A section of the Dupont Underground can turn into a commercial nightclub if a resolution submitted last week by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is approved.
The Dupont Underground recently went public over concerns that the city would not renew its lease after it expires in April 2020.
Dupont Underground CEO Robert Meins has been holding talks with the city for months, trying to extend the lease. And a group of artists started a signature campaign titled “Save the Dupont Underground,” calling on city officials to preserve the arts space.
Over 3,000 signatures have been collected and more than $200,000 in funds have been committed for the cause.
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Speaking to DCist about Bowser’s proposal, Meins said “I am not surprised.” He stated that the initiative to keep the place received remarkable support from embassies in the city, as well as arts and philanthropic communities.
Bowser’s “West Dupont Circle Moratorium Zone Approval Resolution of 2019” stipulates renewal of the moratorium on nightclub licenses in Dupont Circle for three years. However, Dupont Underground would be exempted from the zone, where night clubs have been banned and liquor licenses have been restricted near the circle for 20 years.
It is not certain that the place would be converted into a nightclub, but the proposal implies that it is possible.