A Whole Foods will replace the Murry's in the new development
There's no doubt that the biggest news of the day is the announcement that Whole Foods is headed to the 600 block of H Street. The news was originally reported in the Washington Post, but has obviously been making the rounds.
A rendering of the Whole Foods in the completed Apollo H Street
Here are some of the highlights from the article & press release:
-The Insight Group plans to develop the parcel that includes much of the 600 block of H
-They paid $10 million dollars for the parcel last year
-The store will be roughly 39,000 square feet
-Whole Foods hopes to open the store by the end of 2016 (before the Navy Yard location)
-The finished project will have 430 residential units
-Total of 75,000 square feet of commercial space
-Two levels of underground parking
From the press release:
“The H Street corridor is a thriving hub of diversity and cultural richness – a perfect match for Whole Foods Market’s goal to support each and every community we’re in,” said Scott Allshouse, Whole Foods Market’s Mid-Atlantic regional president. “Whether you’re a long-time resident or new to this neighborhood, we are proud to have the opportunity to join you and help write the next page of history. Being among the flourishing food scene, culture offerings of the arts district and the exciting mix of residents will make Whole Foods Market a great partner to those in the community.”
Here's some additional coverage:
Grocery stores everywhere in D.C. (near H Street NE anyway) (Washington Business Journal)
The Rumors Are True: Whole Foods Coming to H Street NE (Washington City Paper)
Whole Foods Is Coming To H Street NE (DCist)
Joe Englert on Whole Foods Coming to H Street NE: “It’s Sad in Some Ways” (Washington City Paper) **Note that this piece is based on an interview given by Joe Englert a few weeks ago (prior to the confirmation that Whole Foods would come).
22 comments:
Well, I'm just pleased to have a Giant, A whole Foods
the Unsafeway and a Aldi all within a mile and a half.
Adding 430 condos will help drive up foot traffic and demand for services along the corridor.
I figure with more people around the riff raff will find better places to hang out.
OMG, what - - a Whole Foods? Now what - what about traffic? What about more people? What about a full and fair wage?
Did anyone investigate the board of directors for personal misdeeds before they approved this? Will it be built with local labor? Local materials? Will there only be wood separating the walls, like those condos on Bladensburg, so that shoppers don;t annoy residents above them?
Is it LEEDS or GHG efficient? Wages? MIxed income housing above it? We need a new law to stop this - - until we know for certain. This is a violation of We the People, for the Love of the Lord.
Will they sell singles? (No, not booze -- but Redbull (bad for your heart) or V8 (too much salt) or Mott's (pro-choice).
I bet gays are behind this, you just know it is, i've had dinner in their homes. Maybe its sell-out blacks, or conspiratorial blacks trying to rile people up in revenge for 1969. Or those new white residents pushing the old out. Or those friggen Mongolians because they know we don't pay attention to them, since they live about China and have a bunch of yaks.
This isn't a food desert, we've got a food FOREST, but this exact opposite is equally horrific! if you are not doing something about this, then t you are part of the problem. Perhaps a law (like school drug zones) that say supermarkets and restaurants must be located within certain zones and not clustered together (to encourage full and fair competition). We have too much food per square mile, and too many choices per square mile, this is mental pollution. Plus the surgeon general once said that obesity is similar to smoking - maybe a 4 mile rule for food offerings is in order.
More supermarkets and more restaurants is an outrage - an outrage, i tell you. They should have established a community garden in that spot instead of an apartment building. (Except no corn, no urban caged chickens, no cotton, no potentially invasive species, no animals.) Maybe some tomatoes, with no fertilizer, as long as natural fertilizer doesn't have an e coli risk.
I'm telling you, there's a conspiracy somewhere, and its only a matter of time before we figure it out. Is Joe Englert behind this? Are you sure this isn't part of his monopolistic takeover? Call Tommy! Call our shadow Senator! Especially before Barack shows up here to shop!
What building materials are they using? Is it sustainably harvested wood? Are they going to paint it an abhorrent green, like the Argonaut dared to do back a few years ago? They gonna sell alcohol? They'd better not sell wings because my dog will snap them up when Im not paying attention! Will their advertising be diverse? Is the trolly catenary going to obscure or ruin its facade? Isn't the proposed-to-be-demolished structure historically significant of post-riot 1990s H Street struggling to come back? If we like the Whole Foods staff, what happens if they fire them - should we have a plan for a boycott just in case?
I've tried to summarize all the concerns I've seen over the past 12 years with H street - - let's keep our principals in a united front - so we can be consistent - - (its not the same as the tea party because we're different, we're educated and we use science) so we can ensure we protect ourselves against the other outrages on H street that have perpetuated in the past decade.
You are hilarious
whole foods is gonna be sooo lame in three years
"OMG, what - - a Whole Foods? Now what - what about traffic? What about more people? What about a full and fair wage?"
Be gone, troll.
7:52,
I'm pretty sure 9:33 is just poking fun at all the (sometimes zany/crazy) complaints people have aired regarding H Street developments over the past decade.
Did the Washington post give you per missing to use their graphic of the building?
+1000 to 9:33
I had heard that Murray's had a lease into 2017, so this news seems to confirm that Murray's will be closing pretty soon. Wonder what their timeline is.
TL;DR
The image isn't the Post's; it's from the developers (from here, with a few other images:http://www.insightpropertygroupllc.com/portfolio/apollo-phase-i-h-street-murrys/) and reposted on the Whole Foods press release.
NPM,
You beat me to the punch. The graphic went out with the press release.
8:52. I have a trademark on using the phrase "per missing" as an ironic misspelling of permission. Please check with me before using again...
Anony 9:33, you forgot the imminent Rat Exodus that knocking down H St Self-Storage will surely precipitate. Glad I don't like on that block of Eye St in the next year or so...
What is Apollo? Just the name of the future building?
The development has two buildings, one is Apollo I and one is Apollo II. I believe there was a historic movie theater near that block called The Apollo (not to be confused with The Apollo Theater in Harlem).
Glad to see some development in the middle part of H get a jumpstart. Hope once this breaks ground, Rappaport will be encouraged to break ground on their project on the 800-1000 stretch on the south side of H.
Picture of the old Apollo Theatre here: http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/4402/lost-washington-the-apollo-theatre/
If that photo is any gauge, it was BEAUTIFUL.
9:33 is hilarious and dead on!
I fear our commentariat is becoming awfully Popville-esque. Please don't let this happen. We have something special over here.
I dont think we are becoming Popville. We don't have the "Dear Popville, how do I do the things my mom used to do for me and how do I interact with human beings?" posts
Fair play.
I'm going to miss that grade D meat at Murray's.
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