The Newseum Opens Today! (Free Admission) *Pic*

Re: Grocery store. All you need to do is look at this front-page article in Today’s Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/10/AR2008041004254.html?hpid=topnews, to see why we need a grocery store.

Anyone know what time the Newseum is open until today?

TML – great article, but there’s no new info in the story about the lack of a PQ grocer that hasn’t been discussed on this board ad nauseum (literally, ad nauseum). And, as the article points out towards the end, a grocery store is coming to 5th and K, a short walk, subway or bus ride away. And then there is Peapod. Grocery store problem solved.

There’s a “block party” outside the museum from 7am to 8:45am, doors open at 9am, and the official dedication ceremony is at 2pm.

To TML: We are getting a grocery store, the Safeway at City Vista. It will be at 5th and K. From where I live, in the Clara Barton, that’s a six or seven block walk. Why the continued griping about the grocery store?

rode past the newseum this morning…was kinda surreal with a gaggle of beauty queens climbing around on the planters taking each others pictures… lol….
i love this place…
xoxo

Grocery stores are a neighborhood thing, every neighborhood wants a grocery in their neighborhood and PQ is no exception. Also who wants only one grocery? Most of the time I go to Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods plus either Safeway or Giant to complete a food shop.

Who is showing up at the dedication at 2 PM?
Did anyone go early this AM for Good Morning America at the Newseum?
How are the lines for admission?

Safeway remains a second tier option. People in this neighborhood are looking for high quality healthy options, and we tried to recruit retail options that fit this need. No one was clamoring for a Safeway; Safeway is being forced on the neighborhood because they were willing to pay the developers’ asking prices.

This is a new concept Safeway — a la Whole Foods. It is supposed to be more upscale and have better options. The first of this concept Safeway is in Seattle — it’s called an “urban Safeway.”

But why are we talking about grocery stores — this is a story about Newseum!!!

I just got back from the Newseum. That corner of Penn & 6th has never been busier!

The Newseum itself is nice, but I’m hoping they’ll have some new & rotating exhibits in the future. There are only so many times (1, in fact) that I’d want to go see a piece of the Berlin Wall, WTC, and simulated news room.

Also, it would be nice if the windowed news room didn’t have super-reflective glass on it! You can’t see anything clearly unless you put your face up against the windows.. which leads to an interesting microbial culture of smudge marks.

Every time I see pictures of the preserved sections of the Berlin Wall, I just want to clean off the graffiti from the West Berlin side! I know, I’m a freak but I can’t stand graffiti in any form, even when it’s considered an example of free expression and striking back at an oppressive Communist regime. Someone call the Downtown BID, stat!

the picture of the Newseum in the print edition of the Post does look good. the PQ got exposure too with a little urban development map in the bottom right illustrating changes to the ‘hood.

Amazing – no matter the subject, someone always beings us back to the ‘beat-a-dead-horse’ grocery issue.

DROP IT! Enough already. Or ask to start a new string just for that.

Let’s celebrate the Newseum — a multi-million dollar commitment in our neighborhood. I welcome them — and any business that invests in the area — with open arms and possibly, by money.

The reason a grocery store comes up in almost every post is that at least half of PQ wants a close, safe grocery, & that Waysafe is too far & too dangerous. A lot of people are still not happy – get used to it.

Of course we want a grocery. Who doesn’t.

But we’re not going to get one. Ever. And I will tell you why…

Grocery chains have a checklist of what is required. Here are some of the points that this neighborhood will never be able overcome:

1) low population density — not enough people — and probably wont be for some time. We’re talking a minimum 10,000. Not close.

2) new and planned construction will be required — and nothing is planned in the next 10 years that will satisfy the requirements — many are stated below

3) parking will be required

4) wide and accessible alleyways are necessary — there are very few that meet the requirements in this area which is why many take deliveries thru the front door

5) prime space for signage

6) rents are too high. period. most inner city grocers in NY that inevitably get compared to this area (like oranges and apples), signed long-term, rent-stable leases many, many years. Trust me, when those leases come up for renewal, the stores will close. My friends see it in neighborhoods in the UWS and UES already.

The “Balducci’s” space lacked many of these requirements. The most recent groceries in town (Whole Paycheck, Trader Schmos, Waysafe) all are new and purposed construction. These sites were developed specifically for a grocer. There is no plan for such down here other than the new store opening soon. MAYBE at the old convention site.

For those who moved here hoping for a grocer to move in, that was probably poor research and wishful thinking on your end. I know I will be flamed for this — but it is true. If your real estate agent “promised” you anything, maybe he could have sold you a plot of marsh in Florida, too.

So, now that the business reasons have been explained (again), lets take emotion out and move on.

1. I too am always amazed and amused how the “grocery store groupies” turn any topic into a discussion about grocery stores.
2.I moved to Penn Quarter in 1997 and ever since there have been promises and expectations and obsessive discussions about the possibility of a grocery store in Penn Quarter. Over ten years.
3. For the reasons cogently stated in #15 and elsewhere on this site, it won’t happen. Not in our lifetimes. Can we please get over it and talk about something more interesting.
4. The Newseum was great. A welcome addition to the neighborhood. And for those of you who seem to be starving, there is a nice Wolfgang Puck cafeteria inside.

Oh yes, regarding the Newseum cafeteria – excellent quality food and reasonably priced (even for a museum cafeteria). The menu is here.

For God’s sake, when is this blog going to ban the totally inane and ignorant comments about the so-called lack of a grocery store here?

WE ARE GETTING A GROCERY STORE. Repeat…WE ARE GETTING A GROCERY STORE. It’s called SAFEWAY.

This is as lame as the old “move to the suburbs” comments.

Seriously, this blog is losing its credibility by allowing it to be a forum to propagate this nonsense. Are you guys reading this stuff?

I tend to agree that the grocery store optimism is a little extreme every time there is a whiff of a possibility…but…I totally disagree with the “I have been here since XYZ…We are not going to ever get one”

In fact, I had many of the same conversations with people about Platinum who said “Platinum has been here longer that residents….I snuck into these clubs when I was in high school….you can’t do anything about them….”

I would ask, however, what those who complain about no grocery store have actually done about it other than post on-line their wish for one and how we “deserve” one.

Are the moderators asleep at the wheel? Get your commenters on topic, man!

Seriously, when I clicked on this story I thought “Great, 19 comments about the Newseum…I can’t wait to see what people thought” and here I just find more griping about the grocery store issue.

Seriously, why have the option of approving or disapproving comments if you’re going to approve everything, no matter how off topic it gets?!

mentioning the Safeway is mostly irrelevant in this thread but there is a linkage and that is the Newseum story on the front page (& above the fold) of yesterday’s Washington Post. the Newseum opening can’t be written about without mentioning how this part of town has emerged as a neighborhood. a grocery story defines a neighborhood as does a gazillion dollar museum. sometimes you have to let commenters repeat themselves and stray, faults and all, to have an equal opportunity discussion.

I’d like to thank Anon #15 for his sensible remarks. I’d also echo what LiveAndWorkInPQ implies. nothing actually gets done without some good old fashioned letter writing, neighborhood meetings with and well placed phone calls to your city leaders – it’s called civic activism. whining about something on a neighborhood Internet site such as ours won’t get the “puck in the net” so to speak. if you do have an issue you think is worth bringing to our attention for comment, please send it to our mailbag: pqliving [at] gmail.com

now, back to the Newseum which I hope to visit once I get some time off work. thanks to gpliving for the cool photo.

The Newseum is the MoMA of DC. Who’s going to visit when they charge 20 bucks for admission! Besides, how can they compete with that price when they’re in a city full of museums that charge NOTHING for admission?!

My favorite moment today was when George Stephonopolous told viewers, at the end of This Week, tnat next week’s show would come from their studio at the Newseum. I wonder if they have a live audience like some of the other news shows.

#22, There will be plenty of people willing to shell out 20 bucks for admission. Our city has museums that are free and museums that charge admission. Just in the Penn Quarter we have the International Spy Museum ($18) and Madam Tussauds ($21). Regarding the Spy Museum, when it first opened I remember people questioning the high cost of a ticket there in a city that has so many free museums. Debate over.

Many people think nothing about spending $20 on a bar tab or on a movie (including popcorn, etc.); it’s about value. Not everyone will see the value, but many will.

The combination of architecture, stunning views, varied exhibits, theaters and interactive activities is already making the Newseum a destination. I think it’s a fabulous addition to our neighborhood and will attract not only visitors but make more people want to live downtown.

This has nothing to do with the Newseum but I thought it might help to learn a bit more about why we are getting a Safeway as part of the City Vista development.

PQ Observer said that Safeway is here because “they were willing to pay the developers’ asking prices?”

Here is what I know.

Safeway was part of Lowe’s development team for both competitions for the Wax Musuem site. I don’t know if Lowe shopped grocery stores or went to Safeway first or Safeway came to Lowe. However it happened, it happened long before there was a shovel in the ground and that is way long before a per square foot price is typically established. Obviously there was some agreement, which may have changed from the first to the second competition, but that is not the point.

Let me recap for those who might be interested.

The city has owned the former Wax Museum site since the late 1960’s. In fact it was the first Downtown Urban Renewal site purchased and for years was known as Parcel 1. (There were four other sites. Macy’s is on one, the bldg. at the NE corner of 12th and G is another, the bldg. on G next to the Homer Bldg. is a fourth, and the major portion of the Verizon Center — between F and G streets — is the fifth, but I digress.)

The city held a development competiton for the wax museum site — twice. The city and the winner of the first competiton could not come to terms. (As another aside, the city required a theater the first time around and the winning developer had the Washington Stage Guild on his team, which is now locating at 8th and E; he also included space for a small grocer.)

Many if not all of the developers included a grocery store in the second competition. (Sorry, I can’t remember if a grocery store was required or not.) Lowe included Safeway and both times had an unusually strong letter of commitment from the company, though we all know that if one can get out of a lease, a letter of commitment can be worth no more than the paper it is written on. Harris Teeter was with another team on the second competition. Sorry, I no longer remember if there were other named grocers.

I have no idea why the city selected Lowe to develop the site, but Lowe didn’t need to shop around to find a grocer — they stayed with the same team they had during the first competition. I remember reading that the Mt. Vernon Association supported the team that included a Harris Teeter; I think others did as well for the same reason. They prefered Harris Teeter to Safeway or an unknown grocer. The community was primarily concerned with the retail/grocery store portion of the proposal. But they had no say in the decision making. The city officials were required to judge the proposals against all of the criteria in the RFP and select the one that came out on top. So it was really the city officials who by selecting Lowe, decided we would have a Safeway.

Safeway will be unfolding their new urban model, which has been successful on the west coast. I was in one in San Francisco in January; as far as product selection goes it is better than the typical Washington area Safeway for sure. If it replicates the one I shopped in the selection will surprise you (the decor was worse than Safeway here — reminded me of what Giant did after Ahold bought them — very plastic/fake wood, etc.). My guess is that Safeway won’t be identical to what I saw because available products are different in the specialty item category (what is not ketchup, Bounty, and Rice Krispies) on the west coast from what is available here — heck, the selection in DC can’t even hold a candle to what I can buy at a grocer in Princeton, New Jersey, so I assume it won’t be nearly as good as San Francisco!

Jo-Ann.