Can Washington, DC, Waltz with Walmart?

With Walmart once again wanting to build in the nation's capital, some wonder whether the company could be enticed into developing in an appropriate urban way.

Walmart is reportedly in negotiations to open a store on an 11-acre triangle on New York Avenue in the northeast section of Washington, DC. The expected fight against the chain's arrival may be accompanied by "a growing realization on the part of District officials and citizens that they could have a chance to bring wal-Mart into an urbanist framework, as crazy as that sounds," Lydia DePillis writes in July 16 article in Washington CityPaper, available here.

In May, developer Jim Abdo "gave up on an approved, mixed-use project on the site, defeated by the most brutal financing environment in decades," the paper says. (John Torti tells New Urban Network that Torti Gallas and Partners produced the original, now-scratched development plan.)

DePillis notes that a 93,000-square-foot Walmart store planned for the Remington neighborhood in Baltimore "is supposed to serve as the anchor for a larger retail and residential complex," and with conscious planning the Washington store "could be brought into a broader development scheme." However, the leverage of the DC government is limited, since the project would require no zoning changes or city assistance.