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Bloomingdale's Readies for Friendship Heights
Shawn Crume helps prepare the Bloomingdale's in Friendship Heights for its opening Thursday. The store is much smaller than the chain's average.
(By Kevin Clark -- The Washington Post)
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The stretch of Wisconsin Avenue NW has become a hotspot for retailers lured by the region's wealthy residents and proximity to the Friendship Heights Metro station.
New England Development, in a partnership with Boston Properties and Archstone-Smith, plans to turn the land around Bloomingdale's into a mixed-use development called Wisconsin Place. The site will include a Whole Foods Market, 432 luxury apartments, 290,000 square feet of office space and 75,000 square feet of additional retail. It will also feature a community center and several parks.
According to the developers, the 2006 median household income within a mile of Wisconsin Place was $163,030. That figure is expect to grow to $178,616 by 2011. And 39 percent of the 500,000 people who work within five miles hold graduate degrees.
David Gilmore, vice president for New England Development, said he expects a few small retailers and restaurants to open in the spring. But most of the site, including the Whole Foods, won't be ready until the end of next year.
Bloomingdale's will remain open throughout the construction, Gilmore said. About 850 spaces in the parking garage underneath the store will be open, he said. The garage will eventually have more than 1,700 spaces.
"Although there is construction going on around it, it's going to be easy to get in," Gilmore said. "People should not be put off by the construction that's in the area there."
Still, Maloney said he expects the store will increase foot traffic to the area. Wisconsin Avenue may not be Fifth Avenue yet, but it's on its way, he said.
"I think Bloomingdale's is a big piece to the puzzle," Maloney said.
