Goodbye Waterside Mall
27 10 2008The sign for the old Waterside Mall, one of the last remnants of the failed urban renewal, has finally come down and construction is already well underway to replace the old mall with a great looking new set of buildings. This demolition also makes way to finally reconnect 4th street to M street SW which has been closed for over 40 years.
Guess they didn’t want to just take down the sign either… they completely demolished that thing! [Photo: Liliang]
Cool photo! Hopefully the economy won’t impact that new development.
They just secured $250 million in financing, so somebody who still has cash really believes in this development…
Is there atleast going to be a CVS as ground floor retail in one of the Buildings or some other pharmacy
As we reported, Gordon Fraley, the Development Manager of Vornado/Charles E. Smith one of the partners in the Waterfront Station project, attended the ANC 6D meeting last week and told us that “hard leases” were signed this summer with Safeway and CVS Pharmacy. Negotiations are still being held for a leasing agreement with Bank of America.
The Waterside Mall was not part of the urban renewal project. The urban renewal project of the 1950s called for a Town Center that had 4th Street open as a pedestrian plaza flanked by shops on each side. It was built. By the 70s though, urban merchants were desperate to compete with suburban malls. Too little too late. They knocked down the original Town Center and built the dismal Waterside Mall. Don’t blame urban renewal for Waterside Mall. Blame the 70s.
[…] million square foot mixed-use project is being built on the site of the former Waterside Mall that was demolished last year. Dispite the current market, this project is fully funded and the first two buildings along with […]