Waterfront Behemoth Sequoia Returns This May

Tourist-friendly standby Sequoia plans to show off at least part of a months-long facelift projected to provide additional room for over 1,000 guests to eat, drink and socialize along the banks of the Potomac river by the end of May.

Parent company Ark Restaurants Corp. announced to its shareholders on May 12 that it expects to reopen the interior of the heavily trafficked waterfront restaurant — which the Washington Business Journal says now features 400 seats, a main bar on the ground level, a buffet-ready space downstairs, and a private event space that can accommodate 180 guests — before the end of the month. The exterior patio area, which can now cater to 550 patrons, is slated to reopen this July.

The cavernous 27,000-square-foot restaurant, which landed in Washington nearly three decades ago (1990) and recently signed a lease extension carrying it forward another 15 years, closed Jan. 1 for the big refresh.

[Jeffrey Beers]