Consumers now expect boundaries between physical and online stores to be removed. Retailers who are channel neutral  and sell things to consumers whenever and however they want will have higher revenues than a retailer who just thinks brick-and-mortar. Fornash, a retailer in the Ballston Common mall occupies 4,200 square feet but only 900 is for [...]

    Washington was one of the first cities to develop a comprehensive zoning ordinance after New York broke the ground in 1916. This began with the Zoning Act of 1920, which established zoning and the Zoning Commission in the District. Currently all construction or rehabilitation on private land must conform to the requirements imposed [...]

Four Keys To Selecting an Urban Retail Store

1)Access
Little or inconvenient parking in the suburbs can mean disaster. Not true in the city. Retailers who in the suburbs demand six spaces per 1,000 square feet of retail space must instead look at access to the site by other modes of transportation such as walking, bus, and metro.

2)Traffic Patterns
Retailers want to know how many potential customers will go by their store. It pays to know the population density, and median household income. It’s very important to understand the daytime vs. nighttime traffic patterns and how this affects your business. You can expect a lot more daytime traffic in the central business district than in the evening. “

3)Retail Competition
Retailers should know the co tenants in any area they are considering. Urban stores often rely on foot traffic generated by synergistic or potentially competing retailers. Anchor or large tenants usually establish the basic customer profile, but the type of smaller tenants is more critical in city neighborhoods.

4)Store Size
The best retailers find out how to do more in less space in city locations. Focus on where the sales will be highest when evaluating urban retail locations. Evaluating more expensive locations with a smaller store size is justified if higher sales are projected as a return on investment.

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The value of a 3,433 square foot single story building located at 4826 Annapolis Road in Hyattsville, Md is $1.2 million assuming a 7.5 CAP rate using the income method of valuation. newly approved town center sector plan for downtown Hyattsville will help spur retail development. Go to http://www.mncppc.org/cpd/bladensburg.htm for more information.