BDC reaches deal to buy Chesapeake Restaurant

Charles Street plan advances

The city still expects to see a mixed-use development with street-level retail and a residential component, Dombrowski said. In a neighborhood targeted for urban renewal, the city has hoped the project - on the same block with popular restaurants and the Charles Theatre - will spur continuing revitalization in the neighborhood between Penn Station and Charles Village.

Such a project would fit in with the new vision for Charles North being studied by a team of BDC-hired architects and land planners working on a development plan to encourage private investment.

Ideas that have been floated so far include a hotel and shopping arcade connected to Penn Station, several blocks for small shops and artists' studios, and residential towers that would incorporate street-level commercial space and live-work units.

A separate proposal by Bethesda-based Hospitality Partners to open a 77-room boutique hotel inside Penn Station is pending, and will be submitted for approval to Amtrak's board of directors, said Tracy Connell, an Amtrak spokeswoman.

The Inn at Penn Station, which would be the only U.S. hotel in an active railroad station, could open by the third quarter of next year, said Michael Dickens, president of Hospitality Partners.

"We're convinced the neighborhood will continue to improve, and we're reaching a point where the neighborhood alone will be sufficient to support the hotel," he said.

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