“Attention local urban sophisticates! You will not be able to visit an Apple Store in the District of Columbia anytime soon!” Mike DeBonis blogs for Washinton City Paper
“That scoop comes courtesy of the underappreciated, under-Webbed Current newspapers, which explained in last week’s editions that plans for the District’s first Apple Store are held up in a thicket of regulatory approvals, from the Georgetown advisory neighborhood commission and the Old Georgetown Board,” DeBonis reports.
“Earlier this month, both bodies rejected Apple’s design—the third the company had submitted for the property at 1229 Wisconsin Ave. NW, a Georgetown storefront the company has owned for more than a year—because, as the Current’s Carol Buckley puts it, it ‘would not fit into Georgetown,'” DeBonis reports.
“The Current describes said design as such: “a glass first story with a solid stone upper facade punctuated by a large window shaped like Apple’s logo.” The Old Georgetown Board, charged with preserving historic preservation standards, ‘felt that the design turned the building into a billboard,’ according to a spokesperson. The ANC, charged with being parochial nitwits, raised concerns that the latest design was ‘too modern,'” DeBonis reports.
Full article here.
Good, D.C. doesn’t deserve an Apple Store.
As a DC resident who lives in Georgetown I am again disappointed with the DC government. This sucks. There are NO Apple stores in the District.
D.C. only gives approval for projects involving free money for really bad baseball teams from Montreal owned by billionaires, haven’t you heard?
A country with 233 year history worried about preserving historical buildings. If it was Chichenitza, Giza or a Roman aqueduct we are talking about, I would be worried but a 180 year old building, if that, has little historical value. Maybe if we wait 5000 more years.
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Ehh, the Pentagon City, Clarendon, and Bethesda stores are all on the subway. Georgetown isn’t. Once again D.C. shows why the suburbs are the real cities.
Sarasota writes, “Good, D.C. doesn’t deserve an Apple Store.” Well, nuts to you! Not only do we deserve such a store, but it would benefit Apple’s penetration here.
When I first heard of plans for that Georgetown store, I wondered WTF! Georgetown is perhaps the *worst* place to put such a store. There’s no Metro to Georgetown, parking is sparse, and there’s little beyond small shops and clubs. The only location in that neighborhood that makes any sense is the Georgetown Mall, which at least has indoor parking (though traffic to reach it flows like molasses).
A better location would be downtown, near Metro Center or Gallery Place. Lots of people with discretionary income (attorneys, lobbyists, government officials, foundation types), lots of post-university types in easy walking distance, foot traffic even into evening hours. Walk out on your lunch break, come back with new Apple kit. And no problem with “historic preservation” types.
Sarasota should look deep inside his/her miserable soul before passing judgment on an entire metro area.
Too many robberies in D.C. anyway. Public schools cost more than anywhere else in the US and graduate the least. Pray it never becomes a state. Corrupt government leaking our tax dollars.
No sense in acquiring any Apple products if you can’t keep them.
Get a handgun first, and say to hell with that piece of crap mayor.
to a point I agree….I have also seen lots of junkie buildings kept in place because they are historic….there is something to be said for looking to the FUTURE!!!
Oh well. And here I was hoping for some more photo ops of politicians with Apple products.
If you go to the original Current newspapers article (the one cited by the MDN linked article), the locals approve of this denial.
Apple logo shaped windows? Puh-leeze! Apple has more class than that.
Maybe if we wait 5000 more years.
Considering someone’s gonna have to monitor our nuclear waste for the next 10,000 years or so, they might as well keep tabs on our historic places.
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@Ron and Shame-
You must not be residents of the District – your ignorance of even the simplest facts are evidence of this. What year are you living in? We’ve elected 2 fantastic mayors since Barry’s reign and the crime rate has gone down. And talk about cities spending money on stadiums – wake up. It happens – and will happen – in any major city that has a team. Why would you wish for ANY city to NOT have an Apple Store? True, I go to Clarendon or Pentahon City, but G’twn is often convenient for a lot of us locals – especially during business hours. And G’twn is a tourist hotspot and would bring some nice scratch to Apple’s coffers.
I have to agree with Georgetown on this one. I’m one of those keep-it-historic types and if Apple can’t fall in line with that, then they better go find some other venue in DC. Apple should be able to appease with a good clean yet historic design.
Britney’s Pregnant Sister, You wrote nothing about the crap schools and the cost of same. Pathetic. Washington D.C. is the armpit of the USA.
Oh well. I guess DC residents will have to travel an whole mile and half across the Potomac to Clarendon or down to Pentagon City. Both very Metro-accessible unlike Georgetown.
And ironically(?) the CAPTCHA word on this post is “distance”.
I have heard, however, that since Barrack and company are taking over DC, Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles will be opening a local franchise!
Georgetown doesn’t deserve an Apple Store if this is how they’re going to treat Apple. Apple would be much better off putting a store in Dupont Circle/Gallery Place/Penn Quarter/Metro Center than Georgetown.
What a shame…
I’m sorry, . . . I have to go with Georgetown on this one. Preserving historic neighborhoods is a much under-appreciated need for this country. And shame on you dopes who don’t know that Georgetown is one of the oldest in the nation. It ranks with Boston, Philadelphia, Williamsburg, Nantucket and Annapolis, for eighteenth century homes and buildings.
And correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t the first Apple Store the Clarendon location?
Oh, . . . and I forgot to add that I’m a Baltimorean, and Baltimoreans generally have little love lost for the District, . . . but I still have to agree with them on this location. And even Baltimore doesn’t have a store in the city. However, I have at least five stores within an hour’s drive, including the Clarendon store. . . . I was standing in line when it opened.
I believe Apple should trade this location for one in an actual business-centered neighborhood. It’s very true that Georgetown is a very difficult area to find parking.
@ron
Which city – that’s not supported by a state – has public schools worth writing home about? And DC has world-class private and pioneering charter schools. Armpit of America? That’s what people do who don’t understand what they’re mouthing off about say about anything they know nothing about – spew sensationalistic garbage. Just because others live in places the rest of re country – let alone world – will ever here about they shouldn’t try to take it out on us. Go plan on trapping that troublesome possum – we’ll get on with the business of bringing freedom and democracy to the rest of the world (LOL)!
@ron
Hey, calling Washington, DC the armpit of America is an insult to us New Jerseyans. Get it right!
MW: Plan — as in, I plan to wake up and smell the fresh air tomorrow morning
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The microsoft shop would fit right in
They just need to redesign the store to be “Ye Olde Apple Shoppe” and put the Geniuses in powdered wigs and dress the Concierge like a footman and the plan should sail right through.