Dominic Holden's got a good piece up about the future of Capitol Hill dessert emporium B&O Espresso. Now that a developer is moving forward with plans for six-story apartment building on the site, B&O owner Majed Lukatah is caught between a rock and a hard place:
Lukatah is also skeptical that he can still open a second location on Broadway—which could serve as a substitute location while the B & O is closed—even though he has already obtained the permits. Banks won’t offer him a loan to remodel the space, he says.A 33-year-old business that has got to have an annual gross in the seven figures can't get a loan for a remodel? Here's hoping Tim Geithner can get the banks to take a page from the George Bailey playbook: "Where's that money, you silly, stupid old fool?! Where's that money?! D'you realize what this means? It means bankruptcy and scandal and prison! That's what it means. One of us is going to jail!" Whoops. That's not right. We mean the part where George loans money to people who need it.
