Morgan’s Seafood has been on Georgia Avenue for 45 years, and it’s been through a lot: Cars crashing into it, looters stealing crab pots, and most recently, acrimonious fights over a liquor license. Now, owner Romeo Morgan has a vision for a better future: He wants to redevelop the property, and a few surrounding it, into at least 100 units of affordable housing for seniors.

“I’m tired of my seniors out on the street,” he tells me. “I can’t keep on trying to look out for these seniors because they don’t have a place to live.”

It wouldn’t be the end of Morgan’s Seafood, though. Morgan says he’d relocate during construction, and then return as ground floor retail. He also thinks it would make sense to put a Department of Motor Vehicles there, to bring more people to the adjacent retail.

With a handful of other projects getting going within a few minutes walk, and the area north of the Petworth Metro station almost totally redeveloped, the corner could be just one more piece of the Georgia Avenue renaissance. Then again, Morgan figures he needs to put together about $30 million in loans and grants—-not the easiest things to come by these days—-to make it happen. Just like his dream of Club Romi Rome, this too could be just a passing fancy.