Snaring a big law firm is to a Washington developer what snaring an elephant is to a big-game hunter. If Alsup really wants to distinguish his product, however, he might consider declaring his small community a “lawyer-free zone” and court high-tech companies, architectural firms, advertising agencies and media companies more likely to appreciate the attractive Norman Foster design and more likely to have young employees eager to live downtown.
Given the restaurant revival already going on downtown, CityCenter probably won’t have much trouble filling the dozens of spaces set aside for wine bars and eating establishments. (Islamic investors frown on saloons.) The test will be whether Hines and Archstone can get beyond the all-too-familiar national chains that can afford high rents, but bring little pizzaz or personality.
Steven Pearlstein is a Pulitzer Prize-winning business and economics columnist at The Washington Post.
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(Neoscape/ Hines) - In a rendering of CityCenter, the interior courtyard of the residential part of the project can be seen — two condo buildings on one side, two apartment buildings on the other, with restaurants on the ground floor facing the plaza.
The bigger challenge will be to attract the upper-end clothing, home furnishing and other retailers that would not only serve downtown residents but would have offerings unique enough to lure older and richer shoppers from suburban enclaves. Over the years, many developers have tried, but aside from Anthony Lanier in Georgetown, none has succeeded. In their place, bank branches dominate the prime corner locations.
But it should say something about CityCenter’s potential that Apple, reportedly, is considering a flagship store for the project. And it is noteworthy that Hines and Archstone have gone to the considerable expense of providing continuous retail on both sides of the project’s pedestrian-friendly streets and alleys, with the kind of two-story spaces and and underground delivery bays that create a much livelier and more-efficient retail environment than what is offered by the typical downtown office building.
It will be a few years before we know whether CityCenter ushers the “liveable downtown” into Washington. In the meantime, several thousand of our neighbors will have good jobs for three years building the project. For this little miracle on 10th Street we can thank the foresight of former mayor Tony Williams, the patience and persistence of Bill Alsup and his colleagues, and the good sense of the Qataris to invest when nobody else would.
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