Douglas Development Wants Whole Foods In Penn Quarter! Needs Residents’ Help

If this happened, it would be absolutely fantastic. Gpliving, is there any way that you can keep this post at the top of the page until the deadline passes for signatures? It is a good way to get the word out about the petition.

Is the Balducci space large enough to accomodate a Whole Foods? Adequate service access for trucks and transport? How about parking?

I was at the meeting last night and this seems very promising. I am very glad to hear that Douglas Jemal is dedicated to putting a grocery store in that space. Whole Foods would be a dream in that location.

Thanks for posting this GP, I hope the petition gets a lot of signatures!

sign the petition.

sign the petition.

sign the petition.

Is there a way that we can all send this to respective building managements to have posted in the lobby or elevator of our buildings?

If so, that could certainly get about 500 additional signatures on it that may otherwise not appear.

Anon at 9:16: that’s a great idea about posting in our buildings!

Was there any sense of the volume of names that Douglas Development thought would be needed?

I forwarded the link to the building manager at the Artisan where I live. Hopefully she can pass it along to the other residents. I’d love to see a Whole Foods within walking distance.

This wouod be a dream come true. Whole foods is my favorite grocery store. Please see if you can have it posted somehow in office buildings as well. Office workers need to eat to. Their salad bar is amazing, great for lunch (dinner to!)
Please everyone sign the petition! Email it to everyone who lives, works or comes in to PQ.

#7: The only figure I’ve found is “2000″ which is listed as a goal on the petition website. I don’t think that’s an official number by any means..

The guy who ran he DNA meeting said he sent the petition info out to the PQ area condo boards last night. He also said that since Douglas Jemal and his sons are residents of the neighborhood (and now apparently members of the DNA), they would like a grocer as much as we do.

Unfortunately, he said they had Whole Foods on board, but that they had pulled out. This petition is an attempt to get them to reconsider. The people at the meeting did not know what the reasons were that caused Whole Foods to change their mind.

correct me if i’m wrong…but as i recall it Whole Foods requested some sort of tax relief, couldnt get it then walked.

If they are meeting this Friday, there must be some hope, no? That was the impression I got. He also mentioned two other grocers that were interested in the space, but that Douglas Jemal was going to try to lure Whole Foods back.

Hopefully, some more blogs in the are will pick up on this. DCist, Mt. Vernon Square, SW….any way we can get the word out about the petition.

This is great news for PQ. WF is a pain about parking though. They want 50 spaces reserved or something like that. Most developers are reluctant to do that. That is the main issue I’ve heard in the past.

I live in the Lafayette Condo, so I emailed the blog article and petition link to the daytime managers of both the Lafayette and the Clara Barton.

I asked the 2 of them to make a flyer for the 2 buildings’ elevators, so that residents could know about the petition and hopefully add their names before Friday.

I don’t know if they’ll take me up on the suggestion but wanted to give it a shot. Maybe folks living in other condos and apartments in the area could have their managers do the same, we could probably drum up a lot of signatures with such an approach.

I believe the Jefferson complex had 60 parking spaces reserved for Balducci’s use. I would imagine they would still be available to WF?

Maybe if the issue is tax relief, we should petition the city to move on this rather than just WF. I wish there were more details on WF’s needs and concerns.

I never heard they were meeting on Friday… was this said at the meeting last night?

while you’re at it…please encourage all people to register to vote

The fliers are a good idea. I’ll see about doing one for the Artisan.

I agree parking may be the issue. That is what caused Trader Joe’s to pull out of Union Row at 14th & V, and what caused so much delay in getting Giant on board with redevelopment at the O Street Market.

posted on the mvsna blog lifein.mountvernonsquare.org & another neighbor sent it to the mvsna & shaw yahoo groups.

I have sent out an e-mail to our communications committee (555 Mass)and will hope to get a few signatures from residents in our building to add to the petition. Even though we will have a Safeway right behind us next year, it’ll still be great to have a Whole Foods just a few blocks away!

The original plan with Balducci’s was to have a set amount of spaces reserved in the garage servicing the Jefferson Complex (i.e, Clara Barton, Lafayette, Oyamel, Wholly Mammoth etc… The loading dock for that complex was also going to be used by Balduccis.

I don’t know if those parking spaces that were to be allocated for Balduccis have been sold to monthly contracts but parking in that garage would be a major issue. The garage is already crowded during as a general rule and when there’s Verizon Center events, parking for grocery store customers would be impossible as the garage consistently fills up, sometimes even leaving monthly contracts without a parking space.

Sent it as well to 555 Communications Committee as well as 40 individual 555 e-mail addresses.

Anon #21 – I park in that garage daily and it has been rare that I have not found a spot. that’s not to say it isn’t sometimes crowded. except once, I’ve always found a spot quickly. if the spots are needed for a store, Interpark should take this into account when regulating its monthly and daily traffic counts. they’ll figure this one out, if needed.

FYI, the petition has circulated through the 400 Mass Ave message board as well. We should be pretty well represented from our building.

Does anyone know someone who works at Piper law firm? Their new office just opened up at 8th & E. I am sure that the new residents to the neighborhood would enjoy having this close by. Perhaps someone can forward the petition to them.

Parking would not be overcrowded because of the Verizon Center. It would mean less parking for people going to the Verizon Center, but not Whole Foods. The spaces would be reserved like those who reserve spaces currently — the garage can only let an amount of cars equivalent to the total number of spaces less the number of reserved spaces.

Excellent idea on Piper and getting businesses on board. Venable, Alston & Bird, and Dewey Ballentine are also close by. There may be others.

I sent to a partner at DLA Piper but I encourage others to send to their contacts as well. Let’s hope it gets circulated.

I do not know anyone who works there, but Cadwalader is moving into the new place on 6th. (I believe 777 6th St). If anyone knows folks that work there, try to forward this to that firm also.

DCist picked it up
http://dcist.com/2007/10/10/whole_foods_in.php#comments
517 signatures!

Mintz Levin Law Firm is at 701 Penn–I sent it on to a friend there, but if anyone else knows anyone there, it’d be great to get everyone there signed on!

I passed the info on the the manager of the residences at 701 and was told they’ve been emailing people all day and that they would put up a notice and also alert the manager for 801.

The current total is at 615, a long way from 2000. Keep up the efforts.

The number of signatures for the petition can be found at http://www.dcdna.org/Petition.html.

You’re naive to think Interpark is going to regularly regulate all of the reserved spaces. Plus, not all levels of that garage are serviced by the public elevators and many of the spaces are a significant hike to the public elevators.

Interpark already does regulate the number of spaces. A “Full” sign goes out for events once it hits capacity less reserved. There may be some slippage as a result of Whole Foods, but there are workable solutions. Plus, Whole Foods is very good about regulating parking. They could cordon off a separate area.

#34: why is that our concern? Do you think (or I should say are you so naive to think) that all of the parking for the P street WF is being used by shoppers? It’s not. It doesn’t seem to effect WF’s business. And really, who cares how far people have to walk to public elevators.

It’s up in our elevators at Market Square East (701 Penn). Please keep up this campaign. There seems to be a lot of buzz.

Last time I went to the P St. Whole Foods, you had to get a ticket when you went in the garage, then they gave you a ticket to get out or the garage in the checkout line. There was a guy taking the tickets to see if he had to charge you or not. So apparently it has effected their business enough to implement that new system.

The notices are posted in the Lafayette.

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2007/10/08/daily22.html?f=et87&ana=e_du

I agree that parking will be a problem that Jemal will most likely need to address with Whole Foods. Think about how many cars are parked at the P Street Whole Foods on a weekend, now imagine all those cars trying to find parking in the busy Interpark garage on E Street.

Obviously, parking will be facet of Whole Foods’ analysis. Foot traffic alone may very likely not support a grocery store in that location. While many of you on this board seem to loathe large corporations and chains, they do not make uninformed business decisions. If market data revealed that the Balducci’s space presented a goldmine, we would have our grocer. Jemal now has the power so we’ll see how tempting an offer he can provide.

The parking can be worked out. There are enough excess spaces. Whole Foods has worked out the parking situation at its 14th&P, Glover Park, and Tenleytown locations. Also, the grocery store would be smaller than the 14th&P location and likely cater to less people (because it has less sq ft). A Grocery Store can coexist with a mixed use development.

I probably wouldn’t shop at a Whole Foods if it opened in PQ, (a grad school stipend doesn’t buy very much organic produce) but I’d still be happy see see a WF open up in that space…it can only help Penn Quarter!

Negotiations with Whole Foods at DC USA (in Columbia Heights) broke down over the issue of dedicated parking. Whole Foods wanted it, DC USA couldn’t guarantee it (even though it has a massive underground parking garage).

my general point is that given my knowledge (I’m a monthly parker) of the parking situation at the Lafayette/Clara Barton building, the parking part of the equation is solvable assuming reasonable people are involved.

strategically, I wonder how Jemal views the potential behind WF coming downtown. I’d think that bringing an anchor tenant like WF makes other nearby vacant retail spaces (many are Jemal’s) look more attractive to the business market as a whole. it’s a catalyzing effect.

sign the petition. sign the petition. sign the petition.

Obviously it’s a smart business move for Jemal.

He also has a residence at Terrell Place. Business reasons aside, he wants a grocery store around the corner from his residence.

I am not familiar with the Lafayette parking garage in particular, but I would offer the following for comparison – the Trader Joe’s in Foggy Bottom has a relatively efficient (in my view) parking set up, but it is not very large and probably only parks ~25 cars at a time.

They seem to be doing a booming business and certainly have a lot more than 25 people in the store at a given time so it is clear that there are a large number of customers who are not parking dependent.

We’ve cracked 1000 names on the petition, and are getting names at a decent pace – but we need more. Please, if you want a Whole Foods in Penn Quarter, forward the info to more and more people you may know in the neighborhood. Let’s rally, folks! If you know anyone in the MPD, get them to sign up and pass the word around inthe 1st district – it will help make the neighborhood safer, too,

I just love to see the grocery store groupies get so excited. I’ve lived in Penn Quarter for 10 years and every time there is a rumor about this the foodies go nuts. It’s so cute. But the space sizes and parking situations just don’t make sense from a business perspective.

I am also a bit surprised, given the interest of a few weeks ago, that there is no coverage or comments here about the discussion of vagrancy and panhandling at the Oct. 9 DNA meeting. I for one was a bit shocked that the City Administrator, who seemed to be an amiable, slick young politico, claimed not to know the law regarding these matters when a resident asked him about it.

Landsburgh_guy: I’m surprised Big Brother did not censor your comment about the discussion on vagrancy and panhandling at the meeting. Such words are typically not kosher for this blog.

Just to address this parking concern . . . Scanning thru the comments on the signed petition, seems the reason most people want a grocery store there is that they don’t want to drive.

Landsburgh_guy, there is alot of law in DC. Do you really expect him to know it? I don’t think he was on notice that he’d be discussing agressive panhandling. I think his answer of getting back to us was appropriate.

Maybe someone should contact all the apartment dwellers in the area…it may get you to your goal.

OK, I realize this is getting off-topic, but Dan Tangherlini is a really competent City Administrator (and was great as Metro’s interim director), so I take some offense at Lansburgh_guy’s “slick young politico” comment. He could rattle off the exact number of various emergency vehicles in the city, list how many new computers were going to which first responders, and clearly had a grasp of the city’s homeless services, but it’s shocking he doesn’t know the exact statute of what constitutes aggressive panhandling? Give me a break.

Great to see the grocery petition is getting so many signatures! 2K was an ambitious goal, but we’re well over halfway there. Totally agree with #46 about Jemal’s motives.

Has anyone been to the Whole Foods in NYC? Reserved parking was not a deal breaker there. Perhaps they want to expand into denser city neighborhoods and the requirements for parking are not the same as residential areas.

Excellent point PQN! I drove by Whole Foods this past weekend in New York and noticed how wonderfully it blended into the neighborhood. Also, there was no nearby dedicated parking that I could see. I know that someone will respond “yeah, but D.C. is not New York.” However, I think given the number of residences in the neighborhood and the number of metros nearby, parking should not be an issue. Also, given Whole Foods dedication towards healthier living, I would think they would welcome an opportunity to increase peoples reliance on having to walk to their store or use public transportation. I don’t think parking should be the deal breaker for bringing Whole Foods to Penn Quarter.

If Whole Foods considers this site, it will also draw from other adjoining communities..ie..the Hill and because of it’s proximity to the metro vs the P street location…residents from Dupont Circle and surrounding areas.

I for one dread the parking lot on P street and go out of my way to the Whole Foods at either Clarendon or Alexandria.

We could consider contact some of those neighborhood blogs.

You must be kidding to think Whole Foods is going to make a business decision on their “dedication towards healthier living.” Business cares about one thing, the bottom line, the rest is PR and a marketing image. Reading this board, I think some of you must forget we live in a capitalist society.

As for population density, Penn Quarter is a sparsely populated neighborhood in terms of residential population. The majority of the buildings are entirely commercial space, residential population is an afterthought.