Help Bring Whole Foods Market To Columbia Heights!
Would you like Whole Foods Market to come to Columbia Heights? You can join our campaign to bring Whole Foods Market to the DC USA retail complex! The best way for you to voice your support for Whole Foods is to email Karen Riley at karen.riley@wholefoods.com. Karen Riley is the real estate coordinator for Whole Foods Market. She can demonstrate the level of our support directly to the Whole Foods team working on the negotiations. Please be as descriptive as you can in your emails. Please also cc or bcc your emails to Ms. Riley to us at info@columbiaheightsnews.org. We need to keep a running tally of how many messages have been sent to Whole Foods Market so we can gage how much more work we need to do. The more people who can email Whole Foods Market the more powerful our collective voices will be! It looks like we are facing an uphill battle but as a community we can make a difference! Please spread the word!
We have not received any substantial updates on the efforts to bring Whole Foods Market to DC USA for the past several months. All we know is that negotiations continue. The same major sticking point remains - the inability to meet Whole Food's demand for dedicated parking. Drew Greenwald, President of Grid Properties, recently informed us that they have not given up on Whole Foods yet but they do have, "many other exciting retailers that are also looking at the site as well." Mr. Greenwald did not elaborate any further.
Many of you have already read last month's Washington Post article, Hungry for Whole Foods, where reporter Lyndsey Layton shed light on our efforts to bring Whole Foods to Columbia Heights. We spent quite some time corresponding with Ms. Layton before the article was published. Thanks to everyone who were willing to talk to Ms. Layton and share the emails that you wrote to Whole Foods. In her own investigations, Ms. Layton confirmed that Whole Foods Market has not been able to make a decision to commit to the DC USA site. We were pleased to hear that Karen Riley, the real estate coordinator at Whole Foods, has received 500 emails since we began our campaign in January. We just updated our own count for those emails that we have been copied on (nearly 300).
We have found it very difficult to reach Ms. Riley lately. The last time we heard from her was in late March when she explained to us that our emails were making a positive impact and that we should continue directing our emails of support to her. We are still waiting for an update from her.
We were able to reach Steve Combs of Newmark Knight Frank, the leasing agent for DC USA. They have been marketing the retail space designated for Whole Foods Market to other potential tenants. You can see their listing here under "3200 14 St." Mr. Combs indicated that in the event that Whole Foods decides to leave the table completely, they will still be targeting some other high-end specialty grocer to fill the space. So far they have been talking to Harris Teeter, Fresh Grocer, and Wild Oats with Harris Teeter showing the most interest.
We wish that a final decision could be made soon, one way or the other. On a positive note, it gives those of us who support Whole Foods Market more time to influence the decision. If you haven't already, please write the designated point of contact for our Whole Foods campaign, Karen Riley, at
. For those who have already written Ms. Riley, and would like to share more of your thoughts to her, please do so. To help us keep track of the volume of emails being sent to Ms. Riley, please let us know that you have emailed her or simply copy us on the email.
As always, you can continue to share your thoughts with others on our online petition. We have already compiled some of the responses on the petition and sent it to Whole Foods Market chairman, John Mackey, a few weeks ago. We will keep you posted on any more updates that we receive.
Comments
Written by My heights on 2007-03-30 13:29:40I can't wait to move here. I'm tired of living near Brentwood. Instead of arguing over a Whole Foods, they argue over drugs, race, and prostitutes.
Written by
'>R on 2007-04-09 13:10:42Actually one of the best spots for a grocery would be where Linens of the Week stands now. It's a big commercially zoned lot. Although not for sale.
Written by Tim on 2007-04-10 23:43:31The developers for DC USA are looking for good tenants. I'm sure tenant mix and neighborhood concern are lower on the list of priorities. They want an orderly rent paying tenant that will be around for 10-20 years. If Ross and Marshall's fit the bill, then, oddly, hat's who'll end up there. Next to Target and a UPS store. And Georgetown Valet. Weird.
As for the grocery; with Harris Teeter coming to Adams Morgan, and Trader Joe's (possibly) coming to W Street, looks like there won't be another large chain grocer in Columbia heights.
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Would you like Whole Foods Market to come to Columbia Heights? You can join our campaign to bring Whole Foods Market to the 
We have not received any substantial updates on the efforts to bring Whole Foods Market to DC USA for the past several months. All we know is that negotiations continue. The same major sticking point remains - the inability to meet Whole Food's demand for dedicated parking. Drew Greenwald, President of Grid Properties, recently informed us that they have not given up on Whole Foods yet but they do have, "many other exciting retailers that are also looking at the site as well." Mr. Greenwald did not elaborate any further.
