Gallery Place Weekend Review

Y’all did a great job getting the Balducci’s story together and putting it out there. Please don;t forget to credit the tidbit from the anonymous source that tipped you off to the Balducci’s story. Your readers can be a critical source of tips, taht’s how the web is supposed to work. More important, I really think this story is going to help rally the residents and get more people interacting with your blog! Ch-Ching.

Thanks for pointing that out Anon. I forgot that the Balducci’s discussion started in the prior posting. I’ll update this post.

Went and tried Gifford’s this past weekend. Had the pistachio ice-cream. It really tastes home made, and there was a ton of whole pistachios in the ice cream. My friend had the brownie and the chocolate chip ice cream. Prices are definitely more reasonable than Haagen Daz. Plus their window seating is great for people watching!!

I am posting a letter I got today about getting Balducci’s to come back, it seems that the folks over at Bear Stearns may be reconsidering their pull out (i.e. those of us writing in may be convincing them it is a good, i.e. profitable, idea to be here). See below for how you can help out. We need a lot of work on this, but it is a real hope as good sources over at Bear Stearns (Balducci’s investment banker) say they are seriously reconsidering their pull out:

Okay guys, I need your help more than ever before and it is to have a fighting chance to get the decision makers who walked away from the Balducci’s site on 7th Street to reconsider and reverse themselves. They still hold the lease!

I can’t say where this came from, but I did not initiate these conversations that now lead me to believe that there are some people in the right places who are working to have Bears Stearn change its mind about locating a Balducci’s here on 7th in the Penn Quarter. My conversations were totally off the record – don’t even ask who they were with. I just want to say that these conversations now make me believe that there is a fighting chance to get Balducci’s back.

Some of you were at the meeting on Monday at McCormick & Schmick’s. Others sent a rep. I sent this out to a few people (including those copied above from the Clara Barton, Gallery Place, and Lafayette) who asked what they could do to help or who I knew were already working on getting together a letter of support for Balducci’s, which many of us discussed at the meeting.

Now I want to reach everyone – no, we NEED to reach everyone – in every residential building and in as many offices as there are people who want Balducci’s here and would shop there.

What we need are individual or group emails going to the three gentlemen named at the end and whose email addresses are next to their names. Each person/building/group of people should figure out how to either write a letter, get signatures, and scan it into a pdf so it can be sent via email or, if you prefer, get each person to send his or her own email.

I will be writing people in offices and the residential property managers in apartment buildings I have not yet written, but I am not confident they will see the need to pass the information on to others.

We will need thousands of people sending emails to Balducci’s begging them to reconsider their decision to back out or thousands of signatures on several letters to be effective, so I desperately need everyone’s help to do this, and I need you to move on this fast.

To keep this organized, let me know what you are doing. When you respond, please say which building you are working on. I plan to send something out via email just after the weekend to many on my lists, but, unfortunately, I can’t reach enough of the residents in either the condos or the rental apartments, so I am truly depending on you guys to act or find a key person in your building to get this going. And more than that, to reach our or find others who can reach out to the tenants in the apartment buildings, especially The Meridian and Mass Court, where I have few contacts.

Here are some options for getting the word to the three guys, two at Bears Stearn and the CEO at Balducci’s, that we will be writing to:

Contact via email everyone in your residential building with a draft they can send on but ask them to personalize it if they can. Make it short and brief but include important points, many of which are listed below.

Place a flyer under each door in your residential building asking each tenant to email the Bears Stearn and Balducci’s persons listed below and include points they can mention.

If you work here or know someone who does, if you know people in the apartment buildings, send them an email with the points that are tailored for someone working here to make along with the email addresses and ask them to send an email out.

Points to make (if you think of others, let me know) that you should consider and pass along for others to consider:

Extol Balducci’s, saying how you love the store – add anything personal; for me it’s the only place in DC that I purchase smoked salmon and honeybell oranges

A sentence about what a great location they would have on 7th Street in Penn Quarter
Promise to shop there
You and your friends and fellow condo owners/tenants are desperate for a high end grocer

You can’t imagine that this Balducci’s will not be more successful than any other in the DC region

Beg them to reconsider
The average income in the apartment buildings (over 1,560 units) and condos (over 1,635 units) within a short walk of the store location is at least at $150,000 per unit; if you have higher figures for your condo or apt. bldg., mention the higher figure for your building instead of or in addition to the neighborhood if you choose to mention this at all

Many people here don’t have cars; Balducci’s has a captured clientele in them

The mixed-use neighborhood has many office tenants looking for carryout food for lunch and dinner and catering opportunities

Add any other inducements/neighborhood enhancements you think might help.

Bears Stearn:
David King DavidKing@Bear.com

JD Howard JDHoward@Bear.com

Balducci’s CEO:
Peter Krieger PKrieger@balduccis.com

Cheers,

Jo-Ann.

PS. In addition to those on the cc line, I emailed a similar note to Janey Garvey at Historic Row, Kevin Wilsey, Sr. Property Mgr. at The Lansburgh, Steve Lang, Silvia Perez, Marina Myhre, and Bill Conklin at Market Square East, and Anne & Hart Nelsen and Charley Docter at Market Square West. Some of these people are working on a letter already.

Jo-Ann Neuhaus

Suite 500 | 401 9th Street, NW | Washington, DC 20004

202.482.7271 | 202.501.2540 Fax | 301.704.2587 Cell for emergencies

PennQuarter@ncpc.gov