Phase I: Fort Totten Square
Lots of people have asked and now we know the Fort Totten Square Walmart will have its grand opening on October 28, 2015. Operating hours will be 6:00 am to 12:00 midnight.
As for the other retailers, Subway and Five Guys have signed leases. Subway’s signs are up. Five Guys is waiting for permits from DCRA. At last week’s LRCA meeting, the developers announced they are in negotiation to fill the two remaining retail spaces. Pending successful negotiation, the space on the corner of 3rd Street and Riggs Road NE will be a new “restaurant” concept by a local owner. Restaurant is in quotation marks because it will not be a sit-down restaurant exactly, but there may be tables outside. They have not publicly revealed what the new concept is, but they did say we are sort of a test market for the concept.
The other space, which will be between Subway and Five Guys, on the corner of Chillum Place and Riggs Road NE will be a non-restaurant use. They declined to elaborate what that use will be, but they made a previous announcement, so make of that what you will.
Phase II: Townhomes and retail
Phase II site
In previous posts, we mentioned there is a second phase to the project, which will be located across the street from the first phase. The developers and District officials are still negotiating the purchase of District-owned land adjacent to land already owned by the developers on the southeastern corner of South Dakota Avenue at Riggs Road NE. The District-owned land has to go through the public disposition process.
Originally the plan for the combined parcels was for more rental apartments with retail. The plan was changed to approximately 160 to 170 for-sale townhomes and roughly 27,000 square feet of retail because the developers now believe the market favors for-sale homes over more rental units in the neighborhood. One reader asked how they could possibly fit that many homes on the property. The answer is that the current conceptual plan calls for approximately 150 back-to-back townhomes and approximately 20 loft townhomes. Back-to-back townhomes are exactly what they sound like, so more homes can be packed on the site. This is just a conceptual plan and it may change, so there are no renderings or real site plans to provide, except for those filed with the Office of Zoning. The publicly filed documents are available on the Office of Zoning’s website by searching case number 17606E.
At last week’s LRCA meeting, the developer said he thinks negotiations will be settled in a month or so. We do not know if he was speaking off the cuff, but if he is correct, then more details will be forthcoming soon. In the interim, remember we asked about community benefits. If you have additional thoughts about that, let us know in the comments.
Next Stop...Riggs Park 
This neighborhood needs a dog park! Too many owners are forced to leave their dogs off leash on the park so fenced in dedicated dog park makes sense.
This neighborhood needs a dog park! Too many owners are forced to leave their dogs off leash on the park so fenced in dedicated dog park makes sense.
GFMT
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Another excellent example of Muriel “show me the money” Bowser selling off every available parcel of city owned land to the real estate developers. This land could be used for so many worthwhile purposes other than enriching a developer and creating even more unaffordable housing.
Without going into the full-blown history of this site, the developer’s land was originally purchased in 2008 (Bowser was not mayor then). The developers made an unsolicited offer to the city to purchase the adjacent site (which at that point was separated by the fly-by). The council actually approved the sale in its previous iteration as mixed-use rental/residential, pending the realignment of the intersection to eliminate the fly-bys. That project kept getting delayed, so the council’s approval kept getting extended through legislation. As stated in the post, there is a public disposition process, which we’ve hashed out before, but maybe is worth hashing out again. The mayor’s office (through the CFO) has to send a report to the council stating why the land should be designated as surplus. The mayor’s office has to hold a hearing (one was held earlier this year before the change in plans). The council will review the CFO’s report and hold its own hearing. Ultimately, the council has to approve the deal. So you will certainly have an opportunity to voice your pleasure or displeasure with the proposed surplus designation/sale, state that the land should not be sold, and articulate what public use you would like to see there. Also, at the LRCA meeting, the developer said 20% of the homes will be income-restricted. All that to say, this is not exactly something that began with Mayor Bowser. (That was a mouthful; maybe I should make a separate post).
“The other space, which will be between Subway and Five Guys, on the corner of Chillum Place and Riggs Road NE will be a non-restaurant use.” <<<<< THIS IS RIDICULOUS!! This is another example of poor amenities for this neighborhood. We should not have to keep traveling away to have a sit-down meal, a fresh salad, a glass of wine.
Will be hitting up PG Plaza and Silver Spring for a sit down meal as usual… Thanks for NOTHING! We could use a Starbucks, Boston Market, Chipotle, Ruby Tuesdays, Sweet Greens, Dunkin Donuts etc. Not a Petsmart, Unleashed, Petco or random test kitchen that may not last. New restaurant concepts have a 50/50 chance of survival. That is a known fact. Keep negotiating – we will be patient.