Last week, we took a look at the Supermarket Tax Credit, which was supposed to incentivize grocery stores to locate in underserved areas. Walmart isn't asking for the break, even though three of its planned six stores would qualify. An astute commenter noticed that the District's newest Whole Foods in Foggy Bottom would also qualify, likely due to the large population of students, who don't themselves make that much money (but who often have a lot of it at their disposal). Are they claiming the break on personal and real property taxes, as well as the sales tax on construction materials, which could amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars a year?

They're not, according to a list provided by the Office of Tax and Revenue. No Whole Foods in the District are. But Safeway is claiming a lot of them: Nine out of fifteen stores are either receiving the exemption or have applied for it. And there are a couple of strange ones in there: Locations at Corcoran Street and at 17th and Columbia have received the exemption, despite the fact that they no longer fall within the incentive zone, and were both built long before the program was instituted (full map above, also here). Yellow = Harris Teeter, Green = Safeway, Pink = Yes! Organic, Blue = Giant.

Seems like this is a tax incentive that could use some tweaking.

Stinky no longer?

Jonathan O'Connell reports this morning that Lowe Enterprises, which brought the Sexy Safeway to Mount Vernon Square along with an almost sold-out condo and apartment complex, is hoping to do the same with the long-neglected Stinky Safeway at 3830 Georgia Avenue. If it's as well-designed as CityVista, the planned 210 housing units and new 50,000 square-foot store would be a huge boost to that stretch of Georgia Avenue, which is directly north of the Park Place development above the Georgia Avenue metro stop.

Anything could still happen to that deal. But look at the bigger picture: In a doozy of a rundown on Friday, the Washington Business Journal declared that we are entering a "new golden age for D.C. supermarkets." New Giants, Safeways, Whole Foods stores, and Harris Teeters are in place or on their way to developments across the District, from Tenleytown to the Riverfront (noticeably absent from the list are new locations in Wards 7 and 8, with the exception of the soon-to-open Yes! Organic Market at the Grays). The article doesn't mention the fate of the Secret Safeway at 1800 20th Street, which closed earlier this month, but listserv chatter indicates that the landlord is in negotiations with two up-market grocery stores to replace it (Housing Complex's multiple calls to the leasing agent have gone unreturned).

The one thing you probably won't see coming to D.C. anytime soon: That white whale of D.C. foodies, Wegmans. The Journal article reports that the gourmet grocer requires 120,000 to 140,000 square feet, or 12 to 15 acres, to display its wares. No place in D.C. has the right combination of land and wealthy clientele to make the Wegmans cut.

• Giant is giving away free bags from Jan. 1-7. Cashiers "will pack every customer's order with reusables bags in all D.C. stores," according to company spokesperson Jamie Miller. The chain expects to give away 250,000 bags.  I asked Miller if Giant anticipates its customers doing some extra bulk shopping during the freebee period. He said he didn't know.
• Also at the Giant, but just on Jan. 1, the unlikely partnership of the Girl Scout Council of the Nation’s Capital (GSCNC) and Boeing will be giving away bags from 4 to 6 p.m.

• Harris Teeter, which has two D.C. locations, will be giving away a bag to each customer in the month of January—you just have to spend $20 and use your VIC promotional card. (The giveaway is per transaction.)

• The District Department of the Environment  (DDOE) and CVS have partnered in a bag giveaway program. They've already given away some 32,000 bags. DDOE spokesperson Alan Heymann says another order has been placed for some 40,000 bags, which will arrive sometime next month. His department will be working with other District agencies and nonprofits to distribute those bags.

• Also Safeway! Word on the street is they'll be giving away 10,000 bags—though I'm still waiting for a callback on this one.

*Check out this link for tons of information from the DDOE on the plastic bag fee.

The view from Capitol Riverfront's 55 M Street, which just signed its first tenant.

The Capitol Riverfront hastened its slow trickle of tenants and businesses during the last few weeks. On Friday, Mayor Adrian Fenty announced that the city would be taking over a building, located at 225 Virginia Ave. SE on the northern border of the neighborhood. In two years, Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA), Office of Chief Technology Officer (OCTO), and District of Columbia Commission on the Arts and Humanities (DCCAH) will move into the newly renovated, 350,000-square-foot LEED Silver certified office building.

Yeah, city agencies! Just what a neighborhood needs to generate buzz  and inch onto people's radars! Thankfully, there have been other new signs of life: As I previously noted, Harris Teeter signed a letter of intent to open a new location in the Capitol Riverfront. More recently—as in last week—the Washington Business Journal reported that a new Italian pizza/salad/sandwich joint will move into the recently completed Velocity Capitol Riverfront condo building.

Justin Ross, formerly of Austin Grill, is the owner, and he says he hopes to open in two months.

In addition, 55 M Street, SE—which hosted Artomatic this summer, introducing thousands of visitors to the neighborhood's gaping holes and empty spaces—signed its first tenant in late October. "Sayres, a government services contractor providing engineering, technical, acquisition and program management, business financial and IT, and security analysis support to DoD, DoT, Homeland Security and other federal agencies, will locate its 20,000 SF headquarters in the new building," according to a press release from Monument Realty.

The post was about the groundbreaking of 2300 Pennsylvania Ave SE, a new apartment building with retail space in the Fairlawn area by Chapman Development. DCMUD had all sorts of fun facts about a supposedly 247-unit building, with 115 units of "workforce" housing, and 8,000 square feet of retail space, which would hopefully attract high-end retailers. Also: a new Harris Teeter east of the river! Seems like one opens in this city every week!

Great news. Now, how much of it is true?

"I don't think there's much other than the address that's accurate," says developer Timothy Chapman, who sets the record straight:

• There are 118 apartments.
• 7,500 square feet of retail.
• No Harris Teeter. (Oh...)
• $1,100, average rent.

The group is receiving housing tax credits, says Chapman, which means "we have to rent to people who make 60 percent of the median income." Chapman would like to see a sit-down restaurant open in the building, and is currently talking to Bank of America about a second retail space. Previously, a tattoo parlor and used car dealership operated on the lot, but both businesses were gone when the land was sold.