Flickr: Ron Dauphin

Check out this story, “Walmart’s Fifth D.C. Location: Skyland?” from Lydia DePillis at the City Paper:

Speaking on his home turf Saturday, as Veronica Davis reports, Mayor Vince Gray dropped some not-terribly-surprising news: It appears that Target has bailed as a prospective anchor tenant at the still-unbuilt Skyland Town Center, and Walmart has sent the developers a letter of interest in locating there instead. Even if Gray is able to nudge forward the litigation that has kept Skyland in a deep freeze for years, the Rappaport Companies need a big box to take the 129,000-square-foot space–and if Target’s not interested, that doesn’t bode well for other retailers (there’s already a Safeway across the street).

A Rappaport spokeswoman confirms that they are in “preliminary discussions” with Walmart.

If the deal goes through, what would that mean for Walmart’s intentions to locate at its first proposed Ward 7 location, at Capitol Gateway on East Capitol and Southern Avenue? Almost certainly nothing–they’re far enough away that both could survive. Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander hadn’t heard about the company’s intentions for Skyland, but does understand that their ambitions aren’t limited.