[RP TownTalk] What grocery store?

[Alan K. Thompson]

I firmly believe that, at this time, Whole Foods is committed to opening
their planned store in Riverdale Park.

I've spent a lot of time across a negotiating table from their lead
attorney on the project, Chip Reed, and have found him to be very careful
and precise in what he says.  He has stated on numerous occasions that they
have a "lease" with Whole Foods, not a "Letter of Intent" as suggested by
Mr. Currie.  So long as the Cafritz team keeps their side of the lease
(building the store according to the terms of the lease) I believe that
Whole Foods will come.  My reading of the Hyattsville CDC's recent market
study suggests that this site presents a very good opportunity for Whole
Foods; discussions I've had with Stuart Eisenberg about that study indicate
the same.

Ms. Avery started this discussion because Mr. Reed used the term "a grocery
store" instead of "Whole Foods" in the presentation, implying that he knows
that the occupant will not be Whole Foods.  I'm as certain as I can be,
based on my interactions with him, that if that were true he would not have
said what I quoted in my first letter, that the developer was under
significant time pressure from "Whole Foods."

It's still possible, of course, that the project will be killed by the
actions (or delays) of the District Council.

Alan

On Sun, Apr 15, 2012 at 10:16 AM, Chris Currie <crcurrie at gmail.com> wrote:

> Beware the 'bait and switch.'
>
> Too soon to tell, but one thing's for certain: Once the rezoning is
> approved, the strength of Cafritz's and Whole Foods' negotiating positions
> with respect to each other changes dramatically.
>
> Up 'til this time, Cafritz has been almost completely dependent on Whole
> Foods' participation in the development proposal.  I wouldn't be surprised
> if the latter was offered a $1/year lease; certainly, some kind of
> sweetheart deal would have been necessary to lure Whole Foods so far away
> from its standard marketing demographic criteria.
>
> With the property rezoned, Cafritz doesn't need Whole Foods and might find
> another tenant willing to pay more to anchor its commercial component.  A
> Letter of Intent (as I'm presuming is the nature of whatever agreement the
> two parties have at this point) is never iron-clad.
>
> If we hear from Cafritz in the days ahead, particularly after final
> approval of the development plan, that Whole Foods' "demands" have
> increased or become more unreasonable, we should definitely take it with a
> grain of salt.
>
> Chris Currie
> Hyattsville
>
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2012 08:27:56 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Melissa Avery <m.avery at rocketmail.com>
> To: "towntalk at riverdale-park.org" <towntalk at riverdale-park.org>
>
> Subject: Re: [RP TownTalk] What grocery store?
> Message-ID:
>        <1334417276.62493.YahooMailNeo at web162106.mail.bf1.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> So, Whole Foods has not?officially?announced?their?withdrawal?from the
> project
> From what I understand Whole Foods originally?put conditions on whether or
> not they would continue with the?development.
> I guess the truth will come out in the cross examination?process in front
> of the county council.?
> Melissa
>
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