A sleepy stretch of alley in Washington's West End neighborhood is about to get a lot livelier. New liquor license filings show two new concepts, DZO and Any Day Now West, are headed for Ward Court NW, with plans for sidewalk cafes, a summer garden and 225 combined seats between indoor dining and outdoor space.
According to PoPville, DZO is planned for 2112 Ward Court NW with a New Retailer's Class C Tavern license, seating for 75 people indoors and a total indoor occupancy load of 99. The liquor license placard also lists a sidewalk cafe endorsement for DZO with a total occupancy load of 30 and seating for 20, per the same filing.
Next door at 2115 Ward Court NW, Any Day Now West is set up as a New Retailer's Class C Restaurant, with indoor seating for 80 and a total indoor occupancy load of 149, the placard shows. That filing also lists a sidewalk cafe with 20 seats and a summer garden with 30 seats, rounding out a sizable outdoor footprint to go with the indoor dining room.
A Tim Ma Concept Crosses Town
Any Day Now West takes its name and format from an existing restaurant, Any Day Now, located at 2 I Street SE in Navy Yard. That original spot is described as a casual and comforting all-day restaurant from chef and restaurateur Tim Ma, the PoPville report notes, welcoming guests for breakfast and coffee in a coworking-friendly space before shifting into a full-service restaurant and bar at night. The Navy Yard original features creative takes on the intersection of American and global cuisines, according to the same account.
Whether Any Day Now West mirrors that day-to-night format or the menu concept exactly was not detailed in the filing, but the shared name and Tim Ma's association point to a sister location built around the same all-day concept.
Part Of A Bigger Alley Overhaul
The two concepts are not arriving in a vacuum. Reporting from UrbanTurf describes a broader redevelopment from ONE Street Commercial Properties, which is converting the former office buildings at 2121 Ward Place and 2112 and 2115 Ward Court NW into a 48-unit apartment project with two cafe and retail concepts. The plan, UrbanTurf reports, would take an inactive alleyway and convert it into a pedestrian-friendly space with a number of retail options — the same alley where DZO and Any Day Now West are now slated to open.
The development, designed by Rich Markus Architects, was presented to the community the week UrbanTurf's report published. UrbanTurf also reported that, at the time of its September 2024 article, the buildings along Ward Place were vacant except for a USPS processing center, underscoring how dormant the stretch was then.
There's a historical thread running through the project, too. The site is associated with the birthplace of jazz legend Duke Ellington, and the developer told UrbanTurf that an ode to the musician will be worked into the finished project.
No opening dates, construction timelines or confirmation of final license approval have been made public for either DZO or Any Day Now West. For now, the liquor license placards and the surrounding redevelopment plans offer the clearest glimpse yet of what's coming to this long-quiet West End alley.
