An example of careful historic preservation
UPDATE:
Andrew just took this pic (on his way out of the Metro, of course) of the Cleveland Park Walgreen’s:
Walgreen's being the good urban neighbor
My friend Andrew Aurbach, who has served on Washington, DC’s Historic Preservation Review Board, sent me a link to a blog that discusses Walgreen’s moving into a restored restaurant in historic Cleveland Park (rendering shown above), as well as a neighborhood protest surrounding a new Walgreen’s proposed for the Van Ness neighborhood (below).
Similar to Birmingham, both Walgreen’s projects in DC are within a stone’s throw of existing CVS Pharmacies.
The neighbors don't like it
[thanks to DCMud for the renderings]
Bhamarchitect's Blog 
I LOVE the DCmud blog– I check it regularly.
The Van Ness project is near my parents’. It would take the place of their usual gas station– which, in my opinion, is more useful to the neighborhood than having 2 drugstores within feet of each other.
It has become a joke– if a spot opens up, will it become a bank or a drugstore. Way too many of both.
There are two spots in DC where CVS went in where movie theaters had been located. One was in the Palisades and the other in Georgetown. What did you think of those as historic preservation?
Yes–it’s a great blog. Is the Georgetown CVS where the old Georgetown Theatre was on Wisconsin? I’m not familiar with the Palisades theatre location. You are right about a bank or drugstore on every corner–same thing has happened across Manhattan. I’m all for competition, but really.
I understand people’s preservation concerns but the other side of this issue is offering options to people that live in/near that area as far as pharmacies. We are not happy with CVS and would love to have a choice that is also convenient. Even better than a pharmacy would be a grocery store!!!
mgj–absolutely. The CVS could use some competition. With all the available property in the immediate vicinity, it’s just hard for the neighborhood to get excited that one of the few historic structures that side of Clairmont Avenue has been selected as the site. As to groceries, you’ve got Piggly Wiggly right there by CVS, and V Richard’s about 8 blocks further up Clairmont–not too shabby.
The Gtown CVS is where the Biograph used to be.
The Palisades one was the MacArthur.
Ah, right. I’ll have to check both of those out and get back to you. I remember seeing movies at the Macarthur, I think.
Hey Jeremy –
Great post, as always.
What is your email address?
I wanted to contact you about the possibility of a form based code in Birmingham.
Amos –
Hey, thanks. Always enjoy your site as well. You can contact me at jce@erdreicharchitecture.com
Jeremy