Reply to Lord and Taylor space in Friendship Heights

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Everything in that area dies.  [/quote]

Yep, they tried to revitalized that area with the high end shops but man, what a dud that was.  FH is where retail goes to die for some reason.[/quote]

It was the wrong kind of high end: way too flashy.  The older department stores, Brooks Brothers, Tiffany’s and Saks Jandal all did quite well there.  Post-Covid though, could be a serious hit. [/quote]

FH was not good for retail because the area was poorly planned. You have a mall like Mazza that has a Neiman Marcus right next to a McDonald's and TJ Maxx that features a decrepit garage, for example. Moreover, what's the purpose of sticking all these department stores across major roads and sticking Saks so far from Neiman Marcus? The area doesn't have a consistent character and these department stores are across busy streets and far enough apart to not entice people to walk around the neighborhood.

These high-end department stores would get more business if they were in a place like the White Flint Mall site, especially if it was paired with high-end boutiques and restaurants in an open air Pike and Rose concept, with luxury apartments, condos and hotels thrown in, not to mention a much nicer garage. It would entice people to spend hours there and the residences would create a built-in client base as well.

If you had all of the property of Mazza and these department stores in a developers hands, and threw in the Geico headquarters as well, you could have a really nice development. And you wouldn't need tax incentives to do so. Developers are probably chomping at the bit to put $2-$3 million townhomes in the area and high rise condos at the Saks location since it doesn't have to deal with the height restrictions like in DC. [/quote]

Saks and Lord and Taylor, along with Woodies and maybe Hechts  were there long before any malls were built in the area.  The Mazda Gallerie, with Neiman Marcus and, later development across the street on Wisconsin were actually efforts that pulled the neighborhood together, along with the original shops in the area with Clydes, providing reasons for neighborhood residents to do frequent shopping, with Borders and Linens and Things. It was a balance that worked well, even with an increase in online shopping. What actually changed the balance has been the closings of multiple stores and chains as a whole — even when the FH branches themselves did well.

TLDR: While you might be right, note that the placement of the original department stores was not planned. Also, IMO, the least successful concepts have been the ones that were developer driven — such as the mess that was the high end “Rodeo Drive” stores. [/quote]

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