HYATTSVILLE WIRE: Mount Rainier is revamping the exterior of several businesses along Rhode Island Avenue.
Facade improvements are underway on buildings on the eastern side of Rhode Island Avenue dating to the 1920s and ’30s, from the roundabout south to the border with D.C.
The businesses include Potomac Fish House, Ny & Co. salon and Medina Market and Kitchen.
The construction is being done through the Rhode Island Avenue Facade Improvement Program, a project of the city’s Department of Economic Development.
The second stories of the popular Pan Lourdes Bakery and the neighboring Mediterranean Cafe now feature an abstract mural with intersecting bars of bright colors.
Originally meant to serve the regular crowd of passengers getting off at the streetcar station at the roundabout, the buildings were all designed with flat-fronts and big first-floor show windows. Several have second-story apartments.
The city is working with the Neighborhood Design Center, a nonprofit that helps with community design, and contractor J.D. Clark Professional Services on the facade improvements.
