Monday, September 17, 2018

Western Workaround picking up steam at White Flint dealership site

The "Western Workaround" (in purple)
urban street grid proposed in the 2010
White Flint sector plan
The recent closure of the Nissan dealership at 11605 Old Georgetown Road was seen as the removal of a logjam in construction of the delayed "Western Workaround" urban street grid in White Flint. Sure enough, a major development project is now being introduced for the site.

One thousand apartments, and up to 110,169 SF of retail and restaurant space, is proposed in the new development's sketch plan. A required pre-submittal public meeting on the project will be held Thursday, September 27, 2018 at 7:00 PM at the former Capital One Bank, which is located right next to the dealership at 11575 Old Georgetown.

It's encouraging to hear that the project includes a substantial amount of ground-floor retail and restaurant space to activate the new street grid. This will substantially improve the ambiance for restaurants and apartments at Pike & Rose that face the current car dealership.

One hopes this project, unlike the majority proposed and approved after the White Flint sector plan passed in 2010, will actually be built. Pike & Rose remains an island as the only major "town center" development so far, which has led to some frustration at Federal Realty at the failure of the County to deliver the promised infrastructure the developer has contributed toward.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

"One hopes this project, unlike the majority proposed and approved after the White Flint sector plan passed in 2010, will actually be built. Pike & Rose remains an island as the only major 'town center' development so far, which has led to some frustration at Federal Realty at the failure of the County to deliver the promised infrastructure the developer has contributed toward."

LOL. Development happens too quickly, Dyer blames the County. Development happens too slowly, Dyer blames the County. Seizure of private property for new streets takes too long, Dyer blames the County.

Anonymous said...

I would normally agree with your observation of Dyer’s inconsistency, but in this case he is correct and Federal Realty is indeed making a big stink about the slow development of the area, and the delayed development of the north entrance to the White Flint Metro. That entrance would be a great asset to Pike & Rose, as it is currently a nasty walk from the Metro to P&R. Federal Realty even paid a consultant to study the proposed north entrance, and create some more affordable options to help speed the implementation.

It might be interesting to see how these more affordable options have been revived by the county. I wonder if these improvements might be tied to the delay of the east side construction of Montrose a Parkway and the new MARC station while they wait to see if Amazon mhght select the Pike District for their HQ2. Sounds like they will make a decision by the end of the year.

Anonymous said...

"[The proposed North] entrance would be a great asset to Pike & Rose, as it is currently a nasty walk from the Metro to P&R."

Which raises the point that the entire northern half of Pike & Rose is outside of the 0.5 mile walkshed of the Metro station, and thus dumb growth by Robert Dyer's definition.

Anonymous said...

It's not just DUMB GROWTH

IT'S DUMBASS GROWTH

Anonymous said...

That looks like a giant pink swastika