Outlet Mall Coming to National Harbor
Tanger Outlets at National Harbor could open as early as next summer.
Local shoppers could soon have another alternative to the Leesburg and Potomac Mills outlets.
Tanger Outlets at National Harbor will be the first discount shopping destination inside the Beltway, the Washington Examiner reports.
The Prince George's County planning board approved a site plan for the outlet mall on Jan. 12, according to the Washington Examiner. The joint venture between Tanger Factory Outlet Centers, Inc. and The Peterson Companies will cost $100 million, reports Local Kicks.
If full approval is gained from the Planning Board and the county's District Council by June, the outlets could be open by summer 2013, Taylor Chess, senior vice president of retail for The Peterson Companies told the Washington Examiner.
Steven B. Tanger, the president and CEO of Tanger Outlet Centers, told Local Kicks NoVa the opportunity to build a Tanger Outlet Center at National Harbor was "extremely compelling," as it "affords us the chance to build a metro-specific, next-generation outlet shopping center in this beautiful location."
"National Harbor not only has high visibility and easy access to major highways, it is also minutes away from three international area airports. We believe that our newest outlet shopping center will attract both domestic and international tourists visiting Washington, DC, along with the residents of Maryland, Virginia and DC,” Tanger told Local Kicks.
National Harbor is about a 15 minute drive from the Mount Vernon area. The proposed outlet mall will have 85 designer stores and 1,600 parking spaces, WJLA reported.
Tanger Outlets has 30 malls across the country.
Martin Tillett
12:33 pm on Saturday, January 21, 2012
Let's see,16,000 parking spaces each averaging 300 sq. ft. of impermeable surface at 168 gallon of storm water runoff per parking space during a 1 inch rain event = 2, 688,000 gallons of water entering the watershed contaminated with a wide range of petrochemical poisons. DC area rainfall average for 2000 - 2009 is 42.5 inches = 114,240,000 gallons of polluted storm water entering the watershed annually. Water quality report card for Potomac River last year was a D. I hope the public officials, land development corporations and the I need another place to shop citizenry take the credit when the Potomac River gets an F grade.
Beth Jarvis
2:18 pm on Saturday, January 21, 2012
Yikes, suddenly that new bag from Nordstrom's Rack isn't sounding quite as appealing. Hadn't really thought about it from this perspective, Martin. Thanks for the enlightenment.
bonnie bick
3:15 pm on Saturday, January 21, 2012
Martin is correct ! Water pollution issues are being swept under the rug.
Also, the article did not mention that the forested site needs to have its historic designation removed
in order to proceed. The present site is on a residential road directly across from a Prince George's County
owned National Register site. Just imagine what this would do to the historic character of the area and the
value of the homes in the residential communities.
The Tanger outlet mall would be better located 1/2 a mile away in downtown Oxon Hill where the same National Harbor developer owns commercial property. There are two Capital Beltway entrances to handle the high volume of traffic that would be generated. Introduction of modern storm water management could improve water quality. Redevelopment in these existing shopping centers would bring welcome investment to an area that greatly needs revitalization.
Martin Tillett
4:23 pm on Saturday, January 21, 2012
New development in MD & VA have to meet stricter storm water standards than development did 30 or 50 years ago. retrofitting the archaic existing commercial centers and residential neighborhoods to current standards is more costly and time consuming than new development. While new development pollutes less, older development pollutes at the same old rate that gives the river water quality ratings of D. Corporate developers are leery of revitalizing older retail & commercial sites worrying about their bottom line.
Wal-Mart corporation came to my neighborhood on Richmond Hwy. opposite National Harbor in VA. The developer for the project built the Wal-Mart store on the existing footprint of the old shopping center site and as a by right development, they were not required to hold a public hearing or do any infrastructural improvements including storm water to a site built in the late 60's with water from the site entering the watershed with zero treatment. Every rain event results in hundreds of thousands of gallons of polluted water entering Hunting Creek and the Potomac.How about them neighbors?
Citizens ask public officials to help them with community & environmental restoration but seem loathe to help constituents and too quick to pander to developer interests. The same old line gets trotted out about more jobs and more revenues but reality is just a transfer of jobs and revenue to newly constructed development while leaving older areas to decline and decay.
Michael Stallings
10:32 am on Tuesday, January 24, 2012
The historical designation has been removed from the site on January 4th, 2012. So that is no longer an issue. What they do have to do is remove any artifacts that may remain and submit them to the Maryland Preservation Society. Although relocating it to downtown Oxon Hill is a consideration, the reality is that location has been identified as a transit center for the area. That said road improvements and the construction of a LRT would have to occur prior to redevelopment of any land. No developer or business would make that type of investment until infrastructure improvements are completed to ensure they do not incur duplicate cost for whatever improvements that may be in their pipeline. Since the state have not identified that as something that will occur in the next few years, that site is ruled out at this time. As for the residential road that it will reside on, SHA has already stated that they will begin widening a part of that road from that location to Fort Foote Road. The county originally wanted make it a 4 lane road but residents on that road protested and that was the compromise. The unfortunate thing about that is even if the Harbor or the proposed outlet didn't exist, that road still needs to be updated to meet the capacity of the current commuters using it. Since those that protested didn't want it any wider, they will needed to live with the consequences of being in a dense metro area.
Leslie Combemale
1:10 pm on Sunday, January 22, 2012
All the talk about pollution aside, whatever happened to classing up the waterfront? I'm with Martin anyway, but even putting aside all the environmental concerns and pandering to the almighty dollar, that's the best they can do??....it all has the (not surprising) decided whiff of desperation on the part of the National Harbor
developers...
Martin Tillett
1:51 pm on Sunday, January 22, 2012
With all due respect Leslie, why not class up Richmond Highway from the beltway to Fort Belvoir or downtown Oxon Hill? These areas need revitalization and redevelopment and doing so does not require new roads or the taking of dwindling natural resources. Elected officials should be on the side of their constituents on these development issues and should require a social contract with development corporations to bring more community serving amenities into their development proposals. No one is against them making a profit and bringing jobs and revenue but doing so does not free them of a moral and ethical responsibility to work with surrounding communities. Citizens, through taxes, fund a large portion of the costs for roads and infrastructure that gets customers and the merchandise they sell to their development. National Harbor planners included many community serving amenities for this project. Bike trails, waterfront piers, public squares etc. Such amenities are missing from the older surrounding communities. WHY?
National Harbor will grow and prosper and the other planned projects will in time come to the venue. Already, efforts in the MD legislature are focused on finding a way to permit gambling at National Harbor. Older development and their surrounding communities are equally deserving of some "classing up".
Leslie Combemale
2:19 pm on Sunday, January 22, 2012
oh, i'm not singling out NH as being unique or worthy in the "classing up" department, but when the project started outlets malls where the last thing they were talking about. you are exactly right about other locations that could benefit mightily having that outlet. but there was NOTHING there when NH started.
I'm learning from your statistics--so, what is your answer to all of this? do you have one? or any suggestions?
Martin Tillett
4:04 pm on Sunday, January 22, 2012
Revitalizing older areas is a good direction and the development and business community will more easily win broad public support by integrating into their planned development some community serving aspects that will increase customer use. The entire region is running out of the land resources required to meet the increasing pressure of a growing population that wants more recreational opportunities.
Why can't courts for basketball, tennis, handball, or fields for soccer, football, field hockey, baseball, skating rinks, skate parks or water parks be a component of commercial and retail development? Such uses can be commercially operated with parents leaving off children for scheduled lessons and events while coordinating their errands and shopping needs.
How about constructed natural areas integrated into the same sites utilizing storm water to construct water features that create a more aesthetically appealing site where people could enjoy a jog, a walk or a spot to enjoy a meal from a local business? How about an off leash dog park on the top deck of a parking garage where shoppers can leave fido in the care of a business that operates the service while the pet owner runs errands and shops? Why not establish widespread goodwill by utilizing the tremendous square footage of commercial rooftops into solar farm co-ops and selling cut rate electricity to their renters and to local neighborhoods to cut our demand for polluting fossil fuels? (continued next comment box)
Martin Tillett
4:10 pm on Sunday, January 22, 2012
The idea that such amenities will hurt the corporate bottom line is BS. Such projects exist in other countries. I saw several such examples in Sweden this past summer. Sweden has no economic crisis and their GDP is between 7- 8%. The developers know up front what they must do to gain community approval and there is no shortage of applications for development. The citizens are in the drivers seat supported by their local governing administrations to provide oversight. We have it backwards in the US with the developers dictating conditions and using government officials to mediate and thwart public demands.
All you hear in the Presidential campaign is that America doesn't want a European style democracy. Well, I guess not if the current circumstance favors the corporate captains and their profit margins. Sweden has a 1% class like the US but the remaining 99% in Sweden are getting a fair break in the deal They have clean water, protected landscapes and resources, free health care, free childcare, free education and college and a multitude of social services while also being a prosperous economy. Germany, Norway, the Netherlands and other European democracies are doing well like Sweden. I've seen it and it is true. Politicians in the US continue to do a disservice to the people that elect them by clinging to a democracy style that favors corporate meddling in the electoral process creating leadership that owes its allegiance to corporate masters and not the common voter.