Recent Market Articles

Due to a busy schedule recently I've missed a few articles that should have made it up here. Here are three pieces on the Florida Market that you might want to check out (with comments):

Market for Change (Washington Times, 9/16/07):
-Last time I check Catholic was in Northeast, not Northwest
-The article incorrectly states that Catania's provision requires the approval of 50% of the 69 land owners. The requirement actually says that New Town needs the approval of owners of 50% of the land (based on the way the land is chopped up, that would be [you would need all the larger land owners] way less than 50% of the 69 owners). So does that mean that when Thomas says 45%, that this means owners of 45% of the land, or 45% of the land owners?


*Quotes to notice:
-"Fewer than 100 markets of its type remain across the country, said David O'Neil, a senior associate with the New York-based nonprofit Project for Public Spaces." *You might remember the Project for Public Spaces from the starburst Plaza meetings.
-"Through the years, Capital City Market has remained the foremost wholesale supplier for most restaurateurs in the region. "
-"Gallaudet University, which owns nearly four acres on Sixth Street where the wholesaler's warehouse would go, also has no interest in seeing such a structure on its land."

-"So Gallaudet would once again be walled off from the community — which, of course, we would object to." *Gallaudet is one of the largest landowners in the Market.

-"They can build the Taj Majal here as long as the community is considered for the jobs and gets a piece of the pie," said Wilhelmina Lawson, an D.C. advisory neighborhood commissioner in the area." *Interesting approach to planning for the future, no?

Florida Avenue Market Faces Dueling Development Plans (DC North 9/2007)

-just a quick blub at the bottom about the New Town plan and the Office of Planning's Small Area Plan

Shop Around at the Capital City Market (Washington Post Sunday Source 9/30/2007)
-link to addresses here.
-There is also an easy to miss map hiding in the page. To download it click on "Read +"

You may also wish to check out Gallaudet's page on the Market. I think the letter (5/2007), is particularly interesting.

DCMUD: Florida Market

Not really anything new here, but DC MUD's got a post on the upcoming meeting about the Florida Market and the New Town development that want to take over the Market's current location.

Yeah, That's Pretty Much the Problem

Bye bye US Beef building, hello 11 story thingy
A sign recently went up on the former site of the US Beef Building. So, I'm talking about Florida Avenue right across from the impossible to miss Two Rivers Charter School. So, if you are walking from the NY Ave metro stop, this is how you would enter the Market. The sign which advertises for the Gateway Market Residences, brought to you by Sang Oh [Choi!] Development. Mr. Choi is, of course, the man (or men, since John Ray is involved) with the vision behind New Town at the Capital City Market. Also, on the sign were a phone number & a website (both of which I wrote down, but do not have in front of me). There was also a hookline: "Pretty soon you won't recognize the place. Promise."

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UPDATE
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Here is the website: www.GatewayMarketandResidences.com
202-265-2464
Sang Oh Development, LLC

So, I'm not suggesting that all development is bad (I like the H Street stuff, right?). I'm just saying that this is not the best plan for this area. I'm concerned about the wording of the actual act. I think it will have (at least) two troubling aspects:
1) it will push out (by default) a lot of existing vendors
2) it will (I suspect, but read the act for yourself) involve the demolition of lots of historic buildings.
3) also, doesn't the eminent domain thing bother more people?
4) what about the fact that this looks kind like a no bid contract that the Council is making with a rather inexperienced developer?

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FURTHER UPDATE
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Here is a map of the Market that you can compare to the map on Choi's website.

New Town Signed By All 12 Council Members

The New Town proposal (to replace the Florida Avenue Market) went before the Council again yesterday (not the last time) & it doesn't appear to be going away. One provision that could make or break the bill is a recently (last time arount) inserted provision from David Catania that requires approval from owners of at least 50% of the land (as opposed to 50% of the landowners) within 120 days after the passage of the emergency legislation. Check out this great Washington Post article on the lingering problems with the proposal and the way it came about.

Recent Market News Round-Up (not links previously posted here):
1. In Shaw: Where the Fk is Litteri's?
2. Rebuilding Place: The Real Issue With The Florida Market (Revised)
3. Rebuilding Place: The Florida Market Bill Before City Council
4. Rebuilding Place: Not the Last Word on the Florida Market
5. Rebuilding Place: Back and Forth Conversation About the Florida Market
6. Blue Coyote Laughing: Politics Photography and Art and... (Click around to find more of her photos of the Market. She shoots there a lot.)

And not new, but very infomative is this DC North piece "Is New Town the End of the Florida Ave. Market?: Market Unlikely to Survive Proposal Say Vendors" (also appeared in the Hill Rag) from last summer.

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This post previously said something about 50% of merchants. Sorry, I must have already lapsed into vacation mode. I've made the correction above. Apologies, because the two are really not the same. Merchants will have no voice under this provision unless they happen to also be landowners.

RP: More on the Florida Market

Richard's got another post on the topic, and this one has renderings from the new version of the New Town brochure.

Examiner: Florida Market

Yesterday's examiner featured this article on the Florida Market/Capital City Market and the New Town proposal that the City Council recently moved forward. It specifically mentions the little provision David Catania stuck in there during the the last meeting. The provision requires 50% of the land owners to sign onto the measure, or it dies. If 50% seems high, and it might turn out to be too high for the developer in this case, consider that a proposal like this would permanently alter the landscape of the area, and that this proposal contains eminent domain language that could facilitate the forcefull taking of people's land.

Examiner: Florida Market

Two pieces from Friday's Examiner on the Florida Market (Capital City Market):

1. There's a Stench From Florida Avenue Market

2. History, Future of Capital City Market at a Crossroads

RP: Florida Market Redux

Richard takes another look at the New Town issue and muses generally about groups from outside coming into remake an area. He mentions H Street, and the fact that many of the new places generating the most press are associated with Joe Englert in one way or another. Richard is in no way comparing the revitalization on H Street, which I think is far more organic, to the New Town plan. Just for the hell of it, let's compare the two:

What was there before (or what is there now in the Florida Market)?
H Street: some existing and new businesses, some construction, and lots of vacant building (I believe the Argonaut was the only Englert place to move into an occupied building).
Florida Market: lots of thriving, if sometimes "gritty," family owned businesses that cater to both wholesale and retail buyers. Vacant spaces are rare.

How did/will the outside buyer obtain the properties?
H Street: Mr. Englert & his associates purchased the buildings one by one like any other buyer. No existing businesses were forced out.
Florida Market: The New Town proponents own some of the land, but would need the city to give them lots of land, and also seek to force existing businesses out (they even requested eminent domain power to do so, and you know my feelings about bogusness of the right to return stuff here).

How did/will the outside buyer attempt to work with the existing businesses/neighborhood?
H Street: By talking to surrounding businesses, and residents. Also, hiring some neighborhood residents to work in the establishments. Renovating vacant buildings to house the new businesses.
Florida Market: By trying to force out the existing businesses (even if they are given the option to move to the new digs the rents will undoubtedly be much higher because this is new construction). By avoiding talking to residents in the areas most affected by the change. Who cares what existing residents or business owners think as long as you've got the cash and the Counsel votes, right?

What will the area look like once the plan is "complete"?
H Street: The new businesses will be open, they'll generate a little buzz and hopefully attract more businesses and patrons to the area.
Florida Market: The uniqueness of the area will be gone (we'll pretty much be bulldozing much of the area), and some vendors might return. We might have a hotel, probably a bowling alley, maybe an outdoor arena, probably some kind of community center, and also some housing, about 20% of which will be "affordable."