We’re as excited about the convenience of the new Columbia Heights Target as anyone, but we’ve also been interested to read some of the blowback to Washington Post reporter Paul Schwartzman’s gushing piece from Tuesday about the shiny new DCUSA retail development and how it’s leading to a renaissance in the neighborhood. The Washington City Paper sees Schwartzman as wearing rose-colored glasses and painting every new project he comes across as another “renaissance” for a given neighborhood. Campus Progress also chimed in with a more in-depth reaction that calls out the reporter for falling prey to the breathless language of real estate developers and largely ignoring the other outcomes of gentrification in Columbia Heights.

This week’s evidence does suggest that it might be a little early to call the new development the end-all, be-all of fixing Columbia Heights’ problems. NBC4 ran a story last night on a rash of violent crime within blocks of the new store this week. On Wednesday night, someone was shot in the leg three blocks away, and on Monday alone, the blocks around the new development saw five robberies and assaults within hours of one another. This morning, there were reports of more robberies at the Columbia Heights Metro station on a popular Columbia Heights email list:

Peter: Yesterday afternoon at 4:55 p.m., I was mugged at gunpoint by two teenagers on the down escalator entering the Columbia Heights Metro station. The Metro station manager was very helpful, and transit police arrived on the scene within minutes and were also very helpful and professional in their response. It seems there have been a few similar robberies in recent days, though not necessarily in the Metro, so I just wanted to alert the neighborhood to be on guard.

Richard: A friend of mine was also robbed at gunpoint on the down escalator to Columbia Heights Metro on the Southwest entrance off of 14th street around 11pm.
Sounds like the same person from 5pm was still in business 6 hours later.
A $1B investment in a shopping center…and it’s going to end up like Cityplace back in the 90’s if we don’t get a handle on the crime around here.

The MPD told NBC4 they were deploying extra patrols and undercover officers around the new complex as an immediate response to the rash of crimes.

Photo by Sommer Mathis