For Florida Ave. Market, Future Is at Crossroads

| Print Post This | Like (0) | Comments (0)

"PRETTY SOON YOU WON'T RECOGNIZE THE PLACE. PROMISE." So says a sign on the site of the former U.S. Beef Building at Florida Avenue and 4th Street NE, showing a shiny new building, the Gateway Market and Residences, employing shiny new design elements that bleeds Ballston envy.

The city's thriving but sort-of rough-at-the-edges wholesalers market district — the area sometimes known as the Capital City Market that contains the old Union Market, D.C. Farmers Market and flea market — is approaching an important juncture. Korean market man Sang Cho Oh, the largest market landowner, envisions a totally redeveloped and revitalized area, where "the canopied buildings of Union Market will be restored to their role as Washington's food and fashion destination, providing space for up to 400 shops and restaurants with the classic feel of SoHo or Tribeca," according to the project's flashy Web site.

But ... build it they will come? Can traffic generated from Sang's New Town scheme replace or supplement the current, busy marketscape? Some worry about the future of the District's wholesaling market economy, much of which would shift to the Maryland Wholesale Food Center in exurban Jessup. But buried on the project's Building Images page, there's a tiny disclaimer: "Gateway Market & Residences is the subject of a pending zoning change application. Final building appearance may vary." Why's that? The future of the market district has not been settled but market watchdogs think the city's ready for a major overhaul at the site, adjacent to the New York Avenue-Florida Avenue-Gallaudet University Metrorail station.

Tuesday, the first public meetings on plans for the Florida Avenue Market's future will be held at Gallaudet University's Foster Auditorium from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. and again from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

While the project gained initial approval in December during the previous D.C. Council's lame-duck session, big questions loomed. The "New Town" scheme was championed by then-D.C. Council member Vincent Orange of Ward 5, whose failed mayoral bid was supplied with Sang's fundraising cash. Sang wants the D.C. Council to use the power of eminent domain to redevelop the site. But many of the market vendors, who have been there for years, dislike Sang and oppose his market seizure plan.

So who knows what the Florida Avenue Market will look like in a few years ... Stay tuned.

» "The Gateway to the Next Great Place" [Gateway Market and Residences, Inc.]
» "Florida Avenue Market Study" [Frozen Tropics]
» "The Morning News: D.C. Council Is No Lame Duck" [Free Ride/Express]

Photo by Melina Mara/The Washington Post