WASHINGTON 鈥� A pop-up vendors plaza will open May 17 at the Grosvenor鈥擲trathmore Metro station, and some of the vendor kiosks will be 鈥渟lices鈥� of a decommissioned Metro car.
聽is using part of the site of its future transit-oriented, mixed-use development at the Metro stop, currently a surface parking lot, for the plaza, with food stalls and other vendors, and it got its hands on one of Metro鈥檚 old 4000-series cars.
鈥淲e realized we wanted to test the ability to have a kind of incubator new retail at the site, and didn鈥檛 want it to be just some normal kiosk. We heard that a number of the old cars were being turned into scrap metal,” Fivesquares principal Ron Kaplan told 海角精品黑料. “And we thought [because] we are trying to be a very green development, what would be better than trying to re-purpose one of the Metro cars.”
鈥淲e reached out, and they loved the idea. I have artists and welders working on it right now trying to create reused kiosks out of the old Metro car,鈥� he said.
The 80,000-pound car was transported to a warehouse in Brockville, Maryland, where it is currently being deconstructed.
They will also repurpose other parts of the car for different features at the plaza. Fivesquares is working with reclaimed steel sculptor Robert Mojo of Rusted Rebels LLC.
鈥淚t turns out the undercarriage that none of us see is tons of material, from electric wires to condensers that everybody who looks at it says: 鈥榃ow, it鈥檚 incredible Metro keeps these running. These are complicated,鈥欌�� Kaplan said.
鈥淲e鈥檙e hoping to, at a minimum, be able to display some of those because they are almost like an art installation, and Strathmore Square is meant to be a music and art amenity-rich place,鈥� he said.
They also plan to reuse the seats as free-standing seating on the plaza.
A ribbon cutting at 3 p.m. on May 17 will open the vendors plaza.
In addition to vendors, there will be performances every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. featuring local high school bands and artists-in-residence from Strathmore.
This is a 聽for Metro to see if food stalls and other pop-up stores could work at other Metro station entrances. The Silver Line鈥檚 Wiehle鈥擱eston East station is also experimenting with pop-up shops.
