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The Resurrection of Grog and Tankard Has Begun

Writer's picture: Chris JonesChris Jones

The iconic Grog & Tankard building at 2408 Wisconsin Avenue in Glover Park has stirred to life once again. The Grog, a famous DC dive bar which opened in 1964 and hosted bands of questionable caliber starting in 1984, closed in 2008. Other iterations of bars came and went – Gin and Tonic then Mason Inn. Mason Inn folded in 2018 due to a lack of profitability from high rent and low turnout, as well as a few controversies over underage drinking and busted marijuana parties. Thomas Tsianakas, a real estate investor residing in Montgomery County MD, purchased the building in 2017, and then left it vacant and increasingly dilapidated for the next seven years.


The DC Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR) finally caught up with the vacancy in 2022 and imposed (and then upheld) their punitive 5X property tax for vacant properties, resulting in annual taxes in excess of $100,000 per year. The vacant property tax rule can be quite effective in getting landlords to get their properties occupied, though enforcement has been lax over the years and there are ways around it. Often commercial landlords will list their property for lease or sale in a false listing with a broker (never intending to follow through on the offering) and request a vacant property tax exception on appeal with OTR. In this case, the $100,000 punitive tax extended from 2022 through 2024, until work began, to gut the interior and begin a renovation.


Last month (Dec. 2024) Tsianakas’ architect, Eric Gronning of Gronning Architects, renewed old permit plans for renovation of the space after following up on old demolition plan earlier in the summer of 2024 when the interior gutting was completed. The permit appears to allow for core and shell construction (rather than a fully decked-out space), and it includes the addition of a second floor. “Core and shell” implies a restaurant-ready space with basic structure and utilities complete, but the finishes left to a tenant. The framing and roofing of the second floor are complete, as seen in the photo. The second floor will have a 16-foot deep walk-out deck at the front of the building (see plans below), overlooking Wisconsin Avenue. Total interior space is planned at 3350 square feet plus the 2nd floor deck.


Since construction has begun, Tsianakas has satisfied the gods of OTR, and the punitive property taxes were removed, and in addition he convinced them to reduce the assessed value for tax purposes from $2.3 million to $645K due to the demolished state. Quite an accomplishment, but just wait for the re-assessment once work is complete…


Likely the building will not be resurrected in Grog-like form, but something a bit more upscale once a tenant is secured. The Grog and Tankard was famous for its grungy black-painted interior, stale beer smell and bands that couldn’t get gigs anywhere else, but after a few beers people didn’t know the difference anyway. CityPaper called it “a durable and dumpy Wisconsin Avenue rock room.” Moira McLaughlin, writing its obituary for the Washington Post in 2008 referred to it as the “home for the often-middling musical acts.” A former college band member mused in 2010: “We played there every Thursday for six months…Crowds — especially when they’re half-full of drunken college girls — attract crowds. For six months we ignored the crappiness of the sound system and made due with the tiny stage…I remember the camaraderie the band fostered with all those nights playing together in suboptimal conditions…It was awesome.”


Let’s hope at least for some decent bar food and plenty of mediocre bands after the full resurrection of the Grog & Tankard coming soon…





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