Skyland.

Skyland.



(Updated with comments from Councilmember Yvette Alexander.)

Wal-Mart announced today that it will not open two stores planned for D.C. as it closes 269 stores worldwide, more than half of them in the U.S. Now Skyland Town Center and Capitol Gateway projects will not include the big box retailer.

“As part of a broad, strategic review of our existing portfolio and pipeline, we’ve concluded opening two additional stores in Washington, D.C. is not viable at this time,” a Wal-Mart spokesman said. “Our experience over the last three years operating our current stores in D.C. has given us a fuller view on building and operating stores in the District. This decision will not affect our three existing stores and we look forward to continue serving these customers in the future.”

The planned Wal-Mart at Skyland Town Center—a priority for former D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray—was supposed to anchor the $265 million project. The changes put the major development in Ward 7 at risk.

When Wal-Mart threatened to cancel plans for three stores, including Skyland, over the Large Retailer Accountability Act, Gray vetoed the minimum wage bill and Wal-Mart said the plans would move forward. At the groundbreaking in March 2014, a Wal-Mart representative said the company was “pleased to be the anchor” of the shopping center, but a lease was not actually signed until December of 2014.

Mayor Muriel Bowser cleared another hurdle for the Skyland Town Center project last October. Her administration reached a deal to pay Safeway $3.6 million over four years to release the city from a restrictive covenant that limited nearby competition and could have prevented Walmart from coming in.

“With this agreement, we will bring much-needed amenities to an area that has long been underserved, put hundreds of District residents to work, and create more pathways to the middle class,” Bowser said at the time.

That agreement added to the nearly $60 million of city investments in the project, which include land acquisition, tenant relocation, property management, and legal fees.

“I am angry and I take this personally as I advocated to bring them to Ward 7. The District had a deal with Walmart to bring in five stores with two coming to Ward 7. They signed leases and now they have broken their deal,” Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander said in a statement. “This has racial and social-economic discrimination implications. This is a major setback but I am confident that the District will do everything possible to move forward with the projects.

D.C.’s first two Wal-Mart stores opened in December 2013. According to the big box retailer, 11,000 applications came in during the first week of hiring, and 68 percent of workers at D.C. stores are residents of the District.

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