Fledgling Eaglet
The DC Eagle is now open at its new location in Northeast
Photo by Ward Morrison
A few months behind schedule, the DC Eagle partially opened its doors at a large new location in northeast D.C. last weekend.
“I thought it went really, really well,” Peter Lloyd, one of the venue’s owners, said on Monday. “I thought it was important that we get our feet wet [and get] a survey of how things were going to work. Because we’re in a renovated building, I think the process will be a little more flowing, if you will.”
Going forward, the venue’s main bar space will be open in the evenings Thursday through Sunday. The other floors will open in stages — next to come are the Terminal Alley cigar bar off the bar entrance and the Exile dance floor on the top level. Lloyd is hesitant to even give a ballpark of when those might be ready, much less the lower-level restaurant. “The restaurant has extra hoops of fire and fields of broken glass across which I must walk,” he deadpans. Even after staff and construction crews worked feverishly all summer and fall to get it in shipshape, the former warehouse wasn’t ready to host Leather Sabbat in October or the club’s 43rd anniversary in November. They even missed Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend last month — all due to construction and permit delays beyond their control.
Nonetheless, Lloyd proffered a speculative timetable for completion. “I’m going to say eight weeks — [only] a couple months [more] on the [Terminal] Alley and the Exile.” He feels confident in that timetable, “because we’re working hard [and] I’m busier than a schizophrenic on a tilt-a-whirl.”
By early March, the venue expects to host its Mr. DC Eagle 2015 contest. A pool table and coat check are also set to be in place soon, as well as repairs to several inoperable lockers in the bar.
The nightclub has plans to offer valet parking — “We’re working on it diligently” — but for now patrons will have to settle for street parking, except for motorcycles, which can be parked on the property. Now that the venue is open, the owners hope more cabs and Ubers will begin circulating past the bar’s only outlet, the service road that runs parallel to Benning Road. Meanwhile, the Minnesota Avenue Metro stop is just a couple blocks away.
“We could have [waited until] everything was ready and then done one slamming opening,” Lloyd says. “But I really love our community, and I would like them to see the process.”
The DC Eagle is at 3701 Benning Rd. NE. Call 202-347-6025 or visit dceagle.com.
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