On Friday morning, the neighborhood blog PoPville floated a “strictly scuttlebutt” anonymous tip that the boutique Line DC hotel and its high-profile restaurants were closed for good. The historic property and its dining spaces from chefs Erik Bruner-Yang (Spoken English, Brothers and Sisters) and Spike Gjerde (A Rake’s Progress) have been dark since March, when the Covid-19 health crisis hit.
Not so, says Foxhall Partners managing partner Matt Wexler and Line DC managing director Crawford Sherman.
“We’ve been planning our reopening and the special steps we’re going to take,” says Sherman. “From our company, there’s been no conversation whatsoever about not reopening.”
The Line’s sister property in Austin is set to reopen May 21. Sherman says they’re taking some cues from other Sydell Group hotels—the cast includes Nomad and Saguaro—as well as waiting on further reopening guidelines from DC mayor Muriel Bowser and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. New safety protocols will cover not just accommodations and dining but the property’s events-and-weddings business. Sherman says a few of the Line’s new initiatives may include taking temperatures of event guests upon request or reservation-only access to restaurants and the rooftop venue.
“Obviously, with the hotel being temporarily closed, we hope to reopen as soon as possible,” says Wexler.
Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.
