Catching up on news, starting with metro news

Grocery pickup at Fort Totten metro station

WMATA is negotiating an agreement with Giant’s online Peapod service to allow grocery pickup at three metro stations, including Fort Totten metro station. The six-month pilot project could start as early as spring 2015. There will be a minimum order of $60 and a $2.95 pickup fee. Customers will prepay online and choose a pick-up day of Monday, Wednesday, or Friday between 4:00 pm and 7:00 pm. The other two stations involved in the pilot project are Glenmont and Van Dorn Street. The project was initiated by Giant.

Initial bids received for development of long-term parking lot

In other metro news, after receiving an unsolicited offer to develop the long-term parking lot at Fort Totten metro station, WMATA re-released the RFP for joint development of the parking lot and received two “solid” initial proposals. Recall from this post that WMATA issued an RFP for joint development of the parking lot in November 2013 and received no proposals. At that time, WMATA stated it suspected the cost of replacing the parking lot was an obstacle and also that investors were probably waiting to see how planned development in the area would shape up. Accordingly, WMATA stated it planned to re-release the RFP in a year or two once Fort Totten Square and Art Place were further along. Now it appears that hunch was correct, as Art Place is well underway in construction and Fort Totten Square is expected to come online in spring 2015.

The RFP is largely the same with an emphasis on transit-oriented development. The development should promote safe, walkable, attractive communities with quality design and placemaking elements. As we stated in our post last year on the topic, let’s hope these initial proposals are more attractive than Aventine Fort Totten (and Rhode Island Row). WMATA plans to discuss the timeline and initial proposals in general terms at an ANC meeting, so stay tuned for that.