<p><img class="small-cropped-image" src="https://cdn.andnowuknow.com/legacySmallCroppedImages/safeway_dc_june_2013_BODY00.jpg" alt="Images 061813" />Safeway is deep in the midst of a battle to cash in on the Washington, D.C. area boom.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><br/>Moving aggressively to keep its position in the market, Safeway is constructing two new stores with hundreds of apartments on top, and is planning to build or rebuild four stores beginning this year or the next in the next 18 months, according to the Washington Post.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Given the Safeway’s recent agreement to sell its Canadian operations to Sobeys for $5.68 billion dollars, the move may represent a strategic reallocation of capital to make it more competitive in the United States.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Safeway and its real estate arm, Property Development Centers, received a massive response after testing local developer interest in building housing above the new locations. A new Safeway in Wheaton, with 486 apartments on top, will be complete in October. The new Petworth store, with 220 apartments, will open next summer.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">“There’s a lot more choices than there were seven years ago, and the quality has certainly improved with the Harris Teeters and Whole Foods and the Wegmans,” said Tim Baker, Vice President of Real Estate at Safeway. “A lot of them, if you go back seven years, there were a lot fewer or none [in the area] back then.”<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> The company has also moved to close small and underperforming stores in the area to compete with other retailers including Giant Food, Harris Teeter and Whole Foods.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href=" http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/in-face-of-increased-competition-safeway-plans-expansion/2013/06/15/133e009c-d38c-11e2-a73e-826d299ff459_story.html "target="_new">Safeway Report</a></br/></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
