From the Lofts at Brightwood, a new condominium complex in the 5800 block of Georgia Avenue Northwest, it’s a 1.6 mile drive to the closest retail stores in Silver Spring, Md.
City officials estimate District residents spend $1 billion a year on goods and services in the suburbs, because the clothes, housewares, hardware and grocery stores in town are inconvenient or inaccessible. The Georgia Avenue corridor is a prime example, D.C. leaders said Thursday, of an area in desperate need of a targeted retail infusion.
“This neighborhood, this city, deserves better,” D.C. Planning Office Director Harriet Tregoning said.
City officials unveiled plans for a $270,000, yearlong study of the District’s retail potential, breaking it down by neighborhood — from Deanwood to downtown, Brookland to Barracks Row, Adams Morgan to Anacostia. The Retail Action Strategy will focus on retaining, enhancing and expanding existing small retail and attracting national chains.
The study was announced during a press conference held at the future site of the Meridian Bar and Restaurant, a rare sit-down eatery on Georgia Avenue.
“The next step is to move to where we have more than carryout, where we have real restaurants and shops,” said Juan Powell, co-chief executive officer of the Neighborhood Development Co., which is developing the Brightwood lofts. “The goal should be to get a much higher class of retailer to the entire Georgia Avenue corridor.” Using the retail assessment, the city will focus developers’ attentions on specific neighborhoods through financial incentives and other means, Mayor Adrian Fenty said. One community might be ideal for a clothing boutique, while another might be more primed for big-box retail.
“I think most people are well aware the District has great, great retail potential,” Fenty said. “But a lot of time retailers just don’t understand that potential and it’s up to the government to be able to explain, to answer and to highlight it. And that’s what we’ll be doing.”
