A still from Shake Shack's ShackCam

The Washington Business Journal has at last confirmed that New York's mega-popular Shake Shack is opening a D.C. location. This has been rumored all summer, so it's great to know for sure where it's going to be: 1216 18th Street NW, a downtown location, just south of Dupont Circle.

This, unfortunately, is a bit distressing.

See, Shake Shack is famous in New York not just for its burgers. It's famous for its crazy-long lines. Manhattan's original Shake Shack location is in the middle of Madison Square Park, a spacious enough spot to manage the throngs of New Yorkers who show up daily to wait, and wait, and wait some more for a chance to gobble down one of restaurateur Danny Meyer's creations. The crowd is often so large that the company installed a ShackCam and began streaming live images on its website (pictured). That way, customers can check and see how bad it looks before they head over.

The Shack has expanded since then, opening four other more traditional restaurant spaces in New York, after which this D.C. location will presumably be modeled (the space used to be occupied by another burger chain, Fuddruckers). But even still, those newer Shake Shacks have brought out the crowds.

Given what we know about the willingness of D.C. residents to stand in line for the latest food craze, I'm already picturing a bit of a public space debacle once D.C.'s Shake Shack opens. The sidewalks in this part of downtown are plenty busy with the usual office workers and nightlife seekers as it is — just imagine what it'll be like when a hundred or more people start lining up and down Jefferson Place. All the time.

It's certainly possible that Shake Shack has already missed out on the crest of the $10 burger wave here in D.C. Between Good Stuff, Z Burger, Ray's Hell Burger, BGR The Burger Joint, and all the others that have opened recently, we've got plenty of options. Still, given the devoted following Shake Shack tends to maintain, brace yourselves for a bit of a mess in that area once it opens.