Fenty pitches region east of Anacostia to retailers

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - The just-concluded International Council of Shopping Centers convention in Las Vegas offered an opportunity to focus major retailers’ attentions on neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River, Mayor Adrian Fenty said Thursday.

Fenty’s three days in Sin City featured dozens of sit-downs with retailers, developers and investors “who are interested in bringing their business to the city,” the mayor said, as well as with companies already in the nation’s capital who might be looking to expand. The District’s delegation, organized by the D.C. Economic Partnership, had more than 70 meetings scheduled.

“We spent a lot of time talking about many east-of-the-river projects, including Anacostia Gateway, the Anacostia Metro site, Skyland and others, Camp Simms,” Fenty said. “Because right now­ I think we’re on the verge of seeing probably the most investment east of the river that we’ve seen in a long time, and we want to make sure as we do that there’s a lot of neighborhood-based retail.”

The shopping center conference is the 12th largest in North America, featuring more than 45,000 participants from 51 countries and five continents. The city’s delegation included D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray and Council Members Kwame Brown, at large, Jack Evans of Ward 2, Harry Thomas of Ward 5 and Marion Barry of Ward 8.

The District operated out of a 2,000-square-foot booth managed by the partnership.

Fenty singled out mega-retailer Target as a “pretty strategic meeting for us.” Target, which is constructing its first District store in Columbia Heights, was urged to develop future stores at Washington Gateway in Ward 5 and Skyland in Ward 7.

“That’s the kind of message that we pushed for all of the retailers and developers over the three days,” Fenty said.

mneibauer@dcexaminer.com

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