By Alex Koma
Anna Valero spent much of the pandemic trying to pull together D.C.’s restaurant industry and help workers survive. Now, as the industry slowly recovers, she’s hoping to use the connections she built during Covid to transform downtown’s Franklin Park.
The Downtown D.C. Business Improvement District has picked Valero’s event and restaurant management company, Pirate Ventures, to run a new eatery in the renovated park and provide other food and beverage options throughout the 4.8-acre space. Valero plans to import many of the facets of Hook Hall, her company’s Parkview venue, as well as partner with some of the region’s most prominent restaurateurs, she told the Washington Business Journal in an exclusive interview…