Subway Sandwich Shop Coming Soon to Retail Above Petworth Metro
11 March 2010 9:06 PM | By Prince Of Petworth in Coming and Going, Neighborhoods - Petworth, Retail
Well we’ve known that the Subway was coming since November but thanks to a reader for sending in the recently installed Coming Soon sign. So far we’ve got lots of coming soon signs in this retail space as well a cricket store. But I’ll be sure to update as these spots transition from coming soon to projected opening dates to they’re now open!
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11 March 2010 11:46 PM | Greg Said:
These signs sure are tasty! Everything but the Cricket has been coming soon since last summer. Heck CVS has almost been built from the ground up since these signs went up.
12 March 2010 9:37 AM | Prince Of Petworth Said:
For the record the “Coming Soon” signs have only been up since Jan. though we’ve known about it before then.
12 March 2010 8:10 AM | Jill Said:
I really wish they would do some kind of tax break/financial support to give local businesses a chance. Columbia Heights is becoming so generic and these spaces just take away from the personality of the neighborhood.
12 March 2010 10:16 AM | mphs Said:
Didn’t they just give this property a new tax break?
12 March 2010 1:54 PM | rocketnerd Said:
They’re not paying any property taxes for 10 years. I’d say that’s about as good a tax break as you could dream of.
From DC Mud:
http://dcmud.blogspot.com/2010/01/city-council-hands-out-tax-breaks-to.html
Donatelli’s Park Place, which opened atop the Georgia Avenue-Petworth Metro station last summer boasting 156 rental apartments and 5 rowhouses, offered 20% of the units to low-income tenants. Park Place is a $71 million, 200,000 square-foot housing and retail project. The abatement begins FY 2009 and exempts the developer from property taxes for the next 10 years and increases by 10% for the years 11 through 20 until the point at which the developer is paying full property taxes. In 20 years. Though, according to Brian DeBose, Communications Director for Councilmember Jim Graham, this is the an unusual request from Donatelli, whose projects have consistently set aside affordable housing, without any expectation of tax abatement. Graham saw fit to support the developer, a DC resident, and to “better advantage the building” during an economic downturn.
12 March 2010 8:30 AM | Formstone Bar Said:
What personality? There was nothing on top the metro to begin with. A couple of chain stores doesn’t ruin a neighborhood’s personality. If anything they will bring customers with cash that aren’t willing to buy food at a carryout with bullet proof glass. Or is that the character and personality you will miss or desire?
12 March 2010 8:56 AM | Jim on Randolph Said:
http://www.princeofpetworth.com/2008/12/huge-news-for-the-park-place-project-going-up-above-the-petworth-metro/
Does anyone know if this is still happening?
12 March 2010 9:36 AM | Prince Of Petworth Said:
Gillian Clark said on a recent WAMU show that she’d still like to move into the space. From what I hear getting financing is still an issue. I’m afraid I can’t give it better than 50/50 odds.
12 March 2010 10:31 AM | hcfoo22 Said:
she had to pull out of her proposed Takoma Park space. Hopefully this won’t fall through either.
12 March 2010 9:43 AM | Pahbs Said:
A local bagel shop / deli would be ideal. A monoculture of chains is wack.
12 March 2010 10:48 AM | sheepprofessor Said:
Thing is, Park Place is tailor built for the kind of space big chain stores need. There is no shortage of locally-owned small businesses up and down Georgia–think Looking Glass, Sweet Mango, Yes Market, Morgan’s Seafood, Rita’s, etc. The place going into the Billy Simpson’s space isn’t a KFC or a MacDonald’s. But Park Place is big and shiny and new and doesn’t require that much adaptation for the likes of a Subway, so in they go. Same can be said for DCUSA.
Small businesses usually don’t have the capital to go into high gloss places like these, so they are ceded to the chains. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this. Keeps ‘em out of the neighborhoods.
12 March 2010 11:27 AM | fedward Said:
My feelings about all this are mixed, since I’m a resident in the building. There have been a number of construction delays and errors that have so far kept things from happening. The party room is currently being rebuilt to match the plans (and has been closed since before the Olympics started), and they sent somebody to measure things in our apartment earlier this week for mysterious reasons — if the guy had told me what he actually was looking for I might have been able to point out places I know our unit doesn’t match the drawings. And that’s not to mention how the bottom level of the garage flooded and took the elevators out of commission for weeks because nobody could figure out where the water was coming from or how to stop it.
Looking at activity here and in other buildings, it’s obvious that Chris Donatelli likes to strike deals with companies he’s already done business with — Sala Thai (also “coming soon”) has a location at the Ellington (another Donatelli property) and we were told that the “Park Place Coffee & Tea” on the NE corner of the building would be another partnership with the people behind Tynan. I made fun of how long the Tynan at Highland Park was also “coming soon” before it ever opened, and it looks like the same sort of slow process is happening here. I don’t know what the delay is, but we moved in six months ago and there hasn’t been any construction activity in the coffee space at all. There’s a wheelbarrow in there that gets moved every now and then, but they haven’t yet knocked out the wall that currently divides the space into two units.
But I’m sure Donatelli would like to have revenue-producing and rent-paying businesses at ground level at Park Place soon. If Subway actually opens quickly it might help to speed everything else along. I don’t so much love the food at Subway, but it would be better than the empty streetscape we’ve got now.
12 March 2010 11:40 AM | rocketnerd Said:
my kingdom for a decent drycleaner.
12 March 2010 2:01 PM | Frankie James Said:
Bravo
12 March 2010 11:57 AM | anon Said:
Subway right next to Sala Thai is so un-appetizing.
12 March 2010 12:17 PM | saf Said:
Subway is so un-appetizing.
Fixed that for you.
12 March 2010 12:21 PM | rocketnerd Said:
Though I’d still argue it beats the Panda Express, Vitamin Shoppe, and Lane Bryant at DC USA.
12 March 2010 12:27 PM | Rob Said:
Sala Thai flat out sucks – I remember when the original opened in Arlington and it has never done better than mediocre.
Subway, gahgh – they couldn’t at least swing a potbelly?
Cricket – Ghetto
12 March 2010 12:40 PM | otis gal Said:
12 March 2010 1:03 PM | victoria Said:
I still think one of these newly-built big spaces would be ideal for an Hong Kong- Singapore style foot court with independent retailers. Not just Asian food – have a bagel cart, a crepe stand, a deli, smoothie bar – whatever. (Not the ubiquitous chains as in a mall food cart.) They all share common seating area and if one tanks it can easily be replaced.
Food carts = low start-up costs for entrepreneurs and would provide enough variety to satisfy everyone and provide at least a slight resemblance to the “public square.”
12 March 2010 1:52 PM | Frankie James Said:
People are strange… The statue in front of the GA Metro is titled, “A new Leaf” right? Well that is what we get, something new.
Not another ligour store, or barbershop, or hair weave joint. Besides, Subway is better than most of the crap being sold along GA.
I can’t wait to spend my money there.
12 March 2010 2:42 PM | Hey wait a minute Said:
I was hoping for another So’s Your Mom! Sigh
13 March 2010 9:26 AM | vig Said:
No property taxes for 10 years? Then why are rents so effing high? Criminal.
14 March 2010 6:25 PM | Gordon Said:
I find it interesting that they can barely give the units away at this point. First one, then two, now three months free rent…