District Construction – a photoset on Flickr

District Construction – a photoset on Flickr

This photo is a little dated. The building is in its place is coming together very fast and it’s amazing how grand it is. Columbia Heights is undergoing huge, long awaited changes. I am predicting this becoming the next hottest neighborhood in Washington DC due to affordable housing near a metro and a neighborhood that’s accustomed to living in an urban setting considering it’s so central to the rest of the city. There’s still quiet a battle to get some of the big box vendors to understand how significant the opportunity is here, with Whole Foods foolishly backing out of their deal. They’re too confident with their P Street location store and where insisting on series of giveaways like private parking. Unfortunately it’s clear that:

A) Jim Graham’s office did not educate themselves when they set this parcel of land to be sold to DCUSA and prematurely allocated parking spots for public use…how they done their homework they would have known this could be a serious deal breaker for a company like Whole Foods

B) Whole Foods has lost key knowledge that urban locations are fundamentally different from suburban locations. There are no soccer Moms in the city that need to drive to Whole Foods to scoop a few hundred dollars every few weeks for home. There IS however few thousand new, young professionals that will walk to the store a several times a week for smaller sized purchases, but much more frequent number of them. The P Street location with it’s compact car spaces doesn’t offer room for large SUVs and did a survey they I think they would be impressed by just how many walk from the surrounding neighborhoods.

What’s really clear is that a Whole Foods at this location would have out performed the P St. There are about 2,000 new condo units coming to the market, literally right on top of the Whole Foods. Too bad they’re blind to that fact.