A little more than a year after the Safeway at 1855 Wisconsin Ave, NW, closed, Georgetown residents can welcome back an old friend this week, though they might not recognize the store after its reconstructive surgery. Following an invitation-only gala tomorrow evening, the new "Social" Safeway will open its doors on May 6th to the DC community with a ceremony beginning at 8 AM, joined by the likes of Mayor Adrian Fenty and Councilmember Evans. The Georgetown store will operate 24-hours a day, seven days a week, and will be the first Safeway store to offer catering services in its geographic division, which stretches north to Pennsylvania.
.jpg)
Unlike the former store, which sat at the rear of a surface parking lot, the new store fronts the street and sits on top of sheltered parking at grade with an additional parking deck in the rear. Acqua nail salon, a wireless phone store and a "high-end" pet store fill the three retail bays, according to Safeway spokesperson, Craig Muckle.
Though much of the fare will be the same, there are a few additions that help the store meet the expectations of its customers, including a "wine cellar." Not just a wine area, but a separate chilled wine cellar that will be run by Georgetown native, Michael Quinn, and offer upwards of 2,500 bottles. The store will also offer a sushi bar and a Starbucks that open from 5 AM until midnight, longer than any other Starbucks nearby. Additional features include an indoor/outdoor terrace and a lounge with a fireplace and flat screen TVs. This is sounding more like a college campus than a grocery store.
.jpg)
Once the store opens, Safeway will submit their Torti Gallas-designed building for review by the U.S. Green Building Council, expecting LEED certification for the final product. According to Muckle, the team "believes" that it will achieve LEED Silver certification, but there is a chance that the project could reach Gold.
Unlike the former store, which sat at the rear of a surface parking lot, the new store fronts the street and sits on top of sheltered parking at grade with an additional parking deck in the rear. Acqua nail salon, a wireless phone store and a "high-end" pet store fill the three retail bays, according to Safeway spokesperson, Craig Muckle.
Though much of the fare will be the same, there are a few additions that help the store meet the expectations of its customers, including a "wine cellar." Not just a wine area, but a separate chilled wine cellar that will be run by Georgetown native, Michael Quinn, and offer upwards of 2,500 bottles. The store will also offer a sushi bar and a Starbucks that open from 5 AM until midnight, longer than any other Starbucks nearby. Additional features include an indoor/outdoor terrace and a lounge with a fireplace and flat screen TVs. This is sounding more like a college campus than a grocery store.
Once the store opens, Safeway will submit their Torti Gallas-designed building for review by the U.S. Green Building Council, expecting LEED certification for the final product. According to Muckle, the team "believes" that it will achieve LEED Silver certification, but there is a chance that the project could reach Gold. Washington, DC real estate development news
7 comments:
Illustrations by Interface Multimedia, see www.ifmm.com
This store is a great improvement from the previous Social Safeway with the large surface parking lot in the front. This will be welcomed by residents from this part of DC.
With the completion of this building, the parcel immediately to the south on Wisconsin Avenue (surface parking lot, Einstein's Bagels, pawn shop) looks ripe for redevelopment. It is a one-story building and looks out of place with the new Safeway. Ground floor retail with 3-4 floors of residential above it would be the perfect use for this parcel of land.
I walked by everday and was impressed the the contractor Roche Constructors and how nice they were. What a good job in just one year.The construction people answered questions and always helpe dus cross the streets and took pride in what they were buildng for us in Georgetown. Roche rocked .
It's difficult to imagine why Safeway thought they had to bring in a contractor from Colorado instead of hiring locally. This contractor was allowed to block traffic and work outside of stated DC hours in order to open two months late.
1- Roche was not 2 months late, they had always committed to a 12 month schedule to re-open from the point Safeway had pulled product from the old store which was in fact early last May. They met the schedule dispite incomplete design documents, unforeseen site condition, approx 20 plan revisions during construction and the blizzard
2- Roche did hire numerous area subcontractors and supports ABC members.
3-Other Generals that had done prior Safeway work couldnt even committ to a 12 month schedule.
who is the goof that dont know the contractor did have permits for the lane closer ? I inspected and found this contractor very responsive to the DC residents who walked the area daily and the children for bothe artea schools. Good project and a contractor that cared about how the public was treated during the entire construction process.It's good to see some new blood in the metro area to shake up some of the old firms that just get by on every job.
We live 2 blocks from the new store
and I walked my children and dog by almost everyday. the workers and construction crossing gaurd were respectfull and answered any questions we had. Nice to see that a construction company does have employees that are respecfull and built a great project Georgetown can be proud of. Sounds like the guy complaining must not have gotten the job becuase of price that was to high or could do the job in the required time frame needed.
Post a Comment
Commercial ads will be deleted, so don't even think about it.