I had a whole host of reactions (ranging from the very positive to the highly cynical) while attending the Cafritz Property extravaganza on Saturday (complete with solo violinist, snacks and lunch, and a high-powered team of consultants and salespersons!)
I don't have time to write up all of my reactions & subsequent questions, but I'll throw out a few here in hopes of stirring up some discussion among others who attended...
Clearly, they have their hearts (and wallets?) set on landing a Whole Foods. And in an interesting sort of conflict-of-interest, the marketing/business location guy that they had there happens to work for a firm that is employed by Whole Foods to help find new viable locations. Hmmm... I asked him if he could tell me how big the property is where the Silver Spring Whole Foods sits. He could not. So I did a little back-of-the-google map calculation myself:
NOTE: All 3 photos are at same scale (and you can click on each one to see a larger image)
PHOTO #1: Aerial shot of the Silver Spring Whole Foods complex (incl the other stores and parking lot)
PHOTO #2: I copied my outline (red line) from Silver Spring onto an aerial shot of the Cafritz Property (white, dotted line).
PHOTO #3: I multiplied that red outline (and rotated one of them) to determine that approx 5 of them would fit on the Cafritz Property. So the Whole Foods complex is roughly 5 - 6 acres, I reckon.
This question of 'how big is a Whole Foods in relation to this property?' came to mind as I was seeing and hearing an ever-expanding "wish list" develop at the meeting. Included: many competing priorities. Housing, amenities, greenspace, Whole Foods, hardware store, ethnic restaurants, minimize environmental impact, hiker-biker trail, playgrounds, etc... Since shopping centers come with big parking lots, how much of your 36 acres are you willing to give up to asphalt? (BTW, I asked if they'd considered putting the parking underground and on the roof, as at the P St. Whole Foods -- "We haven't gotten that far, yet.")
Overall, I left with an image of the magical Arabian tent from childhood cartoons -- tiny from the outside, seemingly infinitely large on the inside. So what of these many, desirable ideas will give way as the project takes shape?
P.S. Here's one more: PHOTO #4 (below). On this view of the Cafritz property I've overlaid the outlines of three different Whole Foods from the Metro area: Silver Spring, P St. (near 14th St NW), and Falls Church. The Silver Spring and Falls Church stores are similar in that both have other stores in the same shopping center, and a large parking lot. Location-wise these two are most like our Riverdale Park situation. The P St. store is, of course, urban and not suburban, and is a standalone store (though surrounded by a variety of other retail, office and residential properties). It is noteworthy for having its parking on the roof and underground. (As a frequent shopper at this store, I can attest to the fact that parking is often difficult to find!)
Obviously, with its biker-ped-friendly "hidden parking" and overall smaller "footprint" a store along the lines of the P St. Whole Foods would take up much less acreage, greatly reduce the runoff from a sprawling parking lot and leave much more land for other purposes -- including greenspace. (However, it should be reiterated that the P St. store is a standalone Whole Foods -- adding additional stores and businesses would certainly increase the footprint.)
5 comments:
If the project is going to be dense and mixed use they can put condos on top of the whole foods and parking underneath (like the Jefferson Square project about to be built in CP) or as a parking garage (like every single project being built in CP). The real issue with Whole Foods is is there a market for 2 specialty grocers within one mile of eachother (East Campus AND Cafritz)?
David, what grocer is slated to locate in East Campus? Thanks.
The preliminary plans for East Campus suggest a Harris Teeter. That seems like a good match for that location - not too large; interesting selections, but not as expensive as a Whole Foods.
They have thrown around Whole Foods. Basically its the same product. I hardly think the area's (NEW) density will support 2 grocery stores within a mile (maybe less than a mile) of each other.
Whole Foods vary a lot in size across the US. The Silver Spring store is 35,000 square feet, while Whole Food stores range in size from 13,000 to 80,000 square feet. Most of the DC area local Whole Foods are in the 25,000 square foot range. While I too am a Whole Foods skeptic, given the relative small size of at least a small portion of its stores, it might be doable. Though it just may be that the smaller stores are holdovers from from the store's early days and no longer a model size the company still will build.
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