October 21, 2015
Rendering of the Three Sisters Bridge, which would have linked with interstates and erased three well-known areas of DC. Photograph courtesy of DDOT.
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One day this summer, Matt Andrea was eating a tuna
tartine at Café Saint-Ex at 14th and T. Across the street, a Room & Board store was selling sleek furniture to occupants of the new condominiums marching up 14th Street. In what used to be a crime-ridden corridor, eateries up and down the block offered the culinary bounty of modern-day Washington: artisanal burgers, regional Thai cuisine, an array of craft beers.
Unbeknownst to the diners and the shoppers and the moms pushing strollers along the teeming sidewalks, Andrea, a retired banker, is an author of the scene. There’s a pretty good argument that none of the budding urbanism that has turned the neighborhood into a place where people spend a million dollars on a rowhouse would exist if not for people like Matt Andrea.