Two ways to give our sprawling suburbs a glow up

Lots of people want urban amenities, but because dense and walkable neighborhoods are in short supply, many can only afford to live in the suburbs. The result is sprawling communities that in the Washington region are increasingly inhabited by socioeconomically and ethnically diverse populations from all walks of life—families, singles, and retirees. Many of these new suburban residents want the benefits of walkable urban areas but are simply priced out of the core city.

We can’t change the original design of suburban neighborhoods, but we can retrofit suburbs to better serve the people who live and work in them. Places like aging office parks and shopping centers can be transformed into mixed-use, high-density environments that meet the demand for affordable homes in walkable communities, while achieving our climate goals by reducing the need for driving.

There are two key ways to do this: through private development and public policy. This post explores the role that public agencies can play in encouraging both.

Path 1: Private Developers Lead the Charge

There are times when it pays for private developers to lead the process of retrofitting suburban places. This typically happens when one or a few large parcels of land, such as shopping malls or warehouses, are under single or simple ownership and located close to major destinations such as established activity centers, transit stations, or universities. In these situations, developing walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods in suburban areas is just a smart business decision.

In this scenario, the role of public agencies is more regulatory. Public agencies (such as the relevant planning department, planning commission, city/county council, and public works department) respond to applications submitted by private developers and ensure that the proposals align with the jurisdiction’s goals, approved plans, policies, and standards.

Even when private developers lead the way, public officials have a big role to play. Large-scale projects typically require significant public agency support through the review and approvals process, including rezoning, zoning variances, and public subsidies, and staff at public agencies can serve as critical partners in these steps.

What specific steps can a public agency take to support a privately driven retrofit?

Public agencies have three key tools for ensuring that private developers are successful with their retrofit efforts:

The first is to ensure that the developer and the jurisdiction share the same goals. Make sure private developers are aware of discussions that have happened before, and that they know how their projects fit into existing master plans for the area. When the goals of the development project align with agency goals, developers and agencies become equal partners in implementing the vision.

The second is to support private developers through the entitlements process. Once goals are aligned, an agency can accelerate implementation of the project through expedited permitting and approvals, rezoning support, public infrastructure access, and other details.

Finally, public agencies should stay involved with the community throughout the process. Even though the private developer is leading the charge, an agency should take an active role in community engagement and attend public meetings to understand resident sentiment and demonstrate commitment to aligning the project with community goals. Similarly, agency staff should ensure that the implementation of projects and public amenities are being built up to standard.

Pike & Rose in North Bethesda is an example of this model at work

A local example of a successful retrofit that was privately developed is Pike & Rose in Montgomery County, a block away from the North Bethesda metro station. Pike & Rose, which implemented part of the larger vision established by Montgomery County through the 2010 White Flint Sector Plan, is comprised of 864 residential units, a hotel, office space, and retail space with shops including L.L. Bean, REI, and Sur La Table. The developer is Federal Realty Investment Trust, who also developed San Jose, CA’s Santana Row and Somerville, Massachusetts’s Assembly Row.

Pike & Rose aligns with the larger goals of Montgomery County, which according to a Washington Post story on Pike & Rose, has allocated $150 million for infrastructure improvements in the area. The County’s plan is to have as many as 20,000 residents in the central business district, a district that just a few years ago, had no residents at all.

Pike & Rose was not an overnight project—Chris Weilminster, president of the mixed-use division at Federal Realty, said they began repositioning the properties in the 1990s. But since the development opened in 2014, the space has been transforming rapidly. Federal Realty has leased office and retail space to a variety of businesses—a food hall, restaurants and shops, tech companies, and even a rooftop farm.

Apart from the private development, public agencies are continuing to support the development of Pike & Rose and the larger White Flint and North Bethesda area. The County updated the Sector Plan for White Flint in 2018, and the Montgomery County Department of Transportation is now investing in multi-modal transportation infrastructure by building out the street grid, adding new shared use paths and bicycle facilities, and planning for two Bus Rapid Transit projects in the area.

Path 2: Public Agencies Take the Reins

It can also make sense for public agencies to take the lead in developing the vision for retrofitting a suburban place. This is typically the case with older suburban activity centers or commercial corridors with fragmented ownership, where it’s simply too complicated for a private developer to make a move. This can also happen in areas targeted for redevelopment in jurisdiction plans, or areas where there’s a high demand for walkability but where private investment isn’t likely.

In these cases, a public agency has to develop a land use and urban design vision, put it through a public process, and get elected officials to adopt and approve of it. The goal of this kind of vision plan is to encourage private developers to come on board by showing them that there is both public support and investment money for the project.

How can a public agency ensure its retrofit effort succeeds?

Publicly driven suburban retrofits can be a long and complex process. Here are three ways that agencies garner support to reach a successful outcome:

First, it’s important for an agency to back up the vision with investment. Public agencies may need to put money into public infrastructure—such as transit, streets, trails, district-wide parking, libraries, or parks—before private development will follow. Sometimes even this is not enough, and agencies may also need to rely on what are known as Community Redevelopment Agencies to buy vacant or underutilized parcels, put them together, and sell them to private developers to further incentivize them.

Second, it helps to actively recruit developers. Many agencies have a community development department or economic development arm which, with retrofits where agencies are taking the lead, may need to recruit developers, employers, or institutions to invest once the plan is in place and initial investments are made. For example, if agency staff know of a company looking for its next office or campus expansion location, it can entice the business them through property tax breaks or rezoning support.

Finally, this approach requires public agencies to take community engagement seriously. In the first model, the notion that the area needs to be redeveloped has already been vetted; in this scenario, you’re dealing with new ideas that will need community support and input. Substantial community engagement is needed to understand community needs and preferences before plans go to planning commissions and city/county councils for adoption.

Baltimore Avenue in College Park is an example of this model at work

Just a few years ago, Baltimore Avenue in College Park, Maryland, was home to a disparate collection of under-utilized commercial properties and vacant buildings. Now, it’s midway through a stark transformation, including a hotel, apartments, and student housing buildings, and the University of Maryland’s Brendan Iribe Center for Computer Science and Engineering. More developments are on the way, including additional mixed-use housing developments and a new city hall.

This development is the result of the Central US 1 Corridor Sector Plan, published in 2010 by Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) and the Prince George’s County Planning Department, and approved by the Prince George’s County Council. The goal of this plan was to implement development that is compact, mixed-use, and pedestrian- and transit-friendly.

In order to execute the plan’s vision, a new mixed-use zone called the Mixed-Use Infill (MUI) Zone was created, recommending improvements to the streetscape, pedestrian and bicycle facilities, vehicular mobility, transit, and residential and commercial developments to create a stronger sense of place along Baltimore Avenue. The plan also identified seven specific high-density nodes that provided optimal conditions for redevelopment due to larger parcels, vacant properties, concentration of ownership, or transportation networks, and proposed a plan for each one.

Although significant redevelopment activity has occurred along Baltimore Avenue through College Park and Hyattsville, many gaps remain. Because of the fragmented parcel sizes and ownership fronting such corridors, the implementation process can take decades (and, in some cases, may never be fully realized). Nevertheless, once a critical mass of projects come online, the corridor begins to transform from functioning predominantly as an auto-oriented suburban arterial road into a more urban mixed-use, multi-modal street.

What does the future hold for our region’s pockets of suburbia?

As the Washington region’s population and job offerings continue to grow and demand for affordable housing continues to rise, suburban retrofitting gives us an opportunity to create desirable places out of underutilized properties, undeveloped pieces of land, parking lots, and aging commercial strips.

Next time you drive (or bike or walk!) by Pike & Rose, Baltimore Avenue, or any of our region’s other stand-out retrofits such as Fairfax Corner, Potomac Yard, or Rockville Town Center, take a moment to appreciate what went into making it happen. Behind these great projects are public agencies that took the initiative to turn a sprawling strip into a mixture of modern-day amenities that bring the benefits of urban spaces out to suburbia.