Wisconsin Ave. Giant to Close In March as Cathedral Commons Gears Up

The Giant supermarket at 3336 Wisconsin Avenue, NW will close in March in preparation for the construction of Cathedral Commons, according to a spokeswoman for the supermarket chain.

Sharon Robinson, an outside spokeswoman on behalf of Giant said that construction for the $125 million project will begin this quarter. A raze permit for the building as well as other parts of the 3300 block were approved Jan. 30th by the Historic Preservation Office according to documents released this week by the Office. Meanwhile, the Giant Pharmacy has closed, and Starbucks cafe in the 3400 block also closed this week; its building also has a date with the wrecking ball as part of the project.

(Photo by Ken Johnson)

United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 400, which represents Giant employees at the Wisconsin Ave. store, were also given notice this week that the location will close within the next 30 days to begin razing the old building.

The UFCW employees won't lose their jobs, but will be transferred to other Giant stores in the region, according to UFCW Local 400 Secretary Mark Federici.

Developer Street-Works, which also designed much of Bethesda Row, has designed Cathedral Commons to bring 137 apartments, eight town homes and more than 125,000 s.f. of retail space, including 56,000 s.f. to replace the 50-year old store.

For the past decade, Cathedral Commons has been ground-zero for redevelopment politics, pitting anti-development activists versus the food store and its financial partner The Bozzuto Group.

Meanwhile, Giant, like its fellow unionized grocery chain Safeway, is facing increasing pressure to improve or replace its smaller-footage legacy stores like the one on Wisconsin Avenue, one of the least liked supermarkets in the District.

That's the result of stiff competition from non-unionized upscale chains like Harris Teeter and Whole Foods, which have entered the District in force, as well as discount food sellers like Walmart, which just this week began work for a groundbreaking at its first store in the District at New Jersey Avenue and H Street.

Pleasanton, California-based Safeway Inc. is also looking to replace its 35,000 s.f. Safeway in Tenleytown, less than a mile away, with a five-story mixed use project that will bring a new 56,000 s.f. store to the neighborhood. But that project likely won't get started until the new Cathedral Commons Giant is ready and open for business. Giant also closed their large Shaw supermarket last September, in advance of what will (in two years) become an anchor supermarket and residential project in Shaw.

Update: According to Sharon Robinson, the above-mentioned spokesman, a date has not been set for closure of the Giant.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Safeway Tries Again With Revamped Tenleytown Design

Officials from Safeway, Torti Gallas and Clark Realty Capital unveiled more renderings of its planned Tenleytown site last night - with once again, decidedly mixed community reviews.

Plans to replace the backwards-facing Safeway store at 42nd and Davenport, which has cheekily shown its veteran rump to Wisconsin Avenue passersby for the better part of thirty years, have been in place since August 2009. But opposition from the Office of Planning and the neighborhood ANC over an above-ground parking garage forced Safeway to suspend the project in January 2010.

Now Safeway, and its architects have returned with a newer, scaled down version, with the 56,000 square-foot store being folded in to a five-story complex with 184 apartments, 14 town homes and more than 140 spaces 0f underground parking for customers. There will also be dedicated parking for residents.

Still, a few in the Northwest DC community that is well known for its opposition to development on Wisconsin Avenue, worried about adding such high-density housing and traffic to a the single-family neighborhood, fear additional traffic and delivery trucks on nearby narrow residential streets such as Ellicott and Davenport.

"There is a great deal of concern on the density of the units," said Tenleytown residents Adam Rubinson, who attended Safeway's Jan. 18 unveiling at St. Mary Armenian Apostolic Church. "The concern is pretty much unanimous," he said in an interview.

Rubinson wants to see a "stepped-back" design along Davenport so as not to overwhelm its neighbors across the street. Safeway and Torti Gallas say they have done just that with a design that will top the trees in the neighborhood but not block sunlight during morning and evening hours.

Rubinson wants to see the height of the project, currently 79 feet, lowered to no more than 55 feet, with one story below grade, similar to that of the brand-spanking new Whole Foods along Willard Avenue in Chevy Chase, less than a mile away. "There are plenty of developers who are willing to do just that," he asserted.

Improving the look and size of the store is key for Safeway in a suddenly uber-competitive market like Washington D.C. Unionized middle-market grocery chains such as Safeway and Giant, even with their single-digit profit margins, once ruled the roost in D.C., where shoppers had little choice but to tolerate dirty stores, bare shelves, long lines and surly staff.

Now amid an influx of higher-end choices such as Whole Foods and Harris Teeter, the Safeways of the world must upgrade their legacy stores to keep pace with a changing market. "Everyone who sells food is a competitor," says Safeway spokesman Craig Muckle. Often they are stuck in between high-end but non-union grocery chains like Whole Foods and Wegmans that can charge a premium for their quality and variety, and low-cost producers like Wal-Mart, with the volume and a non-union workforce to wring additional profits out of food shoppers.

The 35,000 square foot Tenleytown Safeway, which first opened in 1957 and was remodeled in 1981, is no exception, facing competition from the aforementioned, newly-constructed Whole Foods in Chevy Chase, an existing Whole Foods in Tenleytown and a remodeled Giant Food along Western Ave. in Chevy Chase.

Muckle says if all goes well, the project could break ground in 2014. Safeway had hoped to start on the new Tenleytown Safeway once retail construction adjacent the Georgetown "Social" Safeway was completed, but now will have to wait. Torti Gallas is also the architect on that project as well. The 200-plus United Food and Commercial Workers members who work at the store will be "farmed out" to other stores during the reconstruction, according to UFCW Local 400 Secretary Mark Federici.

The debate over the size of the store and its accompanying town home and apartment developments threatens to devolve into the protracted tug-of-war that surrounded the redevelopment of the Newark Street Giant.

That store, just a mile further south on Wisconsin Ave, saw organized neighborhood resistance for the better part of a decade before the Bozzuto Group got the OK to start construction on a new 56,000 square foot facility this spring. Rubison says he hopes the Tenleytown Safeway development process doesn't go down that path.

"I think if Safeway can make some reasonable compromises, the chances of that happening are close to zero," said Rubinson. "But if they take a hard line, especially on the overall massing of the building and the number of units, and residential parking, I could see this getting mired in delays."

Safeway plans another question-and-answer session on Feb. 2 in the lobby of the Tenleytown Safeway between 6:30pm and 8:30pm.

Washington D.C. real estate development news.

Cathedral Commons Construction in Spring 2012, Giant Announces Development Partner Bozzuto

Giant, the grocer owned by Dutch conglomerate Ahold Delhaize, will begin construction on Cathedral Commons next spring and has just announced its partnership with The Bozzuto Group to develop the $125-million mixed-use project along Wisconsin Avenue, NW, first reported yesterday by The Washington Post.  The historically debated, two-block redevelopment project will bring 137 apartment units and 8 townhomes, more than 500 parking spaces, and 128,000 s.f. of retail including the anchor, a new 56,000-s.f. Giant, to replace the badly aged 50-year-old one currently on site. Opening of the new Giant is "tentatively scheduled for late 2013." In the press release issued today, Tom Bozzuto, CEO of The Bozzuto Group, remarked, “We are thrilled to work with Giant to create Cathedral Commons, a community that will offer the District neighborhoods of Cleveland Park and Cathedral Heights the best shopping, dining and housing yet." Southside Investment Partners LLC will partner with The Bozzuto Group on the retail portion of the project. The Bozzuto Group is also currently a development partner for Monroe Street Market near Catholic University, another big ($200 million) mixed-use project which broke ground last month. 

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Shaw Giant Closes Today

The Giant supermarket has closed to make way for construction of the new Giant, anchor of the long-anticipated CityMarket at O in Shaw, with excavation planned for November, said Susan Linsky, project manager at Roadside Development. The new 71,000-s.f. Giant will be the first completed aspect of the project, as Roadside is contractually obligated to deliver a replacement within two years of closing the old store, meaning, by September 8th, 2013. "We're really excited," said Linsky. "However, there is a lot of work to do in advance of excavation." Facade support, utilities prep, etc. 

Construction, by Clark, will be in several phases and split between the east and west parcels. The east parcel, which is mainly comprised of the Giant, will be topped with affordable senior housing (84 units), and an apartment. Although the Giant will deliver first, the other two components of the east parcel will deliver last, likely in late fall 2014 or early spring 2015. The second phase of the real estate project, to deliver immediately following the Giant, will be the west parcel's 181-room hotel, a 400-unit apartment unit and several retail outlets (around 16,000 s.f. in all); likely completion date of these components is late fall 2013, or early spring 2014. A condominium, also on the west parcel, will be included in the last phase. The 1-million-s.f. urban infill project will be built on a parking podium consisting of over 500 spaces. Roadside believes the project will “serve as a catalyst for the revitalization of the Shaw community, one of Washington's oldest commercial, residential, and cultural districts.”

Washington D.C. real estate development news