What Is Happening to My Neighborhood?

[Gary Freedman]

I live on upper Connecticut Avenue in the Cleveland Park neighborhood of Washington, DC. It's one of Washington's most beautiful and affluent neighborhoods.

There's a commercial district about two blocks south of me. The commercial district comprises a strip of business that span a two-block area.

Recently, something very strange has been happening in the commercial district. Stores are closing, one by one. The properties are remaining unleased. What stores have closed? Well, Blockbusters, Magruder's Grocery Market, the Seven-Eleven, a photo shop, a Chinese restaurant, a furniture consignment shop, and the Starbucks. Scheduled for closing in August is the local barber shop. I suppose the dip in the economy is taking its toll. But I suspect other factors are in play.

What is happening to my neighborhood?

[Gary Freedman]

The signs are everywhere throughout the Cleveland Park section of Northwest Washington: the economy is bad, and businesses are failing.

From a movie store to a coffee shop to a consignment store, many businesses say they cannot make the area's high rents in the down economy.

"It used to be said that only chain stores could afford upscale neighborhoods like Cleveland Park but now even these chains are closing," said Gabe Fineman, a Cleveland Park resident. "It's distressing."

Some stores, like the Magruder's Supermarket, closed this summer. Others, such as McDonald's, have been gone for five years. The storefronts sit empty.

The latest casualties are the Supercuts next to the Uptown Theater and a 7-Eleven a block away. Both will shut down within the next ten days. Nothing is replacing them, for now.

Neighborhood business activist Jeff Davis says in the past Cleveland Park has had a reputation of opposing new business. He says he is working to change that.

"It takes a tremendous amount of energy for a small business to open, so it's a very difficult environment and out message is that we want them to know that the community will be here to support them," Davis said.

Merchant Susan Lihn says the empty store fronts aren't exclusive to Cleveland Park, but the community is still concerned.

"We have just started to form a merchant's association in response to this because we realize that for us having empty storefronts and just starting to look around that our neighborhood was starting to look shabby," Lihn said. "It wasn't looking good."

Merchants say the area has severely restricted zoning, making it very difficult for new shops and restaurants to set up.