More on the Wegmans-at-Walter-Reed front: The Rochester, N.Y.-based grocery retailer is working with D.C.-based Roadside Development LLC, one of the five companies that have submitted bids to redevelop the 66.5-acre site that used to be a military hospital but is now under the city’s control.
The steadily expanding grocery chain is also interested in doing one of its large-scale stores at the Northwest D.C. site rather than one of Wegman’s newer, smaller urban models the company is testing out in Rochester and Newton, Mass., which that I wrote about yesterday.
Although Wegmans is considering a number of store design options, “the current thinking is we would have a large format store there, if we build a store there,” Jo Natale, director of media relations, told me this morning.
The company has been opening its large-format stores in Maryland for the past few years. The stores range from 110,000 to 140,000 square feet and have an average of 628 parking spaces. The next one will be the Germantown Wegmans, scheduled to open in September and clock in at 123,000 square feet.
Grocery chain Safeway Inc.has also expressed interest in building at the Walter Reed site. The other developers that submitted bids are Forest City Washington, Hines Interests LP, The Wilkes Co. and Western Development Corp.
