Vornado, You Need New Mojo, and Fast

 INSIDE THE MOSTLY EMPTY GEORGETOWN PARK MALL

The dreary saga of the Georgetown Park Mall rolls on, with weekly, and sometimes daily updates on its supposed future path. I don't have any inside track of information. I read and hear the same things as everyone else, but based on that, and based on a long background as a journalist, I feel on firm footing stating that Vornado needs new mojo. If they believe they are successfully communicating with Washington, helping us to get to know them, helping us to understand their goals, they are delusional. So far it is a communications fail.

Vornado is the property manager for the mall, representing owners Angelo, Gordon & Co. This puts Vornado out in front.

The latest spate of bad press, yesterday and today, focuses on the way they are treating tenants. Now, maybe they are adhering to the letter of the law in myriad leases, but it's coming across as hapless shop owners getting tossed in the street by big bad Vornado and Angelo, Gordon, whose executives appear for all intents and purposes like characters who morphed "Transformers" with "Goodfellas." There's not been a single favorable piece of media about these companies, at least not that I've seen. 

What makes Georgetown hyper sensitive on this subject is a prevailing feeling that the community's commercial corridor no longer belongs to the community, but to suited up, anonymous money grubbers who live in other cities. The developers of yore, people like Anthony Lanier and Herb Miller, lived in the community and spread lots and lots and lots of money around to good causes, and showed up at all the fundraisers, all the pet projects of the Citizens Association of Georgetown, etc., hosted some of them at their homes, and focused on continuous outreach. Apparently this is not Vornado's method, even though they have a Washington "division." They appear to operate behind a phalanx of lawyers, when what they need are relationship counselors and good crisis communications advice. If not "boots on the ground," at least good "PR on the ground."

Yesterday's and today's Vornado news has been faithfully reported on The Georgetown Metropolitan - a good source for tracking this story - and I consider both items as laughs of the day, especially yesterday's that included this choice bit: Vornado is “working closely with local agencies and community groups on a plan [for the Georgetown Park mall] that reinvigorates the neighborhood.” As a boardmember of one of those community groups, GM can say that’s simply not true.

I believe GM.

Bottom line is that most people in Georgetown, and beyond our borders, would like to see something positive happen with Georgetown Park. It has been a community burden for years, operating successfully only for a very short time at the beginning. While personally I'd like to see it torn down and replaced by a community square, a village center, I know that's unrealistic and won't happen. I'm not keen about the space being overtaken by down-market discount and big box stores. My reasons aren't cultural but because the core customers for those stores won't come to Georgetown to do bulk shopping. You need a car to shop big box and the parking tickets in Georgetown are a plague. So, unless Vornado can co-opt Parking Enforcement, that big box customer gets scared away at the outset.

Also, big box is a 20th century solution to a 21st century problem (which is, psssst, the malls are dying).

UPDATE ON 9/14 ON GEORGETOWN METROPOLITAN: GM heard some rumors about the mall: Target is pulling out, and now Vornado is targeting Lord & Taylor, Nordstrom’s, and/or Jeffrey’s. 

Vornado has a critical communications problem, which makes it appear that they have an inherent management and organization problem and, in the end, don't have any idea what they are doing here. They may consider themselves masters of the universe, but the Emperor thought he had new clothes, too. That's bad for Vornado and bad for Georgetown.