Apple May Have to Give Up on Georgetown Store

A very interesting DcExaminer report has caught our eye recently. It concerns the Washington DC store that still hasn't been approved because of discrepancies in vision between Apple and the Old Georgetown Board. The columnist apparently has confirmation from well placed sources that Neil Albert, deputy mayor for economic development, is being urged to “immediately engage Apple in other locations.”

Earlier this month, ifoAppleStore was reporting that the last obstacle to Apple’s plan to build a retail store in the Georgetown district of Washington (DC) were actually the members of the Old Georgetown Board who criticized Apple’s latest proposed design. IFO is the source dealing exclusively with Apple retail news.

Despite the fact that Apple's store design blends very well with the brick and masonry found on most buildings around it, the design also includes a large expanse of glass, this being the board's objection.

Softpedia take: needless to point out, the glass facade is a signature Apple design element which, if eliminated, shaves off around 50% of the store's personality.

Back to the Examiner report. Two years ago, Apple chose Georgetown for its first retail store in the nation’s capital. Having bought a storefront on M Street, Apple drew up plans to tear down the nondescript building. “A modern front with its iconic Apple missing a small, crescent bite,” were to replace the old building design, according to those plans. The source claims that such a renovation “could revive an old whaling village,” let alone M Street.

“Two years later, the storefront remains empty, and Apple has yet to put a shovel in the ground,” the report reveals. “Why? Because an architectural advisory panel, appropriately named the Old Georgetown Board, has rejected four designs because they are too glassy and modern,” reads the piece, bringing us back to square one.

“It shows you how flawed the city’s system is for attracting retail outlets,” said Terry Lynch, executive director of the Downtown Cluster of Congregations. “The message is the city is closed for business,” added Lynch, who is an architect of Penn Quarter’s revival as a living downtown.

The piece goes to mention that Lynch actually sent a letter to Neil Albert, deputy mayor for economic development, urging him to “immediately engage Apple in other locations.” According to the author, reliable sources say Albert is already working with Apple to look beyond Georgetown.

“We want them,” Councilman Jim Graham allegedly told the author of the report. “We can put them on U Street, or Adams Morgan or Columbia Heights. We have Metro access. We’ve got locations where they can truly prosper,” said Graham, who represents Ward 1, in the city’s core along 14th Street north of downtown.

Despite all this, the Georgetown fiasco may not render DC store-less, the author claims. His argument is that "every 'big city' has one."

Softpedia take: Business is business. We can see DC getting its store one way or another. Our argument? There's no rolling your eyes when there's money to be had, even if your name is Apple.