DowntownDC is changing rapidly and in an effort to catalog this year’s retail closings and openings, members of the DowntownDC Business Improvement District’s (BID) Economic Development department are once again out on the streets this summer conducting an annual retail survey of every available retail space in the BID’s 138-block area.
This is the 12th year the BID has conducted this annual survey, which yields data on square footage, retail trends and more, and for the first time, this data will be presented interactively online.
[Read about last year’s survey here.]
CityCenterDC’s many high-end retail openings has brought luxury retail back to Downtown for the first time in many years. Its restaurants and high-quality food stores (coffee, ice cream, baked treats and a small grocery store) complement the luxury retailers. Together, they create a shopping district where one can spend several enjoyable hours. By the 2015 holiday season, more than 24 stores (14 clothing stores, six accessories stores and four specialty stores) will be located within CityCenterDC, increasing the overall number of Downtown destination retailers to 65, up from 41, prior to CityCenterDC’s opening.
DowntownDC’s restaurant market remains vibrant and several new destination restaurants have already opened this year: Buredo (825 14th Street NW), Centrolina (974 Palmer Alley NW), Claudia’s Steakhouse (1501 K Street NW), Fig & Olive (925 H Street NW), Mastro’s Steakhouse (600 13th Street NW), and Mango Tree (929 H Street NW) with Momofuku (at CityCenterDC) and Tadich Grill (on Pennsylvania Avenue) announced. DowntownDC expects to experience a rise in destination restaurants from 147 at the end of 2014 to 157 by the close of 2015.
When the BID’s first survey was completed in the early 2000’s, the retail vacancy rate was at a high of 14 percent. The retail vacancy rate fell as low as 3 percent in 2008, but since it has risen— to 8 percent in 2013 and to 9 percent in 2014. Early indications suggest the vacancy rate this year will increase by a small margin while total occupied retail space will be at an all-time high as the market adjusts to new retail additions in new projects, the departure of a few retailers from existing buildings and the impact of food trucks.
For the first time this year, the DowntownDC BID will present this retail data later this summer on its website for use by all offering the name of each retailer in DowntownDC and the type of existing retail, square footage for each occupied, vacant and potential first floor and basement retail space. This data will be selectively updated and once again included in the BID’s annual State of Downtown report.
[View the 2014 State of Downtown report here.]
The retail survey offers the public detailed statistics and analysis of the retail market including vacancy rate, space under construction and exact locations of retail.
For the second year in a row, our primary researcher for the annual retail survey is Ronella Williams, a Ward 7 resident and a participant in the D.C. government’s Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) under the Department of Employment Services (DOES).
Stay tuned for further details on our retail survey later this summer!