When did Georgetown die?
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Anonymous
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I've been away from the DC area for a number of years and took a walk through the commercial parts of Georgetown and couldn't help shake the feeling that the neighborhood was 'dead'. In some blocks empty storefronts outnumbered businesses and in others they were definitely scraping the bottom of the barrel to get something, anything into a building. The whole area just seems to have lost its luster.
When did this happen? Was it because of ever-rising rents or are other areas just 'cooler' now? It does seem a bit rundown compared to the new areas that have popped up recently. |
Anonymous
| Seems like there is one block of M where that's true, starting at the former Serendipity- and part of it is because there is an office space rather than a storefront. The upper end of Wisconsin around O/P/Q has been dead since the 80s. Otherwise the blocks seem pretty full of stores and people. |
Anonymous
| What about that mall? Was it ever nice? |
Anonymous
| It’s no different from the Upper East Side in NYC. Greedy landlords charge too much for rent and no one can afford to be there. It’s sad. |
Anonymous
Sure was. |
Anonymous
When? And when was it built? |
Anonymous
| I recall seeing seriously sun-faded items of clothing and shoes in several store window displays a few years ago--as if the merchants had had the same items in the window for ages and paid zero attention to the awful fading and dustiness of their display. Little details like that turned me off long ago. OP's term "run down" is right. Combine that with pain in the neck parking and you've got an area that's just not appealing. |
Anonymous
This thread was done a couple of weeks ago with a long discussion about Georgetown Park. |
Anonymous
| It was very nice in the late 80s. What is it like now..? |
Anonymous
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On top of the others comments, Georgetown used to be THE place for high-end commerce and dining. Really the only place in D.C. Now that's changed with the upmarket growth EOTP in places like Dupont, Logan Circle, Shaw, CityCenter, and SW Waterfront.
I think Apple is one of the few things that draws crowds there and there will be a new store opening in Mt. Vernon Square in 2019. Georgetown needs to revitalize with better community amenities, more fast casual or quirky dining, and better transit access - that scuttled gondola would have been a great start to completely tearing out and rebuilding the waterfront there. |
Anonymous
Link? |
Anonymous
I have seen it on the decline since at least the early 90's, that is why I was asking. PP here. |
Anonymous
| Everyone shops online now + pain in the neck parking + sky high rents. |
Anonymous
yes, I remember it then too. it had that cool toy store - fao schwarz? it was the nicest mall around. |
Anonymous
Its just my impression but I think its more returning to where it was in the 80s. There were not tons of high end stores in the 80s. Commander Salamander, some funky shops, a Bennetton and the mall. M street from Wisconsin to the Bridge was pretty blah but there was Poseurs. There were tons of people there on the weekends. It stayed the same for a while, then went downhill and then all of sudden there was this massive move in of higher end and more trendy stores and new restaurants. High end furniture and bathroom design stores, business lofts, Frye's, all the clothing stores up Wis. It still seems pretty busy but the stores are starting to close. It seems to go in cycles. I do think there are far more options now throughout DC that didn't exist back then. |