it's not a done deal. there's some issues about signage, parking, and deliveries. and it may take a while. the architectural designs need to be altered to meet giant's needs. just chill, naysayers. we may be lucky enough to keep the vacant lot there for a few more years.
Giant is ghetto? The new and rebuilt ones are pretty nice. And relatively inexpensive. I'm glad it's not a spendy boutique, since I'm going to actually want to shop in my own neighborhood.
A deal with Giant food has not been completed. As Michael Niebauer said in the WBJ, negotiations are still underway. Guy Steuart called Anwar Saleem, Executive Director of H Street Main Street, this morning and told him that he will be able to make an announcement regarding a grocery tenant by June 1. Anwar has been involved with Steuart in the search for a grocery to locate in the building at 3rd and H for a couple of years, although those negotiations were necessarily confidential. They speak on a regular basis and have also been working with the city to attract to best possible tenant for the west end of H Street. Anwar told me a few minutes ago that it is unknown at this time what the final resolution will be.
Yeah, vacant lots are much less ghetto than Giant. And who is "we"? I'd be thrilled to walk a sizeable grocery store (sorry, Murray's) without playing Frogger in the starburst. I don't care if its a Giant, a Safeway, or a Shoppers. Like @644 points out... I've been in really nice and really terrible versions of each.
Yeah, vacant lots are much less ghetto than Giant.
You here this a lot on this blog. It seems to me it *epically* misses the point. If Giant backs out, there's about a zero-percent chance that that lot is going to be vacant a decade from now. But if Giant does come to 3rd & H, there's a 100% chance it's going to be a Giant thirty years from now.
A cement factory is better than a vacant lot; therefore we should be happy with a cement factory at 3rd & H...
Getting a Giant after all this time is like wanting a really cool Christmas gift when you're a kid, knowing that your parents know what present you want, and then getting some lame toy instead. Sure, a pair of socks is still a gift, but it isn't an Xbox. Better than an empty lot? Yeah, but that's a pretty low standard.
Oh, and just to reiterate my point from the hijacked thread, it's not even an established fact that Giant is cheaper than, say, Whole Foods.
Meanwhile, it's not a question of whether a Giant (or an Aldi, or a Super Murray's) is better than a vacant lot *forever*. It's a question of whether Giant is better than three more years of a vacant lot followed by a grocery store run by folks who respect the community.
Sock for xmas - I completely agree with your post. I was hoping for something a bit more upscale than another Giant. I already can drive over to Brentwood if I want a regular grocery store. A Whole Foods or similar store would have had more of an impact on the neighborhood.
Wait, the new auto zone sign is so much better than racoons or stick ball or ghetto versus yuppie, or organic versus wilted. I don't know how to send a pic or i would. tonyt the pug
A Giant is perfect. Sorry guys, H St NE is a long way from being a Whole Foods neighborhood.
Bitch plz. Whole Foods opened in Logan Circle when the neighborhood was absolutely abysmal. The circle itself was still saturated with the transvestite hookers that ultimately migrated to our neighborhood.
The Giants in the suburbs are much BETTER than the Safeways. Look at the Giants in McLean, Fairfax County, Loudoun County, etc - most people prefer the Giants NOT the Safeways! This Giant is a huge plus for the neighborhood and will assist Giant in expanding their market share and prove that they can compete with the Safeways in the District.
Hopefully, this Giant will offer a store with a variety of fruits and vegetables (unlike the Brentwood location) and organic line while still catering to the needs of a mixed income area and if they do not we can LOBBY them - power in the people. I am hoping this Giant is similar to the Safeway located at 490 L Street, NW. You cannot tell me you want to pay for the HIGH prices at the local corner stores, right?
Whole Foods may have opened in Logan when the neighborhood was transitional, but that was a different time. It was a time of unbridled optimism, a time of an inflating housing bubble. You act as if you deserve a Whole Foods. Just because you got a good deal on a house in a trashy neighborhood doesn't mean you suddenly deserve Whole Foods. If you wanted Whole Foods so bad, maybe you should have picked a different neighborhood. Oh, that's right, you couldn't afford it. Did you ever think maybe you are not Whole Foods material, after all, if you were you would have bought in upper NW where there is a Whole Foods in every neighborhood.
I don't understand yuppies. Giants exist in every neighborhood in Washington, from upper NW to SE. Is H St better than upper NW? I know truly affluent people that shop at the Giant in Friendship Hts. Have you been to that store? It's very nice. A Giant will cater to what the neighborhood wants.
"Whole Foods opened in Logan Circle when the neighborhood was absolutely abysmal."
The 1300 block of P Street maybe. But there are probably 100 high rise apartments within a five block radius of the store. Walk down 15th, 16th, 17th, Corcoran, Rhode Island and you'll see them - most predate the store.
That area was already much denser than H Street and I'll bet if you look at the data, the demographics within a half-mile were different.
Yes there is a lot of new residential development now in the NOMA area around the new Busboys and Poets. But those people are almost as close to the P Street Whole Foods as they would be to one on H Street.
Personally I wish a WF would come to H Street. But wishful thinking does not change numbers.
what's the big deal with giant? the one in van ness was pretty sweet after the renovations. granted, trader joe's would have been awesome, but if our milkshake won't bring whole foods, trader joe's, and the other "nicer" grocers to the yard, wtf can we do about it? we can sign all the petitions we want, but if some suit decides we're not worth it, let's just get on with it and make do with what we have.
You act as if you deserve a Whole Foods. Just because you got a good deal on a house in a trashy neighborhood doesn't mean you suddenly deserve Whole Foods.
The level of self-contempt contained in this comment is just so sad.
"You want a clean grocery store, with *fresh* produce??? We don't deserve it!!! We're a trashy people in a trashy neighborhood. All we deserve is a trashy grocery store! Boo hoo hooo!!!!"
It's like you tell someone they're no good long enough, and suddenly they start to believe it. Therapy can help.
You want a clean grocery store, with *fresh* produce??? We don't deserve it!!! We're a trashy people in a trashy neighborhood. All we deserve is a trashy grocery store! Boo hoo hooo!!!!
It's like you tell someone they're no good long enough, and suddenly they start to believe it. Therapy can help."
Did you not read my post? Hello, there's a Giant in Friendship Hts, a neighborhood 1000x more classy than H St NE. Have you even been there? It's a nice store.
What makes you think a Giant on H St is going to be "trashy and have unfresh produce"?
Seriously, get over yourself. Your new Giant will be a nice store. You're the one that needs therapy, and not the Whole Foods type.
Whole Foods may have opened in Logan when the neighborhood was transitional, but that was a different time. It was a time of unbridled optimism...
Unbridled optimism? Bullshit. Realtors started marketing the area as "Dupont East" after they couldn't move properties!Investors were very wary of opening anything in that particular area! Only recently has serious attention been given to the "14th Street Corridor".
...a time of an inflating housing bubble.
The "housing bubble" of which you speak was mythological. Haven't you lived here long enough to realize our real estate market is vastly different than the surrounding area, let alone the surrounding states? While entire blocks of houses were being foreclosed in places like Woodbridge or Springfield, prices were rising in the District! New developments were going full steam ahead...
The 1300 block of P Street maybe. But there are probably 100 high rise apartments within a five block radius of the store. Walk down 15th, 16th, 17th, Corcoran, Rhode Island and you'll see them - most predate the store.
You raise an interesting point, one that I thought about yesterday. Our area might very well not yet have the density required to sustain an "urban" Whole Foods.
I'll take whatever we can get. Giant is fine - better than fine. Though I think TJ would have been a great fit with the H street neighborhood, and that TJ in Foggy Bottom is always so crowded.
"The "housing bubble" of which you speak was mythological."
Keep telling yourself that. Meanwhile, reality brings Giant to H St instead of Whole Foods.
Wait, I thought you *liked* Giant?
Meanwhile you can't touch a miniscule 2 br / 1 ba townhouse in the area for under $400k unless it's a burnt out shell, and my neighbor just sold their house for $30k more than they bought it a year ago.
But you're right, the local market is *exactly* like Woodbridge or Springfield.
Whole Foods is sooo last decade, I was hoping for Balducci's or Dean & Deluca.
Seriously though, Whole Foods would have been nice, but the Giant will be just fine.
What ya'll should be worried about is Steuart's budget/plans for the exterior of the building. THAT will make or break the 'perception' of how quality the store is.
This will be a great looking building, plus there's a smaller retail spot (~2500 SF) at the corner of 4th & H. And, of course, several hundred residents above to help encourage more retail in the 400 & 500 blocks of H!
No, we're better off pushing Metro Mutts to stock more raccoon toys and supplies, since they're only a block away. 4th & H can be the new home of the National Stickball Hall of Fame.
I think a Whole Foods or Trader Joes would be vastly supported by this neighborhood. You forget that all the people who live on Capitol Hill south of H Street would shop there too--all the senators, and staffers, and lobbyists, and lawyers, and doctors, and fundraisers, and just parents who want non-high fructose corn syrup, non-pesticide-ed food for their kids. It's a hell of a lot closer to go to 3rd & H then drive all the way across town to the Foggy Bottom TJs, across the river with bridge traffic to the Alexandria TJs, or to fight the traffic and abysmal parking situation at the Logan Circle Whole Foods. I'm super-disappointed. I really don't care how nice this specific Giant is--it's still never going to have the variety of organic and non-processed options a TJ's or Whole Foods would have. I had high hopes for the Jenkins Row Harris Teeter--it was just more of the same as the regular grocery chains.
Ha! You must be in the wrong part of town if you care about your kids eating pesticides or hormones. As previous commenters made abundantly clear, that's a white upper-class issue, not something real H Streeters care about.
Has anyone seen what the building is supposed to look like?
This is an important corner, and we should definitely insist on a design that's interesting and well-done, since the developer is getting massive tax grants.
If they come back with some boring cookie-cutter design without any detail or thought put into it then that'll tell us a lot about how much they value community input.
Plenty of families on the Hill and the surrounding area, would have been interested in a TJs or a Whole Foods. There are over 3100 members of the Moms on the Hill listserve and I'd say most of them would prefer to feed kids food with out corn syrup, hormones and other crap and you have to search hard at the Giant/Safeway/HT to find products without that stuff.
Whole Foods also sells a wide variety of bulk foods which is a very economical and healthful way to feed a family. Beans, rice, lentils, oats...its sad to think that eating real food rather than junk and chemical filled nonsense is considered elitist and yuppie.
I've seen the drawings and renderings of the building design. They had to go through zoning approvals, so it was all available in public meetings.
The building looks great. The H street side has tons of windows for the grocery store, high quality finishes, etc. One reason why speculation about Whole Foods was high is that the building is more similar to the P Street WF than it is to a standard Giant. Whatever the tenant, it will be a great addition to the neighborhood.
There is still room for Trader Joes on H Street NE. The south side of the 600 block will be condos and ground floor retail. The space is big enough or small enough (depending on hoe you look at it) for a TJs. Check out G-towns TJ....same thing.
Let's give an honorary MBA or PhD in Urban Planning for this NAIL ON THE HEAD posting:
The 1300 block of P Street maybe. But there are probably 100 high rise apartments within a five block radius of the store. Walk down 15th, 16th, 17th, Corcoran, Rhode Island and you'll see them - most predate the store.
You raise an interesting point, one that I thought about yesterday. Our area might very well not yet have the density required to sustain an "urban" Whole Foods.
"Ha! You must be in the wrong part of town if you care about your kids eating pesticides or hormones. As previous commenters made abundantly clear, that's a white upper-class issue, not something real H Streeters care about."
It's as if you people think Whole Foods is the only place to get organic food. H St has a very nice farmer's market, and Eastern Market is close by.
It's as if you people think Whole Foods is the only place to get organic food. H St has a very nice farmer's market, and Eastern Market is close by.
Which is fine when you're shopping on the weekend. But the produce *inside* Eastern Market sucks, to put it bluntly. As does the quality (generally) of the fish.
One of my other grocery pet peeves: the hit-or-miss quality of the vendors inside the Eastern Market. I know this will never, ever happen because of political considerations, but every four years, the public should be allowed to rate the vendors in the Eastern Market hall, and the lowest-rated should be evicted.
That space is *far* too valuable to just give over to some unmotivated vendor for life.
62 comments:
Hope Argonaut gets some great applicants and that H St. stickball team idea comes together
I hope that no raccoons are harmed during the construction of this customer service driven grocery store.
Anon 5:25 -- Very nice.
it's not a done deal. there's some issues about signage, parking, and deliveries. and it may take a while. the architectural designs need to be altered to meet giant's needs. just chill, naysayers. we may be lucky enough to keep the vacant lot there for a few more years.
awful just awful. Giant is a ghetto grocery store not what we want/need in the neighborhood. What a waste!
hey, bring it on. once that lot gets developed and the 600 block project gets rolling, we'll start seeing some action on the west side of the corridor
i do hope it's a nice giant, naturally, and i expect it will be (i've never seen an anchor store in a developer that was a rathole)
sigh...
Giant Food. 202 Locations. Apparently, some people think that all of them are "ghetto."
Please. Giant knows how to run a good store IF IT WANTS TO. Let's just hope it does. A nice Giant would be a wonderful addition to H Street.
Adios vacant lot, hello something I can use!
Giant is ghetto? The new and rebuilt ones are pretty nice. And relatively inexpensive. I'm glad it's not a spendy boutique, since I'm going to actually want to shop in my own neighborhood.
A deal with Giant food has not been completed. As Michael Niebauer said in the WBJ, negotiations are still underway.
Guy Steuart called Anwar Saleem, Executive Director of H Street Main Street, this morning and told him that he will be able to make an announcement regarding a grocery tenant by June 1.
Anwar has been involved with Steuart in the search for a grocery to locate in the building at 3rd and H for a couple of years, although those negotiations were necessarily confidential. They speak on a regular basis and have also been working with the city to attract to best possible tenant for the west end of H Street.
Anwar told me a few minutes ago that it is unknown at this time what the final resolution will be.
Yeah, vacant lots are much less ghetto than Giant. And who is "we"? I'd be thrilled to walk a sizeable grocery store (sorry, Murray's) without playing Frogger in the starburst. I don't care if its a Giant, a Safeway, or a Shoppers. Like @644 points out... I've been in really nice and really terrible versions of each.
Yeah, vacant lots are much less ghetto than Giant.
You here this a lot on this blog. It seems to me it *epically* misses the point. If Giant backs out, there's about a zero-percent chance that that lot is going to be vacant a decade from now. But if Giant does come to 3rd & H, there's a 100% chance it's going to be a Giant thirty years from now.
A cement factory is better than a vacant lot; therefore we should be happy with a cement factory at 3rd & H...
Getting a Giant after all this time is like wanting a really cool Christmas gift when you're a kid, knowing that your parents know what present you want, and then getting some lame toy instead. Sure, a pair of socks is still a gift, but it isn't an Xbox. Better than an empty lot? Yeah, but that's a pretty low standard.
Oh, and just to reiterate my point from the hijacked thread, it's not even an established fact that Giant is cheaper than, say, Whole Foods.
Meanwhile, it's not a question of whether a Giant (or an Aldi, or a Super Murray's) is better than a vacant lot *forever*. It's a question of whether Giant is better than three more years of a vacant lot followed by a grocery store run by folks who respect the community.
Sock for xmas - I completely agree with your post. I was hoping for something a bit more upscale than another Giant. I already can drive over to Brentwood if I want a regular grocery store. A Whole Foods or similar store would have had more of an impact on the neighborhood.
Wait. Hold it. Stop.
As demonstrated all day long, the Argonaut post is the one for comments on the grocery store.
This post on the grocery store takes comments on the Argonaut.
Get it straight, people.
While you're whining about it not being a Whole Foods, don't forget to whine about not getting a pony, too.
The Giant is perfect. Just nice enough to push out the abysmal Murray's and open up that space for development.
Let the "I hate the new residents' criticism begin. For that crowd, I know you'll miss the flying chair in the vacant lot.
Wait, the new auto zone sign is so much better than racoons or stick ball or ghetto versus yuppie, or organic versus wilted. I don't know how to send a pic or i would.
tonyt
the pug
Giant stores often have fricaseed raccoon on their hot food buffet. Try some and thank me later!
A Giant is perfect. Sorry guys, H St NE is a long way from being a Whole Foods neighborhood.
Welcome to post housing bubble Washington.
A Giant is perfect. Sorry guys, H St NE is a long way from being a Whole Foods neighborhood.
Bitch plz. Whole Foods opened in Logan Circle when the neighborhood was absolutely abysmal. The circle itself was still saturated with the transvestite hookers that ultimately migrated to our neighborhood.
A Giant is perfect. Sorry guys, H St NE is a long way from being a Whole Foods neighborhood.
I'm with Anonymous: we deserve nothing better. God is punishing us.
The Giants in the suburbs are much BETTER than the Safeways. Look at the Giants in McLean, Fairfax County, Loudoun County, etc - most people prefer the Giants NOT the Safeways! This Giant is a huge plus for the neighborhood and will assist Giant in expanding their market share and prove that they can compete with the Safeways in the District.
Hopefully, this Giant will offer a store with a variety of fruits and vegetables (unlike the Brentwood location) and organic line while still catering to the needs of a mixed income area and if they do not we can LOBBY them - power in the people. I am hoping this Giant is similar to the Safeway located at 490 L Street, NW. You cannot tell me you want to pay for the HIGH prices at the local corner stores, right?
Whole Foods may have opened in Logan when the neighborhood was transitional, but that was a different time. It was a time of unbridled optimism, a time of an inflating housing bubble. You act as if you deserve a Whole Foods. Just because you got a good deal on a house in a trashy neighborhood doesn't mean you suddenly deserve Whole Foods. If you wanted Whole Foods so bad, maybe you should have picked a different neighborhood. Oh, that's right, you couldn't afford it. Did you ever think maybe you are not Whole Foods material, after all, if you were you would have bought in upper NW where there is a Whole Foods in every neighborhood.
I don't understand yuppies. Giants exist in every neighborhood in Washington, from upper NW to SE. Is H St better than upper NW? I know truly affluent people that shop at the Giant in Friendship Hts. Have you been to that store? It's very nice. A Giant will cater to what the neighborhood wants.
"Whole Foods opened in Logan Circle when the neighborhood was absolutely abysmal."
The 1300 block of P Street maybe. But there are probably 100 high rise apartments within a five block radius of the store. Walk down 15th, 16th, 17th, Corcoran, Rhode Island and you'll see them - most predate the store.
That area was already much denser than H Street and I'll bet if you look at the data, the demographics within a half-mile were different.
Yes there is a lot of new residential development now in the NOMA area around the new Busboys and Poets. But those people are almost as close to the P Street Whole Foods as they would be to one on H Street.
Personally I wish a WF would come to H Street. But wishful thinking does not change numbers.
what's the big deal with giant? the one in van ness was pretty sweet after the renovations. granted, trader joe's would have been awesome, but if our milkshake won't bring whole foods, trader joe's, and the other "nicer" grocers to the yard, wtf can we do about it? we can sign all the petitions we want, but if some suit decides we're not worth it, let's just get on with it and make do with what we have.
You act as if you deserve a Whole Foods. Just because you got a good deal on a house in a trashy neighborhood doesn't mean you suddenly deserve Whole Foods.
The level of self-contempt contained in this comment is just so sad.
"You want a clean grocery store, with *fresh* produce??? We don't deserve it!!! We're a trashy people in a trashy neighborhood. All we deserve is a trashy grocery store! Boo hoo hooo!!!!"
It's like you tell someone they're no good long enough, and suddenly they start to believe it. Therapy can help.
so now there's going to be a HT at 1st&M and a Giant at 3rd&H. awesome.
seriously. Anon 9:19 - leave our hateful comments somewhere else.
You want a clean grocery store, with *fresh* produce??? We don't deserve it!!! We're a trashy people in a trashy neighborhood. All we deserve is a trashy grocery store! Boo hoo hooo!!!!
It's like you tell someone they're no good long enough, and suddenly they start to believe it. Therapy can help."
Did you not read my post? Hello, there's a Giant in Friendship Hts, a neighborhood 1000x more classy than H St NE. Have you even been there? It's a nice store.
What makes you think a Giant on H St is going to be "trashy and have unfresh produce"?
Seriously, get over yourself. Your new Giant will be a nice store. You're the one that needs therapy, and not the Whole Foods type.
Whole Foods may have opened in Logan when the neighborhood was transitional, but that was a different time. It was a time of unbridled optimism...
Unbridled optimism? Bullshit. Realtors started marketing the area as "Dupont East" after they couldn't move properties!Investors were very wary of opening anything in that particular area! Only recently has serious attention been given to the "14th Street Corridor".
...a time of an inflating housing bubble.
The "housing bubble" of which you speak was mythological. Haven't you lived here long enough to realize our real estate market is vastly different than the surrounding area, let alone the surrounding states? While entire blocks of houses were being foreclosed in places like Woodbridge or Springfield, prices were rising in the District! New developments were going full steam ahead...
If you wanted Whole Foods so bad, maybe you should have picked a different neighborhood. Oh, that's right, you couldn't afford it.
Trolling isn't all that effective on Frozen Tropics.
The 1300 block of P Street maybe. But there are probably 100 high rise apartments within a five block radius of the store. Walk down 15th, 16th, 17th, Corcoran, Rhode Island and you'll see them - most predate the store.
You raise an interesting point, one that I thought about yesterday. Our area might very well not yet have the density required to sustain an "urban" Whole Foods.
"Trolling isn't all that effective on Frozen Tropics."
You responded, didn't you?
Anonymous troll= +1
Whole Food yuppie= 0
"The "housing bubble" of which you speak was mythological."
Keep telling yourself that. Meanwhile, reality brings Giant to H St instead of Whole Foods.
I'll take whatever we can get. Giant is fine - better than fine. Though I think TJ would have been a great fit with the H street neighborhood, and that TJ in Foggy Bottom is always so crowded.
"The "housing bubble" of which you speak was mythological."
Keep telling yourself that. Meanwhile, reality brings Giant to H St instead of Whole Foods.
Wait, I thought you *liked* Giant?
Meanwhile you can't touch a miniscule 2 br / 1 ba townhouse in the area for under $400k unless it's a burnt out shell, and my neighbor just sold their house for $30k more than they bought it a year ago.
But you're right, the local market is *exactly* like Woodbridge or Springfield.
Classic!
Not much difference between Giant, Safeway and Murrays. Would rather hold out for D&D and then settle for WF or TJ
Whole Foods is sooo last decade, I was hoping for Balducci's or Dean & Deluca.
Seriously though, Whole Foods would have been nice, but the Giant will be just fine.
What ya'll should be worried about is Steuart's budget/plans for the exterior of the building. THAT will make or break the 'perception' of how quality the store is.
Everything you need to know about the property:
http://planning.dc.gov/planning/frames.asp?doc=/planning/lib/planning/developmentreview/ward_6_zc_cases/06-01b_-_3rd_and_h_ne_-_op_public_hearing_report.pdf
"But you're right, the local market is *exactly* like Woodbridge or Springfield."
At least Springfield has a Whole Foods.
If you wanted Whole Foods, maybe you should have bought a house in Springfield instead of an overpriced burned out house on H St.
Whole Foods Market
8402 Old Keene Mill Road, Springfield, VA 22152-2302
(703) 644-2500
This will be a great looking building, plus there's a smaller retail spot (~2500 SF) at the corner of 4th & H. And, of course, several hundred residents above to help encourage more retail in the 400 & 500 blocks of H!
that retail space would be perfect for a pet store specializing in raccoons.
No, we're better off pushing Metro Mutts to stock more raccoon toys and supplies, since they're only a block away. 4th & H can be the new home of the National Stickball Hall of Fame.
I think a Whole Foods or Trader Joes would be vastly supported by this neighborhood. You forget that all the people who live on Capitol Hill south of H Street would shop there too--all the senators, and staffers, and lobbyists, and lawyers, and doctors, and fundraisers, and just parents who want non-high fructose corn syrup, non-pesticide-ed food for their kids.
It's a hell of a lot closer to go to 3rd & H then drive all the way across town to the Foggy Bottom TJs, across the river with bridge traffic to the Alexandria TJs, or to fight the traffic and abysmal parking situation at the Logan Circle Whole Foods.
I'm super-disappointed. I really don't care how nice this specific Giant is--it's still never going to have the variety of organic and non-processed options a TJ's or Whole Foods would have. I had high hopes for the Jenkins Row Harris Teeter--it was just more of the same as the regular grocery chains.
Ha! You must be in the wrong part of town if you care about your kids eating pesticides or hormones. As previous commenters made abundantly clear, that's a white upper-class issue, not something real H Streeters care about.
Has anyone seen what the building is supposed to look like?
This is an important corner, and we should definitely insist on a design that's interesting and well-done, since the developer is getting massive tax grants.
If they come back with some boring cookie-cutter design without any detail or thought put into it then that'll tell us a lot about how much they value community input.
WAAAAAHHH!!! It wasn't a Whole Foods! WAAAHHHH! WAAAAHHH!! WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
...not something real H Streeters care about...
Please enlighten us as to what "real H Streeters" are...
Plenty of families on the Hill and the surrounding area, would have been interested in a TJs or a Whole Foods. There are over 3100 members of the Moms on the Hill listserve and I'd say most of them would prefer to feed kids food with out corn syrup, hormones and other crap and you have to search hard at the Giant/Safeway/HT to find products without that stuff.
Whole Foods also sells a wide variety of bulk foods which is a very economical and healthful way to feed a family. Beans, rice, lentils, oats...its sad to think that eating real food rather than junk and chemical filled nonsense is considered elitist and yuppie.
@hillman
I've seen the drawings and renderings of the building design. They had to go through zoning approvals, so it was all available in public meetings.
The building looks great. The H street side has tons of windows for the grocery store, high quality finishes, etc. One reason why speculation about Whole Foods was high is that the building is more similar to the P Street WF than it is to a standard Giant. Whatever the tenant, it will be a great addition to the neighborhood.
There is still room for Trader Joes on H Street NE. The south side of the 600 block will be condos and ground floor retail. The space is big enough or small enough (depending on hoe you look at it) for a TJs. Check out G-towns TJ....same thing.
Let's give an honorary MBA or PhD in Urban Planning for this NAIL ON THE HEAD posting:
The 1300 block of P Street maybe. But there are probably 100 high rise apartments within a five block radius of the store. Walk down 15th, 16th, 17th, Corcoran, Rhode Island and you'll see them - most predate the store.
You raise an interesting point, one that I thought about yesterday. Our area might very well not yet have the density required to sustain an "urban" Whole Foods.
Bow spoiled are you people? The WF at 14th St is less than 2 miles away and has a parking lot.
Are you going to walk to 3rd and H?
Do you really need a supermarket chain from Austin to validate your zipcode?
being judgmental is closer to being spoiled than having hopes and desires.
@ hillman
Here is what the bldg will look like:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5BCbIN9Dvew/SbMZb8550CI/AAAAAAAAAIA/-vZJ2xPimYI/s1600-h/H-STREET_DEV-2.jpg
I like it alot.
"Ha! You must be in the wrong part of town if you care about your kids eating pesticides or hormones. As previous commenters made abundantly clear, that's a white upper-class issue, not something real H Streeters care about."
It's as if you people think Whole Foods is the only place to get organic food. H St has a very nice farmer's market, and Eastern Market is close by.
It's as if you people think Whole Foods is the only place to get organic food. H St has a very nice farmer's market, and Eastern Market is close by.
Which is fine when you're shopping on the weekend. But the produce *inside* Eastern Market sucks, to put it bluntly. As does the quality (generally) of the fish.
One of my other grocery pet peeves: the hit-or-miss quality of the vendors inside the Eastern Market. I know this will never, ever happen because of political considerations, but every four years, the public should be allowed to rate the vendors in the Eastern Market hall, and the lowest-rated should be evicted.
That space is *far* too valuable to just give over to some unmotivated vendor for life.
Incidentally, this is one of the problems with having a city historically dominated by two grocery chain: Safeway and Giant.
After decades of mediocre service, it's as though many Washingtonians don't even know what decent produce/seafood/meat looks like.
Sad really.
Harris Teeter is only 4 blocks North. Just shop there.
Harris Teeter is pretty awful and really expensive.
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