Monday, November 14, 2011

Murry's property on 600 blk H Street sold for $10 Million to Insight Property Group

The H Street parcel that currently houses Murry's, Good Dannys, and another vacant storefront along the 600 block of H Street was sold for $10 Million to Insight Properties, LLC earlier this month.  Insight's principals appear to be former Kettler executives. The property includes three parcels along H Street, 6th Street, and I Street and is expected to be redeveloped for mixed use.  The property is across the street from another recently sold property that is expected to be redeveloped as well.  It will be interesting and exciting to watch what is arguably H Street's least lively block currently be redeveloped into something more vibrant.  The possibilities here are great and we look forward to following and reporting as the plans develop.  Perhaps it's time to resurrect the petition to bring Whole Foods to the neighborhood?

11 comments:

  1. This is great news for sure, it would be sweet if they built retail space that would be suitable for larger types of retail (high ceilings, possibly multiple floors, etc.)

    On the whole foods front, I think we missed the boat there. I can't see another full-service grocery moving into the area. A smaller boutique specialty grocery (I won't mention the name) would be our best bet at this point and I think it could be viable.

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  2. Is this ownership group still related to the taxicab "magnate" (yes, that's a silly word, for lack of a better one) who is involved with the development of the Ward 5 walmart at New York Avenue and Bladensburg Road?

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  3. Great news? Another Whole Food that no one can afford? I think not.

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  4. @Campy, I disagree. I don't think Trader Joe's is likely, but I know Whole Foods is looking to open another DC outpost and their P St store is only a few blocks from the "Soviet Safeway." Whole Foods isn't just a neighborhood grocery store, it's a destination and if it opened on H, it would serve all of Capitol Hill and Ward 6. That's going to happen somewhere and I think this block is the right location for it.

    @IMGoph, the taxicab guy you speak of was the seller, not the buyer. He still owns the messy lot at 14th & Maryland unfortunately, but he's out of this location.

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  5. A Whole Foods would potentially also completely the destroy resident parking situation, which is bad enough now. As it is, we need some kind of new parking restrictions similar to what they have around the stadiums.

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  6. @HStreetGreatStreet, I would love a whole foods, let me be clear. I just look at that location and see giant, harris teeter, wal-mart, safeway, and aldi all within a 1 mile radius.

    Also, I know Trader's isn't coming, they seem to be very anti-urban but I see an opening for a Yes organic or actually a small biz that could take advantage of the grant money available to set up a similar operation.

    It's all good and fun to speculate - future is bright!

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  7. @campy

    How is traders anti-urban when they have a store at 25th and Penn?

    I'm confused, unless you are using "urban" as a code word for something other than its standard dictionary definition.

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  8. Hey Alan, no I wasn't being cryptic and maybe I should have just said "anti-DC" but they only have one location in the district and if I'm not mistaken it took a very heavy subsidy to get them to foggy bottom. Again I could be wrong but it seems like the have no interest in moving to urban areas like our own and people involved in the petition from a few years ago can probably chime in and back me up on that.

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  9. I tried to petition Trader Joe's to come to 3rd & H. I heard the dealbreaker was lack of parking, but that seems specious b/c if there's enough parking for a Giant, there should be enough for a Trader Joe's.

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  10. @Alan & @Campy,

    I've heard in the past that Trader Joe's was not interested. They did require financial incentives to open in Foggy Bottom and had a hard time seeing the promise at 3rd & H. I mentioned the sale of the Murry's site to a friend there and he said he'd pass it along to the real estate guys. He's been encouraging them to look here in the past though and they seem to prefer the suburbs from what I gather. I need to update my coming soon post about larger developments. I'm afraid some folks don't realize there will be another 700+ residential units on H Street over the next couple years and that almost all of our larger lots/sources of blight are going to be developed over the next 5 or so years with likely another 1000+ units on the way. As much as those of us who live here now think we deserve and can support better, the real reason to develop here is what's coming in terms of increased density.

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  11. Whole Foods would be awesome for the entire Hill and probably a draw for folks from the north and east as well. FWIW, the one that got nixed for the ballpark area was going to be just a few blocks from the new Teeter that's going in over there, so I see no reason why H Street couldn't have a Giant and a WFs.

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