RSS FeedFake Facades On 8th Street?
Jason emails us with an interesting topic: What are the awful concrete facades on 8th Street, across from Cafe Atlantico and the Lansburgh? We’ve noticed them when walking around the farmer’s market that takes place in front of the facades.
Jason wrote the question to the City Paper, and they found the answer: Pepco substations.
Scattered throughout the city and nearby suburbs are six buildings with false fronts made to look like residential or commercial locations. Often located in prime spots—like Penn Quarter or Chevy Chase—the false fronts mask Pepco substations.
Rather than hiding behind a barbed wire fence, the substations blend into the neighborhood—even with signs reading “Danger—High Voltage” hanging outside the concrete doorways and Pepco trucks driving in and out.
A quick look at the property record for 422 8TH ST NW reveals that it is indeed owned by POTOMAC ELECTRIC POWER COMPANY.
Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Community Meeting Tonight
Just a note to GP/PQ residents: The Metropolitan Police Department’s Police Service Area 101 (that’s basically all of Downtown) has monthly community meetings on the first Monday of every month. We’ll add some text on the sidebar under “regularly scheduled events.”
Tonight the monthly MPD Community Meeting will be held at the usual place – U.S. Navy Memorial Heritage Center Auditorium at 701 Pennsylvania Ave, NW at 7:00PM.
If you have not attended these meetings, it is an opportunity to bring forth concerns to our local MPD. The regular list is no surprise – safety, street-people, skate-boarders, crime. This is where you can raise your concerns directly to these officers – and where you can get some interest for your issues.
A Grocery Store In Gallery Place/Penn Quarter
===== Update (9/12/2006 @ 4:00pm) =====
In the Express today!
===== Update (9/12/2006 @ 4:00pm) =====
Balducci’s Break Up With Penn Quarter Now Final
Hopefully Magruders or Trader Joes will start negotiations after Balducci’s moves out!
===== Update (9/9/2006 @ 8:00am) =====
Balducci’s officially declares that it will not open a store in the Penn Quarter.
===== Update (9/1/2006 @ 9:00am) =====
Trader Joe’s in Foggy Bottom is open! We have reports that all 9 registers are overloaded a day after its opening.
===== Update (7/13/2006 @ 4:52pm) =====
The PQ grocery store discussion is back in the Express!
===== Update (7/11/2006 @ 6:33pm) =====
The Washington Business Journal reports that Balducci’s is reconsidering their plans in Penn Quarter.
===== Update (6/30/2006) =====
A construction worker confirms that Balducci’s will once again be occuping the space.
===== Update (6/28/2006 @ 1:37pm) =====
Some activity has been reported in the Jefferson space.
===== Update (6/15/2006 @ 9:56pm) =====
Cheryl spoke with Keith Sellars today, no new news. Sue Lipinsky has been hard to get in touch with.
===== Update (6/5/2006 @ 7:03am) =====
We noticed the last comment left on the WaPo Express’ recent story about Penn Quarter’s lack of grocery stores is significant. It was written by Gary Bortnick VP-COO Magruders Grocery:
- We(Magruders Grocery) are very interested in the space on 7th Street. We have improved our ready to go foods over the last few years and we have changed our variety at our small store in Cleveland Park to address our customers needs. For instance adding fresh Gelato, which we produce at the store has been a tremendous hit. Magruders is Washington’s oldest grocer.The building at 7th St.has obstacles to overcome but their is not a grocer in the city who could provide the quality produce, meat and ready to go foods that we can sell at low prices.
First of all, we welcome Magruders to the blogsphere! I think it was really great of Gary to let us know that Magruders is interested in coming to Penn Quarter because our plight has mainly been one-sided (we ask grocers to come, and don’t hear anything back). All we can say is that we’re going to check out the Cleveland Park store next (Gelato, anyone?)!
===== Update (6/1/2006 @ 1:57pm) =====
There are unconfirmed reports that our neighborhood grocery store is on the agenda for the next Bear Stearn’s board meeting.
===== Update (6/1/2006 @ 1:53pm) =====
ReadExpress (the online version of the WaPo Express) wrote a story about Penn Quarter’s lack of grocery stores.
Read the comments – there’s an interesting one about urban grocery stores.
===== Update (5/19/2006 @ 2:37pm) =====
Link to a WashTimes article on the grocery store issue.
===== Update (5/11/2006 @ 1:32pm) =====
We have a nice update for everyone today! A representative from the Deputy Mayors’ office provided the following update on the Jefferson space:
===== Update (5/2/2006 @ 2:20pm) =====
===== Update (5/2/2006 @ 1:30pm) =====
Ellwood Thompson Natural Market
www.ellwoodthompsons.com
Fresh Market (Greensboro North Carolina)
www.thefreshmarket.com
I think many of my friends that live around GP would also be very excited to have TJ in the neighborhood.
Please let me know if there’s anything I can do (or encourage others to do) to prove to TJ that we’d much prefer them to Balducci’s anyway?
===== Update (5/2/2006 @ 11:00am) =====
Edit: Also, James did not express confidence in our efforts to get Balducci’s to reverse their decision.
More to come this afternoon!
===== Update (5/2/2006 @ 9:30am) =====
I think our world just got a little smaller with today’s BIG mention in the Express’ Blog Log section. Thanks Express!
===== Update (5/1/2006 @ 1:30pm) =====
General Mission: Persuade Balducci’s to reverse their decision to pull out of the Penn Quarter area location (approx. 7th and E St) in the Jefferson building. If that goes nowhere, we will ask Trader Joe’s and/or other grocers to fill the space.
Recent Actions:
John Howard at Bear Stearns Merchant Bank at JDHoward@Bear.com
David King at Bear Stearns Merchant Bank at David.King@bear.com
Peter Krieger at Balducci’s at PKrieger@balduccis.com
Also, please BCC Jo-Ann ( jo-ann.neuhaus@ncpc.gov) so she can get a rough estimate of the level of response.
[Personalize or adapt it and email it to Balducci’s and Bear Stearns]
I was devastated when I heard that Balducci’s and Bear Stearns were abandoning their planned store on 7th Street, NW in Washington, DC’s booming Penn Quarter neighborhood. As a [choose from the following: resident, office tenant, one who works in Penn Quarter, one who works nearby, someone who does x here regularly – you get the picture], I was truly looking forward to shopping often at Balducci’s.
The fact that Penn Quarter residents and those who work or come here regularly are losing a grocery store is bad enough, but our loss of a Balducci’s is even more distressing because, as you know, Balducci’s is no ordinary grocery store. Its fresh produce, meats, and fish often include selections that no other grocer carries, it has a great selection of prepared foods, and there are lots of gourmet items to choose from. And, by the way, for years to come, you would have been the only grocery store within walking distance for thousands of us, and the only high end grocer for the next decade from the plans that have been made public!
Although I do not know how you reached the conclusion that this was not a good addition to your portfolio, knowing Penn Quarter and the neighborhoods nearby, I am confident that your guys botched up on their due diligence. Come down here sometime and take a look; you will likely be surprised. Penn Quarter offers a unique investment opportunity for a high-end grocer with a great selection of prepared foods and a catering arm. It is centrally located in the newly revitalized downtown, consumers include residents in thousands of new condos and apartments (more of which are being constructed) whose average incomes are upwards of $150,000 per unit. Added to this mix are tens of thousands of daytime office tenants, many of whom need to buy something and eat while they work at their desks; others want to shop here for both prepared food and food to cook before heading home. And with the Convention Center to the north, museums, shops, and numerous theaters right here, and the Mall to the south, we are a tourist mecca – tourists need to eat too! The media has said we are hot and we are cool! We attract people from throughout the metro area, including many from the nearby neighborhoods who now have no similar grocer to go to.
Many of us would be glad to meet with you to help you reconsider your decision. You still have a great lease and a great opportunity, and you will get oodles of free publicity as others here have! Don’t kick yourselves in a year or two from now for making the wrong decision; recognize that you didn’t have all the fact, get back on course now, and move forward with Balducci’s in Penn Quarter!
I will shop at Balducci’s if you are here; won’t you change your mind – again, and come back to Penn Quarter on 7th Street!
Sincerely,
Name
[add residential building or business and office location or actual address]
=========================
GPLiving would like to take an opportunity to discuss the grocery store situation in Gallery Place/Penn Quarter.
We all have heard that Balducci’s pulled out of the 7th & E St location. (WaPo article)
We’ve tossed around ideas of wooing other grocers to the site: Whole Foods, Harris Teeter, Trader Joe’s, Safeway, Giant, and Magruders.
According to the WaPo, the space under the Clara Barton/Lafayette (aka Jefferson) building is 21,000 sq. ft. A normal grocery store occupies around 45,000 sq. ft. of space. For reference, the Whole Foods in Logan Circle is 37,000 sq. ft. Just looking at the space situation will narrow down the options for possible grocers. We can be sure that Safeway, Giant, Harris Teeter, and Whole Foods would not be interested in the site unless they created a new concept store that delivers us the minimum grocery options.
It is our opinion that Trader Joe’s would be the most suited for this space. Balducci’s may be a nice grocer, but it is very expensive and most of us desire reasonably priced groceries that are within walking distance of our buildings. Also, Balducci’s abrupt pull-out started rumours that their financial situation is in question. In addition, Balducci’s lost their CEO, Mark Ordan, in February.
Lately, we’ve seen a small effort to woo Balducci’s back to the Clara Barton/Lafayette space. To that campaign, we respond as such: We deserve better than Balducci’s! Balducci’s was shortsighted to pass up on the retail space which, as the only grocer in the neighborhood, was guaranteed to be successful. We are now presented with an excellent opportunity to select (through community efforts) which grocer we want in our neighborhood. Trader Joe’s is an expert with lower square footage spaces and has a track record of reasonable prices and quality groceries.
GPLiving will be contacting Trader Joe’s to discuss the situation. We’d love to hear your thoughts to this article. We’ve also added a big link at the top of the blog to keep discussion accessible.
CVS Coming Soon At 400 Mass/H St (Getting Closer!)
Cheryl writes in to inform us that the CVS that is coming soon to the 400 Massachusetts Ave/H St location now displays “Coming Soon” signs on its huge windows. You can also see large boxes inside the future store. Looks like it’s going to be much larger than the CVS at 7th & H St! The new location may also have to pick up the slack from the 7th and H location once the Gallery Row project starts up (and closes that CVS in the process).