The developers of the new DC USA shopping center in Columbia Heights are still looking for more high end retail, according to a Washington Business Journal article. DC USA, located at 14th and Irving NW, still has about 80,000 square feet of space to fill, which developers hope to fill partially with fancier fare than the Target, Marshalls and Best Buy already planned for the space.

Regular readers may recall that Columbia Heights residents complained about the prevalence of discount stores like Marshalls, which will open in a few months, and Ross Dress for Less, which is currently in talks, in the DC USA development on their neighborhood listserve. Ellwood Thompson’s, an organic grocery store based in Richmond, is also in talks to move in, and there have been rumors about sporting goods store REI, which the company denied to one Columbia Heights listserve user.

The Biz Journal article, part of which is available online without a subscription but which was posted in full on neighborhood listserves, says the developers originally tried to woo places like Nordstrom, Macy’s, Sears, Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, but didn’t have any luck, getting Target instead. The developers, Grid Properties, fired the leasing company, Newmark Knight Frank, after Newmark didn’t attract high end retailers.

Photo by Amber Wiley