financed by a $2.1 million U.S. Small Business Administration loan.

"This will kick off a series of major groundbreakings this year," advises Alexander M. Padro, executive director of Shaw Main Streets and Shaw Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner. "The Howard Theatre and Renaissance Project (formerly Broadcast Center One) will break ground in late August, City Market at O will break ground in September, and the Marriott Marquis Convention Center should follow in the fall.

Aung Myint, owner of the Mandalay DC restaurant, will be traveling to Burma after the groundbreaking to consult with Burmese chefs on the new restaurant's menu. "I'm taking 60 recipes with me," Myint reports, and "and will be working with these chefs to refine them, adding and taking out herbs and ingredients, to come up with a final list of 30 dishes that will be available nowhere else in the DC metropolitan area." A business partner will be also be traveling to Burma at the same time to refine the cocktail menu .

Mandalay DC is scheduled to open in Summer 2011.

Commemorative T-shirts will be distributed at the event, which will also feature a buffet of Burmese specialties from the current Mandalay Restaurant (www.mandalayrestaurantcafe.com), a Washingtonian magazine Cheap Eats favorite for many years.

— Alexander M. Padro, Executive Director
Shaw Main Streets, Inc. | www.shawmainstreets.com