N.Y. Developer Joins Project to Revamp Site

Firm to Lead Effort at Making New Town

An investor group planning to redevelop the Capital City Market in Northeast Washington announced yesterday that a New York-based developer has become a partner in the project.

Apollo Real Estate Advisors will lead the effort to transform the 24-acre warehouse district into a complex known as New Town, a mix of luxury and affordable housing, retail shops, offices, a hotel, a YMCA and a wholesale food market.

Council member Harry Thomas Jr. (D-Ward 5), whose district includes the market, said the development would create the lure necessary to bring high-quality retail shops to the area and provide refurbished quarters for merchants selling ethnic foods and fruits, vegetables and meats.

"It's not what it should be," Thomas said of the market. "We're trying to bring a product that you can be proud of."

But the development team, which includes Sang Oh Choi, a market merchant, acknowledged that it faces formidable obstacles, including buying parcels from dozens of property owners.

One owner, Gallaudet University, indicated that it's not interested in selling two parcels it controls, part of which the development team says it needs to build a market for the wholesalers.

Paul Kelly, vice president for administration and finance at Gallaudet, said the university plans to keep the properties to control "the shaping of what's built there." Instead of a wholesale market on their property, he said the university would prefer offices, retail or residential units.

Paul Pascal, a lawyer and leader of a merchants association representing 70 business owners in the market, said his members oppose the project because they fear it will lead to their displacement.

"There's no place to relocate the market," Pascal said. "This is an ill-conceived plan."