Penn Quarter Grocery Store Update (Brookville Wants In)

what happened to the city kicking in $ to lower the sq.ft. price?

They want it for $20/sqft? JPI should agree to $25/sqft and the city (us!) should make up the $5/sqft difference.

If there is some way Penn Quarter residents can take action (i.e. community meeting, letter), can you please post? We defintely want a grocery store and would love to advocate for it.

What we do know is that Ward 6 councilmember, Tommy Wells, is interested in getting us a grocery store in the location. We don’t know who from the DC gov, if anyone, is involved with the JPI/Brookville discussions.

That would take corporate welfare to a new level.

milania: True.. it’s not likely that DC will just pay 30% of Brookville’s rent. The DC gov can sweeten the pot like reducing taxes for a few years, but the main point is the JPI is no longer legally bound to put a grocery store in that space.

This is ridiculous. When I moved into the Clara Barton, I did so because I was promised a grocery store. And I’m probably not the only one.

JPI needs to get its head out and realize that moving Brookville in will help lease the other available retail spaces and make the property more desirable (and maybe even valuable) than it already is.

Hell, anything would be better than the homeless sleeping in the HNTB doorway everyday.

It would appear that JPI benefited financially by not getting a grocery into the spot like they originally agreed. It would seem disingenuous. Isn’t there any recourse? Based on the orders they gave Clark Construction at the Artisan (downgrade everything in the units to save money – including not having recessed gas outlets behind the kitchen ranges, so now everybody’s range sticks out 4 inches from the wall! “luxury”), I would assume they engineered this “problem” simply to increase their profits at the expense of the neighborhood residents. Based on what I have seen, they are NOT a well intentioned company trying to do the right thing for the community or their customers where possible, and I will avoid giving them business in the future. I certainly will never buy a property they develop again.

They engineered the leveraged buyout and change in management of Balducci’s after a lease had been signed and construction was underway?

To the best of my knowledge, JPI has fulfilled the terms of its agreement, and it has already leased all of the other retail space in the development. Accepting less than market rent for that space would be an act of charity, and while you can hope for it you can’t expect that from an entity that exists to conduct business.

That said, I hope Brookville can make it work. I lived near their store in Cleveland Park and, while the store was a little dingy, it was well-run and well-stocked for its size.

Anon 01:35:00: I know it’s hard to keep straight, but the Artisan was a JBG building, not JPI.

I’m sure JPI has a lot of projects coming before the city council. Perhaps Wells and Evans can apply some pressure. I really hope this works out.

If no one is leasing the space now, then I assume the total revenue to JPI at this time is $0 per square foot. This is quite a bit less than $11 or $20 per square foot.

Hmmm. Maybe we should follow the lead of the fans of the canceled TV show Jericho. They sent the network tons of peanuts–so many that the network put the show back on the air. Maybe we should send JPI boxes and boxes of empty grocery bags, I have a million, all from stores outside of PQ!

Does anyone know where the supposed agreement or restrictive covenant can be located?

Priority #1 is a grocery store. But why is it taking so long for potato shack to come in. A menu is up and it looks like it could be ready to open any day now, but it never has and has been like that for months. Any ideas of why this is?

jordon: We’ll give the Annapolis Potato Valley store a call tomorrow.

Ugh, yet more disappointing news from JPI. (But good news from Brookville! Yay!) JPI is soon breaking ground on a few more properties in the city, so I hope the govt (Wells, Evans, etc.) does something about this. They are clearly not acting in good faith on this one, and are planning to extract the maximum rent they can now that they’re not obligated to do grocery. As I’ve said in a previous comment, if they could stick a law firm in that space, they’d do it in a second.

I understand that JPI is a corporation that is responsible first to its shareholders, but they need to recognize the cost (to shareholders) that this bad will is creating. I can’t imagine I’m the first (or second) person to think twice about ever being involved in a project JPI is developing. They are liars, and I would never trust my investment with them.

there are many buildings with good loading docks in the central business district. the old post office for example has 4 or 5 bays

hmmm, I’ve got a condo in the Artisan, my stove isn’t jutting out 4 inches from the wall. Sure it’s not just the apartment you saw?

Has anyone been to the Brookville to comment on it?

Another point to add is that the pervasive residence of two homeless people in one of the archways at the former Balducci’s space does not make me think JPI is making a good faith effort to market the property.

There are strong mixed views on Brookville in CP–some deride it as over-priced with a limited selection, others value its presence in the neighborhood and how it lets them avoid drives, taxis, metros to Giant and Safeway. They had a former manager who recently retired who was a love him or hate him personality. On the whole, the store is a plus for CP, though folks wouldn’t mind something better. The CP Yahoo discussionb group peridocially has debates about the store. Perhaps having a second outlet would give it more bulk buying power.

Good point, PQ. Unless JPI is taking all interested parties in through another entrance, no one has been in that location for months as the “homes” of these individuals have not been touched; and I doubt the potential tenants stepped over them.

I moved to PQ from Cleveland Park. Brookeville was always filled with odd, quirky characters working there. It is kind of a strange place. But it’s the only place around here where I can find spinach farfalle (butterfly/bowtie) pasta! So every time I’m in CP, I stop buy and stock up.

Despite its randomness and quirkiness, it’s a serviceable small grocery, and were it to come in to our neighborhood, I would shower it with love and devotion 24-7. Or whenever its business hours would be.