First Johnson's, now Sullivan's! Who is the landlord behind this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh, no. I had not heard this about Sullivans. Really bad news.

The last time I was there (about 6 weeks ago), the merchandise looked terrible. The place was in shambles and lots of empty shelves. The person at the check out counter said that they were having supply and shipping problems. I wondered then if something was going on.

Does anyone remember the old Sullivans farther down the street, where Cathedral Commons is now?

Yes, I shopped at both. They were winding down the business--which is why the place looked like that. My sense is, like Johnson's, they tried their best and their talks with AU didn't "go through". Anyone up for a protest /March from Sullivan's to AU?

I would be there, PP!

Local residents have no idea what is about to hit them in the form of this "new and improved" stretch of Wisconsin Avenue, the heart and soul of Tenleytown. The Wegmans arrival will be a disaster in terms of additional cars and the suburban mindset of drive, drive, drive to every chain store known to man. AU is a horrible landlord - totally self-serving, non tax paying, and no investment in what they are doing to the community.

Meanwhile, we still have the disgraceful Psychiatric Institute of Washington.

What is disgraceful about it?

Some potentially violent residents, brought in by DC police, but lax facility security.

Yup. If you are going to be the chief facility in DC for housing *alleged* murders, at least be capable of doing it right.
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/homicide-...capes-in-northwest-dc/2621562/

Aside from that, why is DC providing affordable housing for *alleged* murders in Ward 3 but not providing affordable housing for law abiding residents?

[Anonymous]

To support independent businesses in any industry you have to utilize them often. Competition with big chains is fierce. People know this but it’s so easy to not to do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To support independent businesses in any industry you have to utilize them often. Competition with big chains is fierce. People know this but it’s so easy to not to do it.

So Starbucks, on the metro stop and always full of people could not eek out a profit in Tenleytown. Starbucks was also really the only daytime homeless shelter with the Library closed during pandemic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh, no. I had not heard this about Sullivans. Really bad news.

The last time I was there (about 6 weeks ago), the merchandise looked terrible. The place was in shambles and lots of empty shelves. The person at the check out counter said that they were having supply and shipping problems. I wondered then if something was going on.

Does anyone remember the old Sullivans farther down the street, where Cathedral Commons is now?

Yes, I shopped at both. They were winding down the business--which is why the place looked like that. My sense is, like Johnson's, they tried their best and their talks with AU didn't "go through". Anyone up for a protest /March from Sullivan's to AU?

I would be there, PP!

Local residents have no idea what is about to hit them in the form of this "new and improved" stretch of Wisconsin Avenue, the heart and soul of Tenleytown. The Wegmans arrival will be a disaster in terms of additional cars and the suburban mindset of drive, drive, drive to every chain store known to man. AU is a horrible landlord - totally self-serving, non tax paying, and no investment in what they are doing to the community.

Meanwhile, we still have the disgraceful Psychiatric Institute of Washington.

Not the PP, but my chief complaint would probably be that they cannot keep tabs on the *alleged* murderers they house there.
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/homicide-suspect-escapes-in-northwest-dc/2621562/
What is disgraceful about it?

Why are they using PIA in Tenleytown-AU Park? Isn't this the purpose of what remains of St. Elizabeth's Hospital?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh, no. I had not heard this about Sullivans. Really bad news.

The last time I was there (about 6 weeks ago), the merchandise looked terrible. The place was in shambles and lots of empty shelves. The person at the check out counter said that they were having supply and shipping problems. I wondered then if something was going on.

Does anyone remember the old Sullivans farther down the street, where Cathedral Commons is now?

Yes, I shopped at both. They were winding down the business--which is why the place looked like that. My sense is, like Johnson's, they tried their best and their talks with AU didn't "go through". Anyone up for a protest /March from Sullivan's to AU?

I would be there, PP!

Local residents have no idea what is about to hit them in the form of this "new and improved" stretch of Wisconsin Avenue, the heart and soul of Tenleytown. The Wegmans arrival will be a disaster in terms of additional cars and the suburban mindset of drive, drive, drive to every chain store known to man. AU is a horrible landlord - totally self-serving, non tax paying, and no investment in what they are doing to the community.

Meanwhile, we still have the disgraceful Psychiatric Institute of Washington.

Not the PP, but my chief complaint would probably be that they cannot keep tabs on the *alleged* murderers they house there.
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/homicide-suspect-escapes-in-northwest-dc/2621562/
What is disgraceful about it?

Why are they using PIA in Tenleytown-AU Park? Isn't this the purpose of what remains of St. Elizabeth's Hospital?

In the current environment, my guess is complaints that Ward 3 needs to share more of the burden or something like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh, no. I had not heard this about Sullivans. Really bad news.

The last time I was there (about 6 weeks ago), the merchandise looked terrible. The place was in shambles and lots of empty shelves. The person at the check out counter said that they were having supply and shipping problems. I wondered then if something was going on.

Does anyone remember the old Sullivans farther down the street, where Cathedral Commons is now?

Yes, I shopped at both. They were winding down the business--which is why the place looked like that. My sense is, like Johnson's, they tried their best and their talks with AU didn't "go through". Anyone up for a protest /March from Sullivan's to AU?

I would be there, PP!

Local residents have no idea what is about to hit them in the form of this "new and improved" stretch of Wisconsin Avenue, the heart and soul of Tenleytown. The Wegmans arrival will be a disaster in terms of additional cars and the suburban mindset of drive, drive, drive to every chain store known to man. AU is a horrible landlord - totally self-serving, non tax paying, and no investment in what they are doing to the community.

Meanwhile, we still have the disgraceful Psychiatric Institute of Washington.

Not the PP, but my chief complaint would probably be that they cannot keep tabs on the *alleged* murderers they house there.
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/homicide-suspect-escapes-in-northwest-dc/2621562/
What is disgraceful about it?

Why are they using PIA in Tenleytown-AU Park? Isn't this the purpose of what remains of St. Elizabeth's Hospital?

Not to take this thread off topic, but I just read some Google reviews and I am surprised that it has not been sanctioned somehow. Some real troubling allegations.

[Anonymous]

Not enough kids in upper NW DC to support a toy store. They can't even fill their schools there. That's why they need to have such a high number of out of bounds students at Wilson and Deal and Janney etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not enough kids in upper NW DC to support a toy store. They can't even fill their schools there. That's why they need to have such a high number of out of bounds students at Wilson and Deal and Janney etc.

There are plenty of kids to fill Janney, Deal, and Wilson, it's just that many if not most of them are going to private schools instead.

Lack of kids isn't what closed Sullivan's, people are just getting their toys elsewhere, like online where it's cheaper and arrives at your door in hours. It's tough to compete against that kind of convenience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is up with Tenleytown? I know that it was not an AU tenant but apparently Tenleytown could not even support a Starbucks on a prime metro location.

Gastropub closed and just sitting boarded up vacant.

Kitty O'Shea's just vacant.

Young adults are the lifeblood of the bar and restaurant industry, and Tenleytown is about the last place young adults want to live in DC. College students alone can't support those businesses because half of them can't drink legally and the other half doesn't want to hang out in a dingy Irish pub when they could go to a bar that caters to their generation on U St or Adams Morgan.

I grew up in Tenleytown when regular people could still afford to live there, that's why places like Maggie's, Armand's, Round Table, and Babe's could exist. Now Tenley is a victim of its own success. The only people who can pay $1.5MM for a house there are overworked attorneys and DCUM's famous "if you have more than one drink you're an alcoholic, if you have more than 3 bites of food a day you're a fatty" housewives, neither of which have the time and inclination to frequent bars and restaurants, or at least the kind of restaurants that can exist in Tenleytown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not enough kids in upper NW DC to support a toy store. They can't even fill their schools there. That's why they need to have such a high number of out of bounds students at Wilson and Deal and Janney etc.

There are plenty of kids to fill Janney, Deal, and Wilson, it's just that many if not most of them are going to private schools instead.

Lack of kids isn't what closed Sullivan's, people are just getting their toys elsewhere, like online where it's cheaper and arrives at your door in hours. It's tough to compete against that kind of convenience.

I assume that the PP is being sarcastic, because all of those schools are either at capacity or overcrowded before the OOB students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is up with Tenleytown? I know that it was not an AU tenant but apparently Tenleytown could not even support a Starbucks on a prime metro location.

Gastropub closed and just sitting boarded up vacant.

Kitty O'Shea's just vacant.

Young adults are the lifeblood of the bar and restaurant industry, and Tenleytown is about the last place young adults want to live in DC. College students alone can't support those businesses because half of them can't drink legally and the other half doesn't want to hang out in a dingy Irish pub when they could go to a bar that caters to their generation on U St or Adams Morgan.

I grew up in Tenleytown when regular people could still afford to live there, that's why places like Maggie's, Armand's, Round Table, and Babe's could exist. Now Tenley is a victim of its own success. The only people who can pay $1.5MM for a house there are overworked attorneys and DCUM's famous "if you have more than one drink you're an alcoholic, if you have more than 3 bites of food a day you're a fatty" housewives, neither of which have the time and inclination to frequent bars and restaurants, or at least the kind of restaurants that can exist in Tenleytown.

Tenleytown is full of young families and kids. That is almost the definition of Tenleytown. Not quite Spring Valley or Cleveland Park (Cathedral area) but totally quaint and family oriented...or at least it was. It is turning almost corporate and strip mall'ey. And there is more to it than the dismissing the closings as "all of the business has gone online". I am starting to doubt the motives of the landlords as well.

You simply cannot explain away the Starbucks closing as there simply were not enough customers. That place was always full. It was filthy but it was full. Someone said it earlier, Johnson's did not want to close, it could not secure a new lease from AU. I am not sure yet what the deal was with Sullivan's. I have heard they were attempting to negotiate a rent payment for some pandemic rent.

As for Gastro Pub and O'Shea's those places were making money hand over fist. The buildings were sold by their owners to developers in accordance with the density goals of DC and Tenleytown. Then the developers froze their projects. The community is left holding the bag and get's to enjoy empty storefronts until the developers decide to let a bank or convenience store move in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is up with Tenleytown? I know that it was not an AU tenant but apparently Tenleytown could not even support a Starbucks on a prime metro location.

Gastropub closed and just sitting boarded up vacant.

Kitty O'Shea's just vacant.

Young adults are the lifeblood of the bar and restaurant industry, and Tenleytown is about the last place young adults want to live in DC. College students alone can't support those businesses because half of them can't drink legally and the other half doesn't want to hang out in a dingy Irish pub when they could go to a bar that caters to their generation on U St or Adams Morgan.

I grew up in Tenleytown when regular people could still afford to live there, that's why places like Maggie's, Armand's, Round Table, and Babe's could exist. Now Tenley is a victim of its own success. The only people who can pay $1.5MM for a house there are overworked attorneys and DCUM's famous "if you have more than one drink you're an alcoholic, if you have more than 3 bites of food a day you're a fatty" housewives, neither of which have the time and inclination to frequent bars and restaurants, or at least the kind of restaurants that can exist in Tenleytown.

Tenleytown is full of young families and kids. That is almost the definition of Tenleytown. Not quite Spring Valley or Cleveland Park (Cathedral area) but totally quaint and family oriented...or at least it was. It is turning almost corporate and strip mall'ey. And there is more to it than the dismissing the closings as "all of the business has gone online". I am starting to doubt the motives of the landlords as well.

You simply cannot explain away the Starbucks closing as there simply were not enough customers. That place was always full. It was filthy but it was full. Someone said it earlier, Johnson's did not want to close, it could not secure a new lease from AU. I am not sure yet what the deal was with Sullivan's. I have heard they were attempting to negotiate a rent payment for some pandemic rent.

As for Gastro Pub and O'Shea's those places were making money hand over fist. The buildings were sold by their owners to developers in accordance with the density goals of DC and Tenleytown. Then the developers froze their projects. The community is left holding the bag and get's to enjoy empty storefronts until the developers decide to let a bank or convenience store move in.

You're joking, right? I was a regular at Kitty O'shea's specifically because it was just about the only bar in DC that wasn't crowded on a Friday night, and those few people who were there were drinking $3 Natty Bohs, of which the bartenders only charged you for about half of the ones you actually drank. They were not making money hand over fist.

And I never said there aren't families there, there certainly are but they're not going to the bars and restaurants. Their nannies are preparing organic whole foods mac and cheese for the kids while mom and dad spend 90 hours a week at work. When they do have a free night they want to go to Masseria or Le Dip, not a neighborhood pizza joint.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is up with Tenleytown? I know that it was not an AU tenant but apparently Tenleytown could not even support a Starbucks on a prime metro location.

Gastropub closed and just sitting boarded up vacant.

Kitty O'Shea's just vacant.

I'm assuming by "gastropub" you mean Public Bar/Tenley Bar & Grill? It had zero to do with a lack of neighborhood support. They didn't want to close, the owner of the building sold to developers who were going to tear down that structure (and the Dancing Crab building) to put up condos. Those plans apparently fell through during the pandemic and now the buildings are up for sale again, complete with the two very valuable liquor licenses that once belonged to Public/Dancing Crab. Whatever is built there, expect two new bars to be part of it.

https://www.crexi.com/properties/479233/district-of-columbia-4611-41st-street-nw

[Anonymous]

The PP is spot on.

Further - the Metro is not really an asset right now, to be honest. It has been attracting homeless folks and randoms - the Target smells like urine and tends to have sketchy folks in it on a regular basis adding to the dirty feel around that area.

People still aren’t ready to use the metro. And really - pre-Covid / was anyone saying “hey / let’s jump on the Red Line to Tenleytown for a night out!” / it never happened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh, no. I had not heard this about Sullivans. Really bad news.

The last time I was there (about 6 weeks ago), the merchandise looked terrible. The place was in shambles and lots of empty shelves. The person at the check out counter said that they were having supply and shipping problems. I wondered then if something was going on.

Does anyone remember the old Sullivans farther down the street, where Cathedral Commons is now?

Yes, I shopped at both. They were winding down the business--which is why the place looked like that. My sense is, like Johnson's, they tried their best and their talks with AU didn't "go through". Anyone up for a protest /March from Sullivan's to AU?

I would be there, PP!

Local residents have no idea what is about to hit them in the form of this "new and improved" stretch of Wisconsin Avenue, the heart and soul of Tenleytown. The Wegmans arrival will be a disaster in terms of additional cars and the suburban mindset of drive, drive, drive to every chain store known to man. AU is a horrible landlord - totally self-serving, non tax paying, and no investment in what they are doing to the community.

Meanwhile, we still have the disgraceful Psychiatric Institute of Washington.

How can we organize? I have some cute kids who are distraught I can bring. I remember when AU did this with Balduccis - yes it has finally been replaced with OK stuff, but sat fallow for quite a LONG while. Meanwhile, I have to say their little AU Campus center is pretty lacklustre - Starbucks and Subway? I have no issue with those stores, but is that their vision for all of Tenleytown?