In September 2025, the Brookland Neighborhood Civic Association surveyed neighbors about 12th Street NE between Rhode Island Avenue and Michigan Avenue, and 340 people answered. The short version is that people still shop on the street. What they say it lacks is places to stay a while.
That finding shapes everything that follows. BNCA's March 2026 report, "Say Yes to 12th Street," is mostly a plan for adding the cafes, bookstores and gathering spots that fill an evening, rather than for filling empty windows with any tenant at all.
Neighbors Still Spend Here, Just Less
According to the report, respondents spent an average of $267 a month on the corridor before 2020 and $204 a month in 2025. That's a drop of about a quarter, but $204 a month is still real money, and the report links part of the decline to the national move toward online shopping and delivery.
The report also notes that some kinds of businesses on 12th Street are doing fine. Hair and nail salons, dry cleaners, child daycare and pet care "appear to be doing well," and several long-running restaurants and shops have loyal customers. The report names Yes! Organic Market and CVS as the corridor's retail anchors.
So errands still get done on 12th Street. When respondents were asked why they don't spend more time or money there, the top answer was a lack of appealing business options, which The Wash reported came from more than 250 of the 340 responses. In other words, the complaint is about the mix of businesses, and people are still coming.
The Missing Piece Is a Kind of Business
BNCA uses the urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg's term "third places" for what's missing: informal spots where neighbors spend time outside home and work. The report points to two newer arrivals as evidence that people want them: Cool Coffee and The Harp.
The Harp, an Irish pub at 3126 12th Street NE, opened in the old Brookland's Finest space in October 2025, The Wash reported. PoPville had announced a grand opening for October 24, 2025. Brookland's Finest had closed in 2025 after 11 years, and Alice's Jazz House & Cultural Society closed permanently after the pandemic, according to the same Wash story. Both were places where people stayed for the evening, which is the kind of business the survey says the street now lacks.
At the corner of 12th and Kearny, Masala Story has served Indian food for nearly nine years under the Berry family. "We have seen every business go along this neighborhood. We are the only one left," Amrinal Berry, the eldest brother, told The Wash.
The survey also asked which businesses from elsewhere in DC should be "recruited" to 12th Street. These were mentioned most often, and BNCA said it would pass them along to 12th Street landlords:
- Solid State Books
- Politics and Prose
- Labyrinth Games & Puzzles
- Call Your Mother
- Manifest Bakery
- Big Bear
- Cava
- Sweetgreen
- Beau Thai
- Lucky Buns
Two bookstores, a game shop, a bakery and a cafe are on that list, all places where people tend to stay rather than grab something and leave. In the open-ended answers, respondents also asked for more restaurants, cafes and gathering places, recurring First Friday or seasonal events, better pedestrian crossings, more greenery and lighting, and more predictable store hours.
One Block Holds Most of the Vacancies
The vacancies are concentrated in one place. When BNCA walked the core block between Monroe and Newton Streets, it counted 7 empty storefronts out of 24, about 30%. The report says some of those spaces once held cornerstone businesses that kept the street busy, especially after hours. It also points out that new businesses have trouble fitting into older storefront spaces.
By The Wash's count in September 2026, three or four spaces along the corridor were still empty. The same story reported that a shop called 12th Street Thrift was expected to open near Hamlin Street NE.
The Monroe-to-Newton block also gets its own policy proposal. BNCA recommends retail-preferred zoning there, plus a small-retail property tax credit for qualifying leases, tenant-improvement loans or loan guarantees, simpler permitting, and a vacancy tax set at the level of individual storefronts. All of these proposals are aimed at the same problem: helping a cafe or bookstore afford to move into an older space on a block where nearly a third of the windows are empty.
The Plan Comes in Three Stages
The report lays out its strategy in three time frames. The first stage relies on coordination among merchants and visible upkeep. The later stages depend on building an organization, which the street currently doesn't have.
| Horizon | What BNCA proposes |
|---|---|
| Immediate | A monthly 12th Street committee, coordination among merchants, more consistent hours and shared events, a checklist for cleanliness, lighting and tree boxes, an online business directory, and beautification |
| Medium term | A Main Street-style nonprofit for 12th Street with a part-time director, a partnership with Catholic University, and a Brookland Passport loyalty program |
| Long term | A funded study on reviving the corridor, public art and planters, burying utility lines, traffic-safety work, shared services, and a targeted storefront renovation program |
Store hours matter more than they might seem. Residents told The Wash that inconsistent hours make it hard to tell whether a shop is open or closed. BNCA Vice President John Leibovitz also told the outlet that an earlier Brookland business association had pushed to bring in new businesses but is no longer active. That gap explains why the medium-term stage centers on a nonprofit with a paid director. Without someone whose job is the street, coordinated hours, a passport program and First Fridays have nobody to run them.
"We want the full potential of 12th Street for the future," Leibovitz told The Wash.
Grant Money and a New Link Across the Tracks
The plan now has some public money attached. At an April 21, 2026 meeting, BNCA and Ward 5 Councilmember Zachary Parker's office proposed $200,000 in 12th Street retail grants for local businesses and corridor improvements, according to the association's minutes. In a May 29 budget update, Parker listed $250,000 "to establish FY27 retail grants for Rhode Island Avenue and 12th Streets NE," along with dedicated funds for priorities set by his Rhode Island Avenue Task Force. The Council finished its FY27 budget vote on July 7, 2026. FY27 began October 1. In September, Leibovitz told The Wash that the association was still working out where the money would go, and that Brookland families had asked for more family-friendly hangouts, cafes and playgrounds.
The other change is on the far side of the Metro tracks. The report calls the opening of Trader Joe's at Monroe Street Market, together with the planned redevelopment of the old Colonel Brooks lot at 901 Monroe Street NE, a chance to draw more shoppers across the Monroe Street Bridge. It adds that Edgewood and University Heights have grown and become denser in recent years, which could mean more people walking over to the Brookland side.
Horning and The Menkiti Group are developing 901 Monroe, designed by Maurice Walters Architect, with about 230 market-rate and affordable apartments. The developers describe it as connecting Monroe Street Market and 12th Street. The Zoning Commission gave final approval on October 23, 2025, and the developers' schedule calls for construction to begin in 2026 and finish in 2028.
Two places within walking distance of each other now point in the same direction. A grocery store and roughly 230 future households sit on the Monroe Street side. The Monroe-to-Newton block, where the report counted 7 of 24 storefronts empty, sits on the 12th Street side. BNCA's plan is meant to give people who cross the bridge a cafe, a bookstore or a pub worth stopping at, which are the businesses 340 neighbors asked for.
If you're following 12th Street because you live near it, or because a home on one of these blocks is on your list, Roger Taylor can talk through what the corridor plan, the FY27 grants and the 901 Monroe timeline could mean for that part of Brookland. Let's Connect.
