Think Eastern Market meets City Vista if you're trying to imagine what the CityMarket at O will look like, the $260 million dollar project to help revitalize Shaw's business district. "It will embrace an unusual combination of 19th century charm and 21st century technology," said Armand Spikell, Principal of Roadside Development about the Shaw project that will transform two city blocks in Shaw.Though Roadside had applied to raze the Giant at 1414 8th Street at the end of January - the first of many permits - the demolition date is still hazy, though Spikell projects the store will close this summer. Between now and then, the group has been digging around the foundation and adding steel braces to support the historic market building.
The new Giant Foods will be larger than the Safeway that now resides in City Vista. 55,000 of the 87,000 s.f of retail space is slated for Giant, of which 13,000 s.f. will be underground. This includes the loading dock in particular. "During the initial meetings, the community stated they did not want the eyesore of the docks that take up 9th Street now. It is a very unusual move, but we've tucked all that out of sight," said Spikell.
Also out of sight are the 500 parking spaces, which will also serve as an option for the Convention Center so as not to congest the neighborhood, again at the behest of the community. The remaining retail space is slated for small local businesses, none of which have yet signed at this early date; businesses would not open doors until 2013.
"Working with metro on foundations, working on design, meeting with the community, securing funding through HUD, this is not a normal commercial venture," said Spikell, "and this all takes time." Having started in 2003, eight years later, "things are finally starting to move."
Washington DC real estate development news
8 comments:
I was under the impression that the Giant would be torn down in January 2011. Until they close the grocery store I won't believe that anything is actually happening.
The raze permit hasn't been approved yet (and was just filed the end of jan). When I asked the developers about Giant, they said summer.
And I believe if the summer date for razing slips, there's a good chance they won't be able to close the Giant and raze until 2012. Contractually they can't close the store between Sept. and Christmas.
I think continually we just get the "best case" scenario over and over from the developers to build hype and sell/rent real estate. It would be nice to hear what they think the reality may actually be.
Yeah, I have pretty much given up on following development in this area of DC. Some day this will happen, but who knows when? Same for the Old Convention Center redevelopment and the Kelsey Gardens project.
The neighborhood is what it is, some day it may change. But no time soon. Even once these projects start it will be several years before they actually open.
I really do think that, while this might take some time, it really has begun. Permits are actually being filed, steps are being taken. It seems as though before they were working on financing, which is a huge piece of this that *appears* to be taken care of. I doubt it will finish in the quick timeframe they are suggesting, but I do think that slow and steady movement at this site has begun and won't stop until the finish product is delivered.
7th St has a HUGE concentration of public housing whose residents make for quite an eventful ride when driving north from downtown. Are there plans to raze the hi-rise city housing facilities and locate the residents to elsewhere?
I am curious to know how that happens - how existing public housing can be shut down and moved to another area. I know this is controversial and that while many people would support this in order to make the area safer and more conducive to new businesses coming in, just as many people would oppose it on the grounds that you are kicking people out of their homes and shuffling them to less desirable parts of the city just when the relatively bad part they've been putting up with for years is starting to get better. Whichever side you are on, is there a precedent for doing this? Do they need to condemn the housing?
Best of luck,remember this is an Obama priority
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