A new liquor license filing has surfaced for a tavern called Wax Room, proposing a 146-seat indoor space with an indoor occupancy load of 173 people, plus a 70-seat summer garden that can hold 80 more, inside a century-old building on 4th Street NE in Union Market. The venue is seeking a Class C Tavern license that would allow a total occupancy of 299 people, along with live entertainment both indoors and outdoors and extended holiday hours.
The filing was first spotted by a reader named Alex, who reported seeing an ABCA placard for Wax Room after a couple months of activity at a former export-import wholesale center in Union Market, according to PoPville. The application is for 1254 4th Street NE, a two-story, 6,060-square-foot brick building built in 1900. The property was listed for $3.75 million.
A Tavern License Built for Nightlife, Not Dinner Service
A Class C Tavern license carries none of the restrictions that come with a restaurant license: under D.C. alcoholic beverage law, taverns can pour full spirits, wine, and beer without satisfying the 45% food-sales gross receipts threshold that applies to Class C Restaurants, according to StartBusinessByState.com. In practice, that gives Wax Room’s operators far more flexibility to run it as a drinking-and-entertainment venue rather than a conventional sit-down restaurant.
The three-year ABCA license fees for Class C Taverns are tiered by capacity, ranging from $1,300 for smaller venues up to $3,120 for larger ones, per StartBusinessByState.com’s licensing breakdown. With a requested total occupancy of 299, Wax Room would land near the upper end of that cost structure. The application also includes an entertainment endorsement covering live performances both indoors and outdoors, along with an extended holiday hours endorsement.
Neighbors Get a Say Before the License Is Final
Advisory Neighborhood Commissions may protest liquor license applications during a 45-day protest period, and five residents may force a hearing, according to StartBusinessByState.com. Those negotiations frequently produce binding settlement agreements covering operating hours, noise limits, and outdoor seating. Given Wax Room’s outdoor summer garden and live entertainment endorsement, acoustic controls are likely to be part of any conversation between the applicant and the neighborhood before the ABC Board issues a final license.
The property sits on the 1200 block of 4th Street NE in Union Market. The broader district is now a mixed-use retail, dining, and entertainment hub.
The Latest Entry in a Crowded Nightlife Corridor
Wax Room would join a fast-growing list of nightlife concepts clustering around 4th Street NE. In February, actor Wilmer Valderrama and restaurateur Daniella Senior opened Elegancia, a Latin American cocktail lounge and small-plates restaurant, inside La Cosecha food hall, as Hoodline reported. Earlier this month, EDENS also announced plans to convert the district’s former Motel 6 into Late Checkout, a 30-room boutique hotel with an adjoining Mediterranean cocktail garden called Nº 31, slated to open by spring 2027.
Wax Room’s filing adds another large-capacity nightlife option to a neighborhood that has rapidly shifted from wholesale warehouses to a dense entertainment district over the past decade and a half. The application seeks a Class C Tavern license, with a proposed total occupancy of 299. As PoPville put it, stay tuned.
Dining and Cooking