Painters put a new face on 3111 Columbia Pike, soon to be a Latin fusion restaurant and bar. (Photo: TBD Staff)

A space on Columbia Pike whose most recent occupant was a Fedex truck that drove through its front window is getting some new life.

The former home to Lalibela II Ethiopian restaurant, and more recently Cottage Ethiopian restaurant, is in the process of transforming to a Latin fusion restaurant and bar, according to owner Hernan De Los Reyes.

The new spot's name is still in the creative phase, but they're leaning toward  the all too often used name-combined-with-address, 3111. The standalone building's address is 3111 Columbia Pike, just east of Glebe Road.

(It should be noted that the owner seemed to be even leaning further toward 3111 over another option, Rustic, after learning from this reporter of the recent opening of Rustico in Ballston.)

Renovations are underway on the inside of the restaurant, and a designer is currently working on revamping the exterior. The bright yellow building is being covered over with a brown, foliage-looking paint job. The new owner has also fixed the front window, where a Fedex truck crashed into the building in June.

De Los Reyes will be the chef at the restaurant, and is in the process of designing a menu that will be "unique," he says. "We'll start it out with tapas, but not the typical Northern Spanish thing." He's been in the restaurant business for 16 years, and also owns El Rancho, a Peruvian chicken joint and Latin grill in Springfield.

3111, if that ends up being its name, has tons of space. There's room for a restaurant that turns into more of a bar and nightclub downstairs, and from the look of  the long bar and dance floor, that was the case in one of its previous incarnations. De Los Reyes is also hoping to have a hookah-friendly bar upstairs.

Just how soon the place will open is still uncertain. De Los Reyes says he hopes to be open in the next few weeks. But when Cottage restaurant got its permit for the site in March, the county ruled that there was not enough parking for a nightclub. There are also no new permits active or applied for at this site, according to county records.