Earlier this month, Madison Retail Group announced that it had completed a lease for a Balducci's specialty food store in Downtown. "This is the first true grocer to open or even commit to a presence in Downtown in [more than] 20 years. There are a few specialty stores, but Balducci's provides full service and convenience that will help to complete this neighborhood as a 'great place to live and work' and be a solid asset for the Penn Quarter and all of Downtown," according to Eric Rubin, Partner, Madison Retail Group.

The company has committed to open a 21,000 square foot upscale supermarket in The Jefferson at Penn Quarter, a mixed-use project containing 428 residential condominiums and Woolly Mammoth Theatre's 250-seat performance space. It will be the first large-scale specialty food market to open in Downtown. The site includes 52 dedicated parking spaces for Balducci's which is slated to open in the late winter or early spring of 2006.

Madison Retail Group is noted for working with restaurateurs and retailers to bring new places and faces to Downtown DC, most recently Aveda Institute, Ann Taylor Loft, Washington Sports, Lucky Strike and Coup De Foudre, to name a few.
(Source:DowntownDC.org)