ALL DEVELOPERS ARE

NOT CREATING EQUAL

I realize that I am often critical of developers on this website and in speeches I have given. Sometimes I hear from developers who disagree with my opinions. Some have asked if there are any development projects I like.

In fact, there are some projects I believe are outstanding. They include:

The Chevy Chase Bank and Newlands buildings in downtown Bethesda. B.F. Saul's former is pure Gotham; the latter is Art Deco meets Bethesda. I love how you can see the CCBB over here in west Bethesda, when the leaves are off the trees in winter. Both are big, tall, and glass (not brick) unlike so many unimaginative brick low-rises in downtown Bethesda. Also the Bethesda Metro Center.

As outlandishly rich as the Collection at Chevy Chase is in these tough economic times, as a project it is a phenomenal success. Notice that, to my knowledge, it has no vacant condo/mixed use features. It is just an upscale shopping and dining center. (There ought to be free parking, though).

Little Falls Mall (a.k.a. the shops at Sangamore Place) is the definitive blueprint for how you redo a strip mall the right way. It should not only be used as a model for the redevelopment of the Westwood Shopping Center, but for all of the strip malls targeted by developers along Rockville Pike. If W.C.&A.N. Miller's Sangamore Place is not award-winning, it ought to be. I almost can't believe it was rebuilt in such outstanding fashion in this time of mixed-use development excess. It is an understated triumph. (Free surface parking).

There are a lot of terrible projects in the works for Rockville Pike and downtown Bethesda. But I like what I've heard about the plans for Chevy Chase Lakes shopping center by the Chevy Chase Land Co. (who also did the Collection). And there was a fantastic plan being floated a few months ago for Langley Park. It was going to incorporate Spanish colonial architecture (which I love) and Latin American colonial plaza designs into a world-class redevelopment of the area.

So don't think that all developers and development are bad; just call it like it is, and when a dumb growth project is approved by Dr. Yes, I won't hesitate to hold our officials accountable on this website. And I will have positive comments when developers do the right thing. You just read them above.