Construction cranes in the distance hover over Florida Market, presaging change

Construction cranes in the distance hover over Florida Market, presaging change
Originally uploaded by rllayman

Location, location, location. The Florida Market is 24 acres of land at the intersection of Florida and New York Avenues, and close to the New York Avenue/Florida Avenue Metro Station. So developers salivate over rebuilding it.

But if you talk to the business owners who are there, it's all about location too, and their ability to serve customers relatively inexpensively. I talked to one business owner--wholesale only--after the tour on Saturday and he said "Most of my customers are in DC, not Virginia and Maryland. And because they are so close, I'll deliver one case of tomatoes to them when they are in a pinch. I am not going to do that for a customer in Manassas."

The fact is that DC businesses--restaurants, hotels, caterers, and institutional food service clients--will need to get their products from somewhere, whether or not favored-connected developers redevelop their land out from under their suppliers.