Georgetown has too many banks. I’m not sure what the appropriate number of banks is exactly for Georgetown, but it’s fewer than the amount we currently have. This has been a bit of a bugaboo of mine for quite some time. As of late 2019, there were as many as 18 banks in Georgetown. That’s one whole bank for every 500 or so Georgetown residents. If all of DC had that same density of banks, there would be about 1,500 banks in DC. For perspective, there are only six bank branches in all of historic Ward 8 (not counting the wealthy Navy Yard sections that were added to the ward recently).
We’ve made some progress since then. We now have 12 bank branches in Georgetown. The good news is that yet another bank branch closed. The bad news is that it just moved down the street.
The closed branch is that Citibank that has long stood just north of the Safeway on Wisconsin Ave. If anything, you could argue that this was not exactly an egregious case of bank over-saturation: it had been there forever, it was off the beaten path and the neighborhoods to the north and west of Georgetown have few other bank options.
And if that branch’s closing is a mixed blessing, the bad news is not mixed at all. As I previously reported, Citibank has opened a massive new branch in the former Gap store at Wisconsin and N. This is a historical building that once served as a popular theater in the 19th century, once hosting Mark Twain.
It even served as a military prison during the Civil War. (Here’s a great history on the building).
But now it will be just a huge billboard for a bank (with glowing bright TV screens shining their ads through the windows 24/7 and making the purpose of the location clear).
There’s nothing inherently bad about having banks. But when we have so many of them, and when they squat on such prominent properties like this (or the Chase at Wisconsin and P) it becomes a case of the tragedy of the commons. Banks want these locations to take advantage of all the eyeballs of the people walking by who have absolutely no intention on entering their business. They are free-loaders taking advantage of the stores and restaurants that actually draw people to the neighborhood.
It may be that I’m being over-dramatic, but just take a walk by Yellow on a Saturday sometime and count the people in line. Then take a look across the street at the Chase and try to remember whether you have ever seen a single customer enter. If that’s not a gross misallocation of real estate uses, then I don’t know what could be.
The Georgetown Metropolitan 
TD bank On Wisconsin and Q is closing May 4. Sad – that’s our small business’s bank.
Do you know when and why the facade of this building was modified to its current state? This has long vexxed me.
Why do you think there are so many banks here? Most Georgetowners know that a bank account is safe but is a lousy investment in terms of return. So I doubt they flock to those banks. Are the branches here just so their national chains can point to Georgetown as a prestige location in their advertising? Or am I missing something? Maybe it’s the water????
Banks have tons of cash on hand and are looking to attract customers beyond the traditional marketing tactics. So leasing prime pedestrian space in a high net worth, pedestrian-friendly location makes business sense to them. They aren’t peddling bank accounts as much as hoping to get those wealthy clients to buy other, more lucrative (for them) financial products.
The reality is too many historic buildings that once housed Neam’s, Nathans, and this former retail space have turned into into empty, lonely, fake bank branches with skeleton staff. What locals and tourists really want are useful and charming shops, restaurants, and performance venues. What a waste of a huge space that could have been a great small theater or multipurpose venue.
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