Fox is moving on up so a retailer can come to Chevy Chase
Caller Enterprises just bought 60 percent of Chevy Chase Plaza, but the changes Steve and Bret Caller are planning might make a 100 percent difference in the business climate at East High Street and Euclid Avenue.
The Callers paid $3.2 million for the first, second and third floors of the five-story building, plus the 200-space parking garage. Floors four and five are condos owned by private buyers or Chevy Chase Plaza LLC.
The plan, says Steve Caller, is to move the office-type businesses now on the ground floor to the second and third floors so retailers can move in. One of the first-floor tenants that will be moving upstairs is WDKY-TV Fox 56.
No new retailers have been signed –”We have only owned the building a few days now,” Caller said – but likely candidates are restaurants, a book store and “anything Chevy Chase doesn’t have now.”
The purchase probably gives the Callers the distinction, if they didn’t have it already, of being the largest property owners in the relatively small Chevy Chase business area where their offices are located.
Their other holdings include Ashland Plaza and Saratoga Center on the block across Euclid Avenue from Chevy Chase Plaza.
“We are committed to Chevy Chase,” Caller says. “We put our money where our mouth is.”
By the way, Caller spends a lot of time in Florida where two of the largest industries — real estate and tourism — have been economically decimated.
The difference between Florida and the Bluegrass is “remarkable” and local residents may not appreciate their good fortune, he says.
“I’m sure it’s not great around here compared to the past, but compared to nationwide, I think Lexington is doing a lot better.”
February 19th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
I would love to see them entice the Morris Book Shop to moving (or better yet) opening up a second location in Chevy Chase. Great store and the location could do big business for them!