Approximately 380,000 sq. ft. of retail space is currently
under construction downtown. This includes a 14-screen
AMC movie theatre at Gallery Place, a 6-screen fine
arts cinema at 10th and E Streets, homegrown restaurants,
and specialty retail.
One new development on 7th and E Streets includes a
$180 million project by Texas developer JPI . The project,
which broke ground in October, will feature 420 condos;
40,000 sq. ft. of retail; 36,000 sq. ft. of arts space;
and a new 250-seat theater for the Woolly Mammoth Theater
Company. Variety hails the troupe as having “a
fierce dedication to the offbeat.”
The complex, which is slated to open in the fall of
2003, is located among several successful art galleries
and just across the street from the Shakespeare Theater.
This multi-use urban complex will maintain its historic
three-story storefronts. Madison Retail will be entertaining
offers from retailers for five different spaces that
surround a 21,000-sq.-ft. high-end grocery store.
Serving as the keystone of the 7th and F Street axis
is the $150 million mixed-use project by CarrAmerica
Urban Development. Terrell Place will span 482,800 sq.
ft. Now under construction, it includes an 11-story
office building, 37,500 sq. ft. of retail space, 22
condos, and the redevelopment of the former Hecht's
department store. It sits directly across the street
from the MCI Center and the old Tariff Building, which
is currently being renovated — and re-wired for
the tech-dependant business traveler — into a
five-star boutique Hotel Monaco by the Kimpton Group
of San Francisco. “Both 7th and F Streets have
seen tremendous revitalization over the last two to
three years,” says Mike Howard, director of retail
services at CarrAmerica in Washington D.C. “We
feel we are sitting on one of the best retail corners
and development sites in Washington.”
Another project currently under redevelopment is the
former Woodward & Lothrop department store. Located
directly above the hub of the Washington region's Metrorail
system, the vacant 1920s department store spans approximately
500,000 sq. ft. “Our project features approximately
170,000 sq. ft. of retail space on the first, lower
and second floors and 320,000 sq. ft. of Class A office
space. Plans and leasing are currently underway,”
says Douglas Jemal, president of Douglas Development,
owner/developer of the property. The project —
which enjoys approximately 800 sq. ft. of frontage along
four of downtown's most prominent corridors —
is expected to have an impact on the retail leasing
along adjacent and surrounding blocks.
Jemal's other project on F Street which is very near
completion is a 55,000 sq. ft mixed-use museum complex.
When it opens in the first quarter of 2002 the new state-of-the-art
interactive International Spy Museum should be the hottest
new attraction on the East Coast. Primarily renovated
Victorian architecture, the mixed-use site also includes
55,000 sq. ft. of offices, a restaurant, and 20 loft
apartments with exposed brick walls and hardwood floors.
