Bedrock shoots to open pool hall on Seventh St.

Geoff Dawson says Seventh Street NW across from Verizon Center needs more entertainment.

The Washington Capitals and Bono just aren’t enough, even when you factor in a new 500-seat Clyde’s restaurant and upscale bowling alley Lucky Strike, both of which opened last fall.

Dawson, the co-owner of Bedrock Management, is putting together a lease at 714 Seventh St. NW with Douglas Development for 5,000 square feet in a basement that will highlight the company’s standard offerings: pool, shuffleboard and board games.

It’s a sizable parcel in a high-rent strip that’s commanding more than $80 per square foot. Dawson, whose company owns Atomic Billiards, Buffalo Billiards, The Continental and Bedrock Billiards, says he doesn’t know which brand will go in there yet.

“It’s just our kind of space — quirky,” says Dawson, adding that he hopes the space below Comfort One Shoes and Ecco will be ready in six months. The shoe stores signed about four months ago and are expected to open this summer.

The strip along Seventh Street is saturated with retailers that have been competing to be near Urban Outfitters, Aveda and Ann Taylor Loft, among others.

Trendy restaurants such as Zengo at Seventh and H streets, which opened last fall, are moving in at a fast clip. Former Vidalia executive chef Peter Smith signed a lease at Seventh and Eye streets NW in March — after a year of negotiations — to open a modern American restaurant.

Not much is left in the area. There’s a 30,000-square-foot parcel of retail expected to become available at Seventh and H streets NW, now home to CVS and owned by Yeni Wong.

“The property doesn’t deliver for two years,” says Transwestern Commercial Services broker Bill Miller, whose company is soft marketing the space now.

CVS may stay in the space, says Miller, who’s negotiating with the retailer. Regardless, more than 20,000 square feet will be available at $100 a sqaure foot. “No one has gone, ‘You’re nuts,” Miller says. “We’re being patient.”