Trader Joe’s on the way to U Street area and Harris Teeter could follow

Developers are quickly building new apartments in the Districts U Street neighborhood, and now grocery stores are following.

Executives at the JBG Cos., one of the regions largest real estate developers, said they plan to open a Trader Joes grocery store in an apartment building under construction on 14th Street NW, just south of U Street next year.

A few blocks northeast of that project, JBG and its retail arm, JBG Rosenfeld, have lined up a commitment from another grocer, Harris Teeter, but it will require winning the rights to some city-owned property on Sherman Avenue.

Last year JBG and a partner, Walton Street Capital, acquired three former Atlantic Plumbing Supply properties near the intersection of Sherman Avenue NW, Florida Avenue NW and V Street NW, after a previous development there petered out and its owner ran into difficult debt obligations.

Harris Teeter has signed a letter of intent to open a store there as part of a retail and residential development, said Grant Ehat, principal at JBG Rosenfeld. But to make the deal work, he said JBG will have to acquire a 1.5-acre lot next door that the city plans to offer to private developers in a request for proposals later this year.

Weve negotiated a letter of intent and we have a deal that were willing to make, but to do it we need to win the RFP, Ehat said.

Vincent C. Grays economic development office is expected to issue a solicitation for the Sherman Avenue property this fall. Ehat said he hoped that JBG would have a leg up on competition because its ownership of the Atlantic Plumbing property would allow the extension of W Street east through the site.

We are responding to that RFP. We want to win it. We also think well be competitive in this process because of what we can deliver to the city, which is something they want, is the extension of W Street, he said.

A spokesman for the District declined to comment, citing a policy against speculating on potential partners.

Students and neighbors of Howard University have long pined for a grocery store to serve the area, but the schools efforts to develop something called Howard Town Center have repeatedly collapsed.

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Trader Joe’s on the way to U Street area and Harris Teeter could follow