The Forward 40 Biggest Wigs In Washington Business

Forward Thought:

The Downtown dot-com boom owes Douglas Development some credit—Jemal has placed big bets on the revitalized East End.

The Backstory:

Bald and bold, developer Douglas Jemal is reinventing downtown DC, one building at a time. Jemal's bulldog tenacity and boom self-confidence make him a catalyst for change at the front lines of the city's real estate boom. Jemal's been downtown for a long time—he opened his first store, Bargain Town DC, on 7th and F streets in 1966. Now he plans to move his Rockville, MD headquarters back to DC, where he owns a signature piece of property just a few blocks from his old store: the Woodward and Lothrop building at 11th and F streets. He bought the property in February 1999 for $28.2 million, but the site has become a flashpoint in the battle to shape the new downtown. Jemal says he needs to develop office space in the building in order to justify the retail spaces on lower floors, but the city refused to grant him a zoning exemption, and he met resistance to his plans from a coalition of down-town housing advocates. For now, the building sits empty and the battle continues.