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DC’s Union Station Is Witnessing A Retail Revival

Two years after Starbucks closed its doors at Union Station in Washington, DC, citing concerns about public safety, the company is plotting its return to the city’s transit hub.

Starbucks expects to begin building out its store there this month, according to Rexmark, the New York–based real estate investment manager and current retail landlord for the site. A spokesperson for Starbucks confirmed the store is aiming for a September opening. Rexmark is citing the return of the coffee giant and others as evidence of a change of fortunes since the company took over retail at Union Station two years ago.

“We had to do a lot of things to improve the station. It takes time to change people’s impression of a property,” says Michael Rebibo, founder and managing principal at Rexmark. “It doesn’t happen overnight.”

Now Rexmark is taking its report of the station’s renaissance to court: The company says it has has filed an appeal to the eminent domain decision that will otherwise pass control over retail operations directly to Amtrak.

On July 5, Union Station Investco, a Rexmark affiliate, filed a motion for a stay pending appeal to halt the looming transfer of the retail leasehold. That handover is supposed to occur July 15, following a decision by a federal court in April to grant Amtrak’s claim of eminent domain.

“No one is expecting Amtrak to step out of their core business, which is managing trains, operating trains, to redevelop real estate,” Rebibo says. “That’s been the case for 40 years.”

Read more here from Bloomberg. 

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