Stephen Alfandre of Toll Brothers City Living, which is currently building the Hampden Row luxury condos in downtown Bethesda, got it right. Alfandre argued "poor job growth in Montgomery is holding [attraction of millennials] back," according to Bisnow. His examples of locations where efforts have been more successful - Arlington County and DC's 14th Street - both share one thing in common: proximity to high-wage government, defense and government contracting jobs. If Montgomery County can add more of those type of jobs, it will provide the same draw for young professionals.
Rich Jordan of The JBG Companies identified another major draw - affordable housing. Although, one could argue, if there were enough new high-wage jobs, that would increase the spending power of millennials for housing. If you look where the studies show millennials are currently located in downtown Bethesda, they are clustered most in the Battery Lane and Bradley Boulevard corridors. With demolitions of several older apartment buildings already approved for Battery, that street will have a net loss in affordable units. We're hearing more and more rumors about redevelopment (a.k.a. demolition of existing housing) in the Bradley area, as well. Those ideas will have to be reversed, if Montgomery really is serious about retaining the millennials it has now, much less attracting new ones.
I give both of these guys credit for cutting through the nightlife/"vibrant places" baloney. Millennials vacation and party in Las Vegas, but they sure as heck aren't moving there like they are to DC, Rosslyn, Pentagon City, Clarendon, etc. to start their professional careers.
29 comments:
Where does dyer get his funding? Is he a communist spy set to infiltrate local government?
I wouldn't be surprised if I were you ...
Do you have any links to battery lane plans? Any news on timetable? Thanks!
Or blame that Bethesda is incredibly expensive while not exactly being a cool address for people not yet pushing strollers.
Let's just all agree to ignore idiotic comments that aren't relevant to the topic.
Dyer please be the better person and do not sink to this guy's level with an equally bad response. Show us you can rise above the fray.
"Or blame that Bethesda is incredibly expensive while not exactly being a cool address for people not yet pushing strollers."
Exactly. There's not a dearth of high paying jobs in and accessible to Bethesda. Of course it'd be nice to have even more jobs in Bethesda, but that's most definitely not its problem in attracting more Millennials.
Bethesda's inflated housing cost is due to its good schools - something Millennials obviously care nothing about. What Millennials WILL pay a premium for is great nightlife/restaurant options/walkability. Anyone with two eyes and even a moderate knowledge of real estate trends knows that.
And there's nothing particularly wrong with Bethesda being un-cool/not overly attractive to Millennials. I'm perfectly fine with Bethesda being stroller-nation and Silver Spring et al. being "cool"/more attractive to Millennials.
8:39: No major corporation has moved to Bethesda in over a decade, so there has been no increase in high-wage jobs here during that time. Secondly, as I already pointed out, if great nightlife was the primary factor, young professionals would move to Las Vegas, not DC. The truth is that most millennials can't afford to "pay a premium" for anything. That's why the latest real estate trends show millennials moving out of DC now as prices rise. Jobs+affordable housing=millennials. Nightlife and walkability are always a plus. I just think it's important we not forget the main drivers of growth.
6:27: I will look that up, but it did pass the County Council and planning board.
Thanks, I would love to hear more.
Hmm...I wonder which is the dumber Dyer statement:
"No major corporation has moved to Bethesda in over a decade, so there has been no increase in high-wage jobs here during that time."
"Secondly, as I already pointed out, if great nightlife was the primary factor, young professionals would move to Las Vegas, not DC."
It's really hard to decide.... Both lack even basic common sense. First, Dyer pretends that only "major corporations" hire people (as we all know, small businesses don't exist). Second, he pretends that businesses already in Bethesda can't grow - only new businesses matter. Nevermind, for example, the thousands of new employees recently added to NIH.
Next he claims that Las Vegas is the definition of "nightlife." I honestly don't know where to go with that. Dyer, that's cool your definition of "fun" is prostitution and gambling, but that's not exactly relevant to this conversation. If you'd like to understand what Millennials think of as "nightlife" please just get out more and maybe take a trip down 14th. Pro tip: it has nothing to do with a faux Eiffel Tower.
Toll Brothers is one of the largest home builders in the country.
A Toll executive reports that slow job growth in Montgomery County is the main problem holding the county back in attracting Millenials.
"Next he claims that Las Vegas is the definition of "nightlife." I honestly don't know where to go with that. Dyer, that's cool your definition of "fun" is prostitution and gambling, but that's not exactly relevant to this conversation. If you'd like to understand what Millennials think of as "nightlife" please just get out more and maybe take a trip down 14th.
12:46 PM"
That is a very amusing suggestion considering how popular prostitution has been on 14th Street over the years. What happens in DC...
12:46 PM - Do you like to watch Bullets games at the MCI Center?
8:02 AM - OK, you made me giggle. Naughty, naughty.
"With demolitions of several older apartment buildings already approved for Battery, that street will have a net loss in affordable units."
This is not accurate. There are several projects that have been approved for the east end of Battery Lane - the airport shuttle property, the Alden property immediately west of there, and the three Aldon properties on the opposite side of the street, construction is not about to happen and no demolition permits have been filed, let alone approved.
I never said a demolition permit was issued. The demolitions were approved a long time ago by the County Council and Planning Board. It's a net loss of affordable units. Watch the council hearing where they approved the development.
Regarding the dumbest statement - it's clearly yours. NIH is not a corporation. Neither is Walter Reed. The federal government shuffling its employees is not economic development. The fact is, no major corporation has moved to Bethesda in over a decade. Most new jobs were indeed small businesses, most with small salaries to match. Baristas and jeans-folding boutique positions are not economic development. Loudoun and Prince. William are with NYC and San Francisco on Top 25 Tech Job Growth areas. MoCo is not even on the list! In fact, MoCo is fighting the future, trying to stop Uber and Lyft while protecting tthe old taxi monopoly. Embarrassing.
You've obviously not been to Vegas recently. They have high-end nightclubs like Tao and Pure that make DC nightlife seem laughable, like your alternative reality of MoCo's economic development. DC nightlife is ahead of us, but not ahead of Vegas, LA or South Beach. Yet, millennials are headed to DC and NoVa - for the high-wage jobs.
The Montgomery Council's attempts to stop Uber won't help it lure more companies to the county.
Most companies prefer to use Uber over taxis like Barwood. And employees love the change..it's cheaper too.
I'm not sure why you are comparing to Las Vegas. Bethesda's competition for millennials is Arlington, Columbia Heights, etc.
I do agree that the trend of getting rid of affordable housing and putting luxury housing in its place is not a step in the right direction. That new place on Norfolk/Fairmont (Bainbridge?) has higher rents that a similar-sized apartment in Dupont Circle. That just doesn't make sense to me.
Dyer: "NIH is not a corporation. Neither is Walter Reed. The federal government shuffling its employees is not economic development."
Umm...you said "there has been no increase in high-wage jobs here" - I directly and clearly give you 3 reasons for why you're inaccurate, including the fact thousands of high-paying NIH jobs have recently been moved to the area. You pretend to counter by addressing issues that haven't even been raised (no shit the government moving employees here isn't macro economic growth, but of course it benefits Bethesda, specifically, which is what we're discussing). Congrats, maybe you are politician material, Dyer. Just be sure to never get in a debate.
"The Montgomery Council's attempts to stop Uber won't help it lure more companies to the county."
Huh? Source? Last I heard the county not only was pro-Uber, but was trying to deregulate taxis so that they could better compete/imitate Uber.
9:17 - The only reason I bring up Las Vegas is to make the point that if nightlife was the deciding factor for millennials, they would be moving there in droves, instead of to the local competing areas you correctly have identified.
9:33: I've been in many debates, and wiped the floor with your candidates. You're the one who is off-topic, trying to claim federal moves at NIH count as Montgomery County job growth. Name one major corporation that moved here in the last 10 years. Hint: You can't. None did. You didn't get the Hilton headquarters, just a Hilton hotel. Oops. How much are you paid to defend the economic development equivalent of "Tommy Boy" sales expertise?
County Council is pro-Uber? Check again. They're not only trying to weaken Uber's business model, but also sneak in a few giveaways to their friends and funders at the local taxi monopoly. Please do go out and bring us some millennials who love DC and MoCo taxi service. #FightTheFuture
Any update? Thanks Bobby.
Sorry, I should not have included the part about "net loss of affordable units", as I was not challenging that.
However, my point, that demolitions are not imminent, remains.
Why do you call it "shuffling" when the public sector does it, but not when the private sector does it? How is the end result any different?
The feds did it with Walter Reed, Merrill Lynch is doing it in White Flint. The end result is no one can name a single major corporation that relocated its headquarters to Montgomery County in over a decade. The topic isn't shuffling, it's a Tommy Boy-level economic development record by county elected officials so bad that, for the first time in history, no Chamber of Commerce in the county has endorsed any of the incumbents. Humiliating.
4:52 AM - All I can find is that the Battery Lane project can go forward at anytime the owner wishes. Why they've waited is known only to them - they obviously have their reasons. But the demolition and redevelopment indeed have the green light from the County Council and Planning Board.
Barwood has hired the same astroturf specialist lobbying/PR firm that the county government hired to push the bag tax.
Barwood and the bag tax: two things that MoCo residents have no interest in.
With the astroturf PR firm in place, you'll continue to see pro Barwood reports in local newspapers and blogs. Lee Barwood's Gazette editorial one was one such PR release, which local bloggers quickly ate up without doing any fact checking.
You'll also see more PR stunts such as scheduling meetings to make it look like Uber is blowing it off. They're desparate to make Barwood look like the good guy, yet Barwood has zero support in the community.
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