A New Look Of Prosperity In Old Town
Hotels and National Harbor Have Retailers Hopeful Again

By Kirstin Downey
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 9, 2007

There's a new ripple of excitement and anticipation along King Street this summer as retailers take steps to prepare themselves for the more prosperous times they think lie just ahead.

More than 20 retailers banded together to place 10 planters filled with boxwood and variegated ivy on the 1100 block of King, at their own expense, to spruce up the neighborhood and add to the 18th-century ambiance.

The city is preparing to unveil a set of banners that will help give the area a more unified feel. Residents will be able to look them over outside City Hall and tell Alexandria officials which style they like best.

More than 36 restaurants have opened outdoor seating in the past three years, adding to the area's foot traffic on warm evenings. Street-side dining has become so popular that city officials had to tighten limitations on where tables and chairs can be placed to ensure sidewalks don't fall victim to pedestrian gridlock.

Several retailers have set up shop, including Old Original Bookbinder's seafood restaurant, Bruegger's Bagels, Conrad's Furniture Gallery and Diva, a designer consignment shop in a Victorian house on South Pitt Street.

There has been a flurry of interest among other retailers to lease the prime storefront space being vacated at 118 King by the Discovery Channel Store, according to Stephanie Landrum, acting executive director of the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership. Discovery has decided to close all 113 of its stores nationwide, freeing the large Alexandria space for another merchant.

"It's a great opportunity for us," Landrum said. "There's been a lot of competition and interest" from other companies because stores on that part of the street have historically done well.

The Old Town Theater, which has been open and closed in the past several years, reopened in late June. It features first-run films, movies by local filmmakers and some special events.

Three hotels are under construction on the King Street corridor. ING Clarion has purchased the Holiday Inn at 480 King and is refurbishing and transforming it into Hotel Monaco. It will be operated by San Francisco-based Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, which is known for its posh, comfortable and quirky lodging establishments and eateries. Another Kimpton hotel will be built on upper King, and a Westin hotel is under construction nearby.

The new optimism marks a turnaround of sorts for Old Town, where retailers had come to feel rather battered in the past several years. They suffered through a series of sobering events, including the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the economic downturn that followed and the sniper shootings that frightened shoppers into staying home in October 2002. Then, in 2003, came Hurricane Isabel, which pushed a wall of water into Old Town, damaging more than 60 businesses near the waterfront.

Old Town has had to fight its way back from that series of challenges, said jeweler David Martin, owner of Gold Works, who has operated his business at 1400 King for 18 years. Meanwhile, Alexandria was getting fresh competition from a number of newly created ersatz downtowns in such places as Reston and Fairfax Corner.

"Other villages suddenly got really pretty, downright homey," Martin said. "Alexandria will never be the same. It lost the appeal of being a destination. We've needed to win it back again."

He sees signs that things are changing for the better. He has been particularly heartened to learn that the city will soon unveil the banners that will be festooned along King, helping create a holiday air and a greater sense of place.

"There's a new mentality" among the city's officials, Martin said.

He isn't the only businessman who has seen a change among government officials he once perceived as somewhat anti-business and overly bureaucratic.

Joe Egerton, the proprietor of Arts Afire Glass Gallery, said he, too, thinks Alexandria officials have become "more amenable" to business, but he said he also has noticed that merchants are becoming more assertive about taking risks. He teamed up with J. Brown, of J. Brown & Co., at 1119 King, to organize 22 merchants to share the $2,090 expense of the planters, mainly because the retailers want to make their block as attractive as possible to lure tourists from National Harbor, the retail, office and conference center being built across the Potomac River in Maryland.

"People have been bold and done things," Egerton said. "We made the decision, and it was done in two weeks."

He said merchants are optimistic because they are convinced that National Harbor will add to the retail trade. The convention and hotel center is expected to bring an additional 500 to 1,000 tourists to Old Town each day, many traveling to Virginia by water taxi. The center will open early next year.

"It'll do nothing but increase the traffic here," Egerton said. "It'll increase our business."

To Cindy McCartney, who in October opened Diva, a designer consignment boutique just off King Street, Old Town Alexandria felt like the only right place to sell upmarket clothing. The location, a house built in the 1880s that has been used as an office and a store, seemed distinctive enough to intrigue her affluent clientele. She will soon add a bridal boutique section.

"I wanted someplace with a lot of character, not a regular storefront," she said. "It's great to be in a place that people love so much. There's so much opportunity here."

But she admitted that the wait for better times can be difficult. In her case, she is just down the street from the former Holiday Inn. The street in front of her business is sometimes blocked by construction trucks hauling materials to and from the hotel site. She thinks her business will surge when the hotel is completed this fall.

"Once the hotel opens, I think it'll get better and better," she said.