[RP TownTalk] Fwd: [HOPE_in_Hyattsville] Re: Whole Foods criteria/history & the Cafritz Property

[Dwight Holmes]

Chris Currie's answer to my queries about the history of efforts to land a
Whole Foods or Trader Joe's in our general area (posted here w/permission).
I thought this might be useful background to tomorrow's Cafritz meeting...

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: crcurrie <the.curries at verizon.net>
Date: Jun 1, 2007 5:16 PM
Subject: [HOPE_in_Hyattsville] Re: Whole Foods criteria/history & the
Cafritz Property
To: HOPE_in_Hyattsville at yahoogroups.com

Dwight, I'm not aware of any specific attempts to lure Whole Foods to a
Hyattsville location.  Trader Joe's has been the specialty grocer of choice,
I think, for a few reasons: 1) it requires less space than other grocers,
including Whole Foods; 2) it's cheaper and therefore perceived to be a
better match with prevailing demographics here; and 3) related at least
partly to #2, it seems more popular among residents here.

If any developer has talked to Whole Foods, it would probably be Herschel
Blumberg and his University Town Center.  However, I'm only aware of
Blumberg's unsuccessful attempt to woo Trader Joe's.

Regarding Whole Foods' site selection criteria, it's certainly possible that
they are using the education yardstick primarily now, but I wouldn't bet on
it.  When the Logan Circle community went after Whole Foods, the company's
initial reluctance was based largely on income data for the primary market
area.  A resident who was involved in the effort told me that the way they
overcame Whole Foods' reticence was pointing to recent real-estate
transaction data, which showed housing prices skyrocketing and thus
indicated that income levels were likely rising rapidly in the area as it
gentrified.

Even if they are looking only at educational attainment, we are still going
to fall short.  Their criteria are not going to be lower than Trader Joe's,
and we don't meet Trader Joe's threshold.  I don't see any examples of Whole
Foods locating anywhere in the Washington area where both income and
educational levels are not well higher than ours.

Another doubt I have about Whole Foods' possible interest is one you
expressed: Where are they going to put the rest of the mixed-use development
if they provide for a Whole Foods store?  From the map, the site looks like
it's less than 10 acres, and when you include the almost 2-acre store and
several acres of surface parking around it, I don't see how you have room to
do much else.

I still think the Whole Foods illustration was just eye candy to help sell a
higher-density project to the surrounding lower-density residential
community ...

Chris


--- In HOPE_in_Hyattsville at yahoogroups.com, "Dwight Holmes"
<dwightrholmes at ...> wrote:

> It occurs to me that the parking could well have been an issue with
> the EYA location; and perhaps, with any other specific Hyattsville
> location that was discussed. And that the Cafritz property could well
> be different in this regard (depending of course on how much of the
> property they were willing to give over to the retailer).
>
> Of course I can't help but think of the downtown Whole Foods on P St
> near 14th, and conclude that any one of these criteria is quite
> obviously fungible.
>
> If you're looking for a question here, I guess it's more a request to
> anyone who has specific knowledge of the history here to share it in
> summary form (or point to archives of previous msgs!)
-- 
Riverdale Park Coffee House (blog)
http://rpcoffeehouse.blogspot.com/
~~
Map of Riverdale Park MD Trolley Hiker-Biker Trail and Cafritz Property
http://tinyurl.com/2wsfql
~~
Tracking the Washington Nationals' 2007 season (will they catch the '62
Mets?):
http://tinyurl.com/2m6f43
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