"Pretty soon you won't recognize the place" - gone

Do you remember the "New Town" project that was pushed by John Ray and Sang Oh Development 6 years ago in the Florida Avenue Market area? It was touted by Vincent Orange during his failed mayoral run that year, but never really got off the ground (thank goodness).

The last reminder of the project was a sign at the northwest corner of 4th Street and Florida Avenue NE. The vacant U.S. Beef building had been located at that corner, but it was demolished in 2006 and a sign quickly went up promising a large residential building. "Pretty soon you won't recognize the place. Promise," it declared.

Pretty soon you won't recognize the place by Inked78

The sign became something of a joke, as its promise stood for 6 years, faded from years of promising something that never came to be.

Until now?

This new sign went up yesterday, and Tony Goodman, the neighborhood commissioner who represents the area across the street, linked to this showing the latest proposed building for this space. From the sign, it appears that EDENS has teamed up with Sang Oh Development for a project related to the new Union Market.

Is it possible that we really might not recognize the place this time? Until shovel hits dirt, I'll remain skeptical. But the area is certainly on local developers' radar in a way it wasn't 6 years ago.