Columbia Heights News - Washington, DC - DC USA and Ellwood Thompson's: Prospects

Ellwood Thompson's Natural Market

Ellwood Thompson's is a very successful, evironmentally conscience natural market based in Richmond, Virginia. CEO and founder Ryan Youngman would love to bring his natural market concept to Columbia Heights. Youngman feels that the DC USA retail complex would be the perfect fit. Show your support for bringing Ellwood Thompson's to Columbia Heights here.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Ellwood Thompson's

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DC USA and Ellwood Thompson's: Prospects

Written by Columbia Heights News

Sunday, 19 August 2007

It is refreshing to have a company show so much interest in bringing a specialty grocer to Columbia Heights. The fact that the CEO of Ellwood Thompson's made numerous trips to Columbia Heights to get a first-hand sense of the vibe of this neighborhood is a testament to the kind of company this is. The tables are now turned. Rather than the community joining forces with DC USA developers to lure a stubborn retailer like Whole Foods Market or Trader Joe's to Columbia Heights, we have a retailer who is committed to the neighborhood and wants to bring a much needed specialty grocer to DC USA. At this point, the ball is in the developer's court. Whether Columbia Heights will get an Ellwood Thompson's or not is now up to Grid Properties.

We contacted both Drew Greenwald of Grid Properties and Peter Mallios of Newmark Knight Frank to inquire about their interest in Ellwood Thompson's. We also wanted to see if it would be helpful to demonstrate support from the community through direct emails to Grid Properties. Both Greenwald and Mallios expressed reservation about having their inboxes inundated by community emails but they indicated that "the developer is aware of the community support." Greenwald explained that at this point it really boils down to "economics". We are somewhat concerned with this statement.

For months now, Greenwald claimed that he would lend support to the community's efforts to bring some sort of grocer to the DC USA project. We were made clear that the specific economics of having a grocer tenant would not be a factor. Grocers do not command the sort of rents that other retailers do. But many large-scale commercial property owners are more than willing to sign on grocers early on for lower rents because they serve as an anchor and a source of traffic that would attract other higher paying retailers to their project.

When Greenwald indicated that there would be "economics" at play, we got the sense that Grid Properties wants to fill vacancies with the highest bidding tenants. Now that the DC USA project is well underway and the amount of retail space available is dwindling, retailers are scrambling to get in before its too late. If Grid Properties wants to squeeze out as much rent money as possible from the remaining retail spaces at DC USA then Ellwood Thompson's would almost certainly be out of the picture. Again, grocers cannot afford to pay the kinds of rent per square foot that say a clothing retailer could. But if Grid Properties can look past immediate profits and really consider what would be the best for both the DC USA project and the Columbia Heights community in the long run, then Ellwood Thompson's should have a good chance of being accepted. A few months ago, Peter Mallios explained that many retailers including bookstores were on the fence with DC USA but most ultimately backed out when it became clear that Whole Foods Market was not coming. Ellwood Thompson's would undoubtedly become a big asset to DC USA by enhancing the mix of retailers unlike another discount clothing retailer which would just add to what is already there.

It seems hard to just sit back and let this take its course on it own, but we have few options at this point. Both Grid Properties and Newmark Night Frank told us that they would prefer not to receive emails from the community that voice support for Ellwood Thompson's. They claim that they are already aware of our support. Ryan Youngman, CEO of Ellwood Thompson's, is already quite convinced that Columbia Heights would be a perfect location for a new store. If it appears that the deal with Ellwood Thompson's is falling through due to "economics", contacting our Councilmember Jim Graham may be in order. From what we understand, Councilmember Graham is very supportive of a natural grocer coming to DC USA. If there are other channels we should pursue to try to get Ellwood Thompson's here, please let us know.

In the mean time, please visit the new section we created for Ellwood Thompson's. There you can find relevant contact information and updates on this situation. You can also show your support by leaving you thoughts and comments here. In the future, we plan to compile all the comments we receive from the community and send them to the DC USA developers.

Comments

Written by duexepard on 2007-08-19 09:47:11

Can we set-up an online petion to let Graham and Grid see our support without inundating either with e-mails? You make a good point about Grid needing to see the bigger picture here.

Written by mike on 2007-08-19 10:04:14

Your assessment of the situation seems reasonable, but we don't really know the "economic" factors GRID properties is considering.

We should assume GRID properties wants to maximize the present value of total rent, period. It would be hard to get them to do otherwise. It seems odd to me, though, that ET would pay less than Ross or other retailers.

If GRID is deciding between Ross and ET, and only considering the rent each would pay, they are extremely naive. ET would attract higher-end clientele, with more money to spend, which would spill over to other retail in DC-USA and other area retail (Kenyon Square, Highland Park, Park Triangle, the Tivoli). So, even if Ross would pay more than ET (which I doubt), this doesn't mean choosing Ross means maximizing total rent for DC-USA. I doubt GRID is that naive, but who knows.

Rather than write to GRID properties, we should write to Donatelli Development and see if they might have some leverage and $$$ to push for ET. I'd guess their preference might have more sway than ours. And I'd guess their preference will likely be for ET.

Written by Richard on 2007-08-19 15:58:56

How much public money was pumped into this project (parking garage)? The public has every right to make it's voice heard and acted upon in this project.

Written by Jeff on 2007-08-20 08:36:26

ET's sounds like a better fit for the 'hood than Whole Foods did.

But ultimately I am more concerned about the traffic that is going to snarl the area rather than the stores that will be there.

Written by jgbrc on 2007-08-27 11:41:21

Yeah, I agree with duexepard that a green grocer would attract more folks to the area and have a spill over effect for the other retailers. If DCUSA limits itself to a bunch of cloth stores, then I for one will not visit it too much. If I have to go there every week to buy food, then there is more of a chance I'm continually exposed to what DCUSA has to offer and will shop at the other stores when the need arises. Otherwise, the "out of sight out of mind" thing starts to come into play.

Written by X-DupontR on 2007-09-17 10:27:37

I want a decent organic, locally grown grocer that's an alternative to the Giant which is so overrun on Sundays that you can hardly move. Not to mention the truly surly staff that work there.