Downtown DC Retail Gains Momentum

WASHINGTON, DC-Retailers are paying more attention to DC’s core downtown area, according to reports by some developers and retailers. As proof of the warming market West Elm, Zara and Madame Tussauds have inked leases to occupy the retail portion of the recently redeveloped 1025 F St., a historic building here that once housed Woodward & Lothrop department store.

The roughly half-million-sf, 10-story building had appropriated between 140,000 sf to 150,000 sf to retail, explains Eric Rubin, principal of Madison Retail Group, which brokered the transactions. There is about 28,000 sf of retail space left; the rest of the building is fully leased to office occupants.

Zara, an international retailer, will occupy 13,000 sf. Zara was represented by Jeffrey Paisner of New York-based Lansco with Madison Retail Group. West Elm, a furniture and home goods store, has signed a lease for 40,000 sf through Madison Retail Group on behalf of its owner, Williams-Sonoma Inc.