WBJ: Costco Moves Forward With DC Store

• December 10, 2009
• 10 Comments

by Mark Wellborn

Will Costco have an effect on the Fort Lincoln neighborhood similar to that of the Whole Foods on Logan Circle? The Washington Business Journal recently reported that the wholesale giant is moving forward with plans to open one of its enormous outposts at a planned 375,000 square-foot shopping center at the corner of New York Avenue and South Dakota Avenue NE (map).

While some DC folks who have been trekking out to the Pentagon City store for their yearly supply of toilet paper and toothpaste will be happy with this news, those that live in Northern Virginia may not. From the WBJ:

If the financing is approved, Costco could break ground in 2010 and open as early as 2011, D.C. Councilman Kwame Brown said. The company has plans to shutter its Pentagon City location in two years, which would make the D.C. store an anchor property for the chain.

Michelle Hagans, president of the Fort Lincoln Realty Company, said that Costco is not the only major chain that may open up shop in the area; she also wants Target to come into the development that will be known as The Shops at Dakota Crossing.

It is too soon to know what effect, if any, this news has on the housing stock in the area. What we do know is that you may want to stay away from this area on the weekends starting in 2011 — Costco can be a madhouse on Saturday afternoon.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/wbj_costco_moves_forward_with_dc_store/1591

10 Comments

1. benji said at 10:21 am on Thursday December 10, 2009:

   i don’t know whether to applaud this news, or cry about it.

1. AmyKastro said at 10:54 am on Thursday December 10, 2009:

   I applaud it! I am tired of the trek to Pentagon City.

1. Dupont Anon said at 11:05 am on Thursday December 10, 2009:

   The Pentagon City store is always packed. Seems a shame to close when it is so close to a metro station.

1. Scott said at 3:05 pm on Thursday December 10, 2009:

   Cheaper rent no doubt going from Pentagon City to that area of DC.  The majority of Costco shoppers are not coming by metro so that matters less.  The masses like them some Costco & will go find it in DC if that’s the next closest option

1. roots said at 12:59 am on Friday December 11, 2009:

   why not keep both locations? i imagine the new location will hit an entirely different population than crystal city. sure some that live in the city will start going to the new location but many from NOVA/Arlington will continue to go to crystal city and the new locations will get more people from MD.

1. dcguy said at 11:54 am on Friday December 11, 2009:

   many in the district will still go to pentagon city as well. if you live in georgetown, sw, downtown, dupont, its still way faster and closer to go to pentagon city.

   its pretty unimaginable that costco wouldnt relocate somewhere else in nova. its just too lucrative to not.

   is there some large development slated for the land where it currently is? its pretty underutilized and could stand for a denser development.

1. hoos30 said at 11:55 am on Friday December 11, 2009:

   IIRC, the Pentagon City store is closing because that entire block is being redeveloped.

   BTW, NO ONE who does any realy Costco shopping travels by Metro.

1. BFord said at 12:55 pm on Friday December 11, 2009:

   I had NOT heard that they would be closing the Pentagon City Costco! I live in SE DC and Pentagon City is closer to me than the proposed one. I am sad to be loosing my short cut through Ft Lincoln though but DC is in need of these types of businesses.

1. Kelly said at 1:39 pm on Friday December 11, 2009:

   Great news for DC! I just moved back to DC from Silver Spring and I thought I would miss all the convenient shopping in my area. But until now, I’ve never had a Costco close by and I’ve always wanted one.

1. Anonymous said at 2:10 am on Saturday December 12, 2009:

   There’s an update that the part about Pentagon City closing was an error.

   http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2009/12/07/daily57.html

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