DC MUD: BZA Approval for Armenian Museum (615 14th St NW)

Maybe.

I like this building, and it has sat empty for too long. I was hoping for a nice big restaurant (maybe something from Virginia’s Great American Restaurants. I’m not sure how much traffic the museum will get; to many this is old news looking for a reader.

I don’t think a Virginia restaurant will attract much interest downtown unless you count on tourists…but its better than this odd musuem….isn’t Armenia smaller than Rhode Island?

I like the idea of a variety of museums that treat very specific, even unusual or seemingly random, subjects. (To me, Armenia is not random, but just in general, random to me can be a good thing!) That’s a really cool thing about NYC and Paris. You can go to 1000s of small museums on seemingly every subject. Not everything has to be the Smithsonian. Just because we have the National Gallery of Art doesn’t mean it wouldn’t also be cool to have smaller, more specifically themed, art museums.

A variety of such institutions helps add character and personality and interest to a city.

I think downtown needs some more dry cleaners. Probably at a different location, but there aren’t that many places downtown.

@2 The Virginia part was in reference to the corporate office location. It wouldn’t be a Virginia restaurant. I also think there would be enough week day traffic to support it. But either way it will be another holocaust(ish) museum.

Ugh. What a waste.

The thing is, this is more about Armenia trying to make a political statement than it is about anything else. Turkey won’t recognize the events as a genocide, Armenia obviously does, and the U.S. is in the middle and for the most part just would rather not say anything about it. Personally I think it was a genocide and a tragedy, but I don’t see why we should have to give up a great downtown building (and it’s tax base) for what amounts to a political statement of a foreign government.

I’d be confident that it would fold due to lack of visitors, but I imagine the Armenian government (as well as passionate Armenian Americans) will keep it open for as long as it wants.

@6, we didn’t have to give up a downtown building for this museum; someone else could have leased it and put in a restaurant, dry cleaners, etc., but they didn’t. This is what we got.

I don’t believe that the museum will fold for lack of visitors. It’s obviously important to that government to publicize that tregedy in our nation’s capital. With a GDP of $17B, Armenia can afford to prop it up forever.

Just to clarify building ownership, the DC property database indicates that the building was purchased in 2003 by “Armenian Genocide Museum and Memorial Inc”. So, the museum will be here to stay until they decide sell the building.

While the building has sat vacant, it has been charged property taxes. If/when it becomes a bona fide DC museum, it will likely not have to pay property taxes anymore.