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Developers eager to bid for NW sites

Washington Business Journal
September 18-24, 1998

By Pat Lopes Harris
Staff Reporter

Several prominent developers plan to vie for the right to reshape a key commercial in Northwest D.C.'s Columbia Heights.

By the end of the month, the District will issue a request for proposals (RFP) to redevelop city-owned land in the neighborhood, said Perry W. Perry, project manager with the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development.

Up for grabs will be six parcels totaling roughly 14 acres near the under-construction Columbia Heights Metro station, an extension of the Green Line. The parcels include the historic Tivoli Theater.

Developers and retailers have been scouting Columbia Heights and courting its residents for years, drawn by the prospect of a new Metro station in one of the District's most densely populated neighborhoods Perry said. "Once you get the Metro there in the year 2000, it's going to be a real money maker."

Perry said responses will be due 145 days after the RFP is released. Those interested in responding will be able to present plans for one or more parcels, and successful applicants will receive exclusive development rights.

Existing zoning calls for retail, restaurant, residential and office development on four large sites, and nonprofit office development on two small parcels.

At least two parties already have made known their interest in what Perry calls a "major community service center."

Pleasanton, Calif.-based Safeway said it plans to submit a proposal to build a 55,000-square-foot store similar to the one it opened last year at Good Hope Marketplace in Anacostia.

Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises also plans to respond to the RFP. Forest City, a retail developer that specializes in urban properties, owns 500,00-square-foot Ballson Common Mall in Arlington.

Bethesda-based Clark Enterprises, Landover-based Giant Food and EastBanc Inc., a German investment group headed here by Anthony Lanier, also have taken a close look at the six sites, real estate sources said.

Of the five retailers and developers, Safeway has been the most open with its plans for Columbia Heights. Safeway spokesman Gregory A. TenEyck said the supermarket chain has given Columbia Heights residents a tour of its Good Hope Marketplace location.

Safeway wants to build either at the Tivoli Theater site or at another parcel across the street. The company would demolish the Tivoli and build a store with surface parking in its place.

Community activists including Geof Griffis, vice chairman of the Development Corporation of Columbia Heights (correction....vice chairman of the Board of Directors of DCCH) have criticized Safeway's plan.

"I haven't met anyone in the community that says we ought to take down the Tivoli Theater for Safeway," Griffis said. "In addition, that site has always been talked about for mixed use."

Griffis also said Safeway's plans for surface parking rather than parking garages would not be the highest and best use of the property, which is zoned to allow denser development.

TenEyck said the new store would have design elements that reflect the Tivoli Theater's architecture. He also said surface parking is "the way people want to park."

Safeway has been pursuing the Tivoli site since 1981, when the District's Redevelopment Land Agency granted Herbert Haft exclusive development rights for some of the same parcels. Haft wrestled with preservationists and others for 15 years before the District canceled the agreement and the founder of Landover-based Dart Group Corp. lost his retail empire in a prolonged family legal battle.

Forest City has also made plain its interest in Columbia Heights, but remains tightlipped about its plans. Griffis said Forest City attended meetings to come up with design guidelines for the six parcels that will be included in the RFP.

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