The Georgetown Metropolitan

Tudor Place

As first reported by the Georgetowner, Zara, the discount fashion store located at Prospect and Wisconsin, closed on Good Friday. Assuming no new tenant will quickly move in, this will add a significant amount of vacant retail space to a market that already faced a glut.

Just the Zara building alone is quite massive. (Technically it looks like historically these were separate buildings, but they were combined at some point) Combine the space left behind by Zara to the long vacant space next door, which previously housed Max Studio and that block alone has quite a bit of empty space.

Wisconsin Ave. is pockmarked with vacancies up and down the street. And M St. has some pockets of vacancies (mostly, it seems, are owned by EastBanc, who, to their credit, has sought to use the space for long term “pop-ups”).

On top of these many small empty spaces, the market is going to soon see another large infusion of empty space. The Latham Hotel redevelopment project will make another 25,000 square feet of retail space available. No tenant has been announced. Continue reading →

Photo by Joe Flood.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Zara closed (more on this later).
• GM’s already reported on this, but Georgetown’s got lots of great coffee shops.

Tudor Place

GM noticed over the weekend that Hitched wedding boutique is no more. The shop has been taken over by Modern Trousseau, one of the wedding dress lines carried by Hitched.

Hitched’s website indicates that existing customers will be serviced but new customers will be sent to Modern Trousseau. This is too bad, Hitched was founded in Georgetown in 2005 by Julia Lichtman Kepniss and Carin Rosenberg. It was later run by Katelyn White and Katie Watson. Over the years it garnered a great reputation for wonderful service and high-end offerings. And to neighbors, it was particularly noteworthy for its beautiful storefront and window displays. Continue reading →

Photo by Hillel Steinberg.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Six million dollar house near Dumbarton Oaks goes for sale. (Is it a joke that they have artwork depicting both Jackie Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe?)
• WMATA applies to demolish the Foundry Branch trolley trestle, which advocates would like to see refurbished and used as a pedestrian bridge.

Dumbarton Oaks Park