The Solution for City Place Mall—Tear It Down
By Silver Springer • Nov 1st, 2006 • Category: Uncategorized
According to the ULI (Urban Land Institute) to save City Place Mall it can no longer be a mall. In detail, they suggested turning it into a parking garage. The garage would support the office tower planned to be constructed on top of the 5 story mall. This was said as they presented their study about issues relating to retail and the downtown Silver Spring economy a few weeks a go.
City Place has been labeled a failure by many, with the negative perception that it holds a horde of lowly discount retailers lacking any quality or refinement. The mall opened in 1992 as the answer to revitalizing Silver Spring.
Could it be that maybe City Place simply doesn’t meet certain demographic so it is proclaimed a failure by that group? Could it be that “discount†is actually independent? Like one opinionated letter in the Gazette from a Silver Spring resident says, “Most people praise them far more than they patronize them.†But City Place doesn’t even get any praise. The case is more so about picking and choosing particular independent businesses than a general consensus and while the “discount†retailers are pushed out of the mall, the Old Navys and Abercrombie and Finches chain stores can move in.
The truth of the matter is that over 80% of the stores in City Place are independent businesses and small local chains. Advocates of independent businesses are clearly showing a double standard when it comes to City Place. City Place often gets a bad wrap as the worst mall in the region, but I enjoy the environment over places like Lake Forest with it’s sea of parking and confused design. There are places in far worst condition in this region, take a trip east down University Boulevard and you will find an unruly mall called La Union. In its previous iteration it was called Asia Town and originally International Mall. The place was designed to look like a prison with lousy access points, it is empty and less lively than the now defunct Landover mall in its final days.
To be clear the City Place Mall needs improvement but we should embrace the Art Deco urban mall of which is typically found in places like Chicago and New York. The mall is beautifully designed and is one of the most unique in the D.C. region. Some of the malls tenants put out some quality stuff that isn’t purchased because it doesn’t have that designer label.
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iheartyuppies said…
Yuppiebasher,
You’re right - gentrification is an experiment doomed to failure. Just look at Bethesda, Clarendon, Ballston, all of downtown Baltimore….worthless property values, boarded up business, high crime, virtual ghost towns. Oh, for the good old Silver Spring downtown before all this gentrification crap!
11/03/2006 04:50:38 PM
RE: He/She is freighten that Silver Spring will look like his/her yuppie community in Northern Virginia and eventually attract the yuppies from Northern Virginia to move to Silver Spring or other up and coming upscale communities in Maryland.
Anonymous said:
“RE: You must not be too familiar with the 5 boroughs of NYC because they have a Large Mall in Queens off the I-495/LI Expressway that is doing very well with attracting all types of people.”
I’m familiar with the malls around NYC. And I’m not putting down the foot traffic that Queens Plaza (ie, the mall off the LIE) generates.
But most of that foot traffic happens inside the mall, to the detriment of retailers outside the mall. Same goes for Kings Plaza in Brooklyn and the Staten Island Mall. (Can’t speak for malls in the Bronx.)
But street-level shops can enjoy the same degree of foot traffic without a mall. NYC examples: Austin Street or Steinway Street (Queens), 86th Street or 7th Avenue (Brooklyn), New Dorp Lane (Staten Island), anyplace in lower Manhattan. (Still can’t speak for the Bronx.)
What I worry about is another mall like midtown’s Manhattan Mall happening in Silver Spring. Nothing worked for that space. I attribute its failure to the fact that life happened outside at street level, not inside the mall.
Personally, I would rather shop at street level–regardless of the weather conditions–than wander inside a “Logan’s Run”-type of environment. Not a big fan of mall buzz.
Correction: The mall off the LIE on Queens Boulevard is called Queens Mall, not Queens Plaza. However, both can be reached via the R train.
Anonymous poster who claims that people in this forum are anti-Silver Spring because we don’t want wealthy Northern Virginians to live in this community.
This is most ridiculous thing that I have ever heard. First, most Northern Virginians are going to STAY in Northern Virginia. They are quite happy living in Arlington, Fairfax County and beyond.
Second, you are clearly either a:
A. Member of the Chamber of Commerce.
or
B. Employed by Real Estate Company
I am willing to bet on the latter.
I am not a Maryland hater. I actually believe that diverse community with racial and class backgrounds is more progressive than dime-a-dozen chain stores and over-priced shitty condos.
Maryland is about diversity. Maryland is about equal rights for small business and minorities. Maryland is about AFFORDABLE HOUSING opportunities for people who don’t wear $1,200 pin stripe suits or make six-figure salaries. You know…like those people from Northern Virginia, and Bethesda, and Georgetown.
I don’t think you know jack shit about Maryland values.
IHeartYuppies:
Uh-Oh, I hear there is a wine & cheese tasting in Potomac this weekend. Better run!!!!
While you are at it…don’t forget to vote Republican on Tuesday.
FireJimBowden said…
Is there even any need for more parking in DTSS? I can’t speak for the 9-6 Monday-Friday workweek, but I’ve never, ever failed to find a parking spot in Silver Spring. Occasionally at peak times you need to go a level higher in whatever garage you choose than you are used to, but otherwise the only parking problem I’ve ever noticed is congestion going into or out of garages, not a lack of places to park.
11/02/2006 10:00:01 AM
Anonymous said…
RE: I’m starting to believe that they are building the unnecessary parking garages in silver spring as a tax right off.
No, DPWT AKA the Parking District just wants to keep making more money with unnecessary parking garages.
Dear ihateyuppies,
I am a different anonymous poster than the previous one who challenged your opinions.
You are so ridiculously off base in your comments it is sad. If you could at least back up your opinions with a shred of fact, you might be believable. Instead, you simply rant on and on in belief that we realistically live in some utopian dreamland you call Maryland.
And another thing, who gives a rats ass if someone wants to go to a wine tasting in Potomac?
In your rants is that while you claim to be a promoter of equal rights for all and diversity at every corner. The real irony is that your true colors are spelled out in your “middle” screen name: HATE.
Now look at who is the hypocrite. Live and let live. Just because some people have greater means than you or others does not mean they are all the wasteful, superficial, shallow people you think they all are.
Shame on you, hypocrite.
Anonymous 5:58 p.m.
Do you even live in Silver Spring?
Regardless, you have problems with my blog post name. That’s only your beef with me.
Live and Let Live, huh?
Some of the greatest social activists in our nation’s history didn’t follow your advice.
Different anonymous poster here:
I go to City Place for two stores: Marshall’s and Nine West. In fact, I just dropped less than $200 at the two this weekend for two pieces of luggage, a hand bag, a pair of boots, and a roasting pan.
No love for City Place? Not I.
Go ahead, hate me ihateyuppies. I live here.
So if we inadvertantly become a yuppie does that mean that you hate us? It’s just something that kind of happened to me one day I think…How can I get the yuppie out of me?
You guys are too sensitive about screen names.
A yuppie isn’t necessarily someone who makes a ton of money. Just because you are an architect or a lawyer doesn’t mean you are a yuppie.
A yuppie is a person who only cares about making money and attaining the status of upper classdom. Yuppies place high value on material possessions such as cars, clothes, jewelry, interior decorating etc. Yuppies are more concerned about networking with people who will get them plush jobs down the road. Yuppies are over-judgmental of people who don’t share their tastes in fashion, art, music. Yuppies tend to be spiritually void of human compassion.
That’s why I hate yuppies.
ihateyuppies said…
You guys are too sensitive about screen names.
A yuppie isn’t necessarily someone who makes a ton of money. Just because you are an architect or a lawyer doesn’t mean you are a yuppie.
A yuppie is a person who only cares about making money and attaining the status of upper classdom. Yuppies place high value on material possessions such as cars, clothes, jewelry, interior decorating etc. Yuppies are more concerned about networking with people who will get them plush jobs down the road. Yuppies are over-judgmental of people who don’t share their tastes in fashion, art, music. Yuppies tend to be spiritually void of human compassion.
That’s why I hate yuppies.
11/06/2006 05:46:05 PM
RE: So basically you are saying that you nare a miserible country hick that was raised in a remote populated area somewhere in the deep south. Due to your financialy challanged upbringing you learned to hate people who are able to obtain high wealth. Which also explains why you are a miseriblt anti-progressive democrat becaususe you were raised to be financially challanged and you don’t want anyone else to obtain high wealth especially minorities/people of color.
Gee Ihateyuppies…notice how many of us think you are off base? You don’t have to agree with us, but maybe, just maybe you are in the wrong.
Your definition of yuppies is your own…not the actual definition. You have given offensive and negative generalizations of a HUGE group of people who live in Silver Spring and are responsible for patronizing the redevelopment that has brought it out of its near-slum former existence.
from the dictionary:
yup‧pie 
–noun (often initial capital letter) a young, ambitious, and well-educated city-dweller who has a professional career and an affluent lifestyle.
Where does it say anything about caring ONLY for themselves? Having an affluent lifestyle allows one to give to others, to charity, to those who have less.
You say we are too sensitive about screen names. Not so…we are sensitive about the unsubstantiated hate-filled rhetoric you consistently post on here. It’s just in this forum that we are finally all speaking up and calling you on it. Take your intolerance and hate (cleverly masqueraded as concern for the downtrodden) somewhere else.
And PS…I am a Democrat.
BraveYuppieDefender Wrote: “Where does it say anything about caring ONLY for themselves? Having an affluent lifestyle allows one to give to others, to charity, to those who have less.”
Oh…My…God. I can’t believe that you wrote this message with all seriousness.
Could you be Marie Antoinette? She was affluent and “charitable” but the people of France still wanted her head in a basket. Could you be Kathie Lee Gifford? She wanted to be charitable to those poor Nicaraguan workers making pennies an hour.
Let me ask this question: did you live in Silver Spring when it was a “near-slum”? By the way, calling Silver Spring a “near-slum” is pretty close to offensive. I am sure the long-term residents won’t appreciate that characterization. Silver Spring was getting run-down but calling this city a “near-slum” defines race and class bias.
But hey, I am glad that downtown Silver Spring has places to eat and to shop. Great. But here is what I don’t like about the new Silver Spring. Gentrification is driving more middle-class people OUT of Silver Spring. Small businesses are hurting as well. You will have nothing but the affluent class and their low-paid servants in town and that is not a healthy society by any means.
You ask long-term residents about what they think new developments in downtown Silver Spring. You will be surprised by the answers. Not everyone is gung-ho about the massive makeover.
By the way…I am a Democrat too. I am a Democrat who hates war. Who wants national health care insurance. Who believes in labor unions and their positive effect on society. A Democrat who believes in raising the minimum wage and hitting businesses hard when there are labor and environmental violations. A Democrat who believes in revoking tax cuts for the wealthy. A Democrat who believes that tax dollars should go to micro-enterprise for small businesses. A Democrat who would freeze all tuition increases for the next 5 years at public universities.
A Democrat who would love to see the big corporate media smashed to pieces and return the public airwaves to local, independent investors.
Are you that kind of Democrat?
“It’s just in this forum that we are finally all speaking up and calling you on it. Take your intolerance and hate (cleverly masqueraded as concern for the downtrodden) somewhere else.”
Are you the moderator of this blog? If not, you can’t inform me to leave.
Tell you what. I will stop dissing on yuppies and complaining about gentrification. But I am keeping my screen name. Yuppies are not defined as a race, ethnic group, religion or a disability. I am not violating any hate speech principles here.
No, I am not that kind of Democrat. Like the great majority of Americans, I am a moderate and not on either end of the unrealistic and unecessary extreme positions that you espouse as do most politicians espouse simply to get votes (and who only see the positive consequences not the negative).
I do live in Silver Spring and have for ten years. Parts of the downtown area were near-slum and perpetually unsafe. No Silver Spring resident would take issue with that.
And of course I wrote in seriousness that having an affluent lifestyle allows one to give more to others. I certainly do and know many, many others who do as well. Unfortunately, the examples you chose showing the opposite are the small minority of those who don’t. In typical fashion, you lumped ALL of the affluent into your generalization.
Keep your screen name and thank you for ceasing the yuppie-bashing and anti-gentrification rambles. That’s all we wanted in the first place.
“Keep your screen name and thank you for ceasing the yuppie-bashing and anti-gentrification rambles. That’s all we wanted in the first place.”
Who is “we”? As far as I know, there are only two anonymous posters who have issues with me. Stop the arrogance by pretending that you represent all of the posters in The Silver Spring Scene blog.
Ihateyuppies,
Please keep peppering this post with your simple-minded, utopian and often contradictory views (just an example was your rant against people that choose to ride their bikes to work rather than drive expensive cars - a position one would think you’d support, except that they get in the way as you drive your car on East-West highway). It is an object lesson in why thoughtful people tend to be moderate, recognise shades of grey and not beholden to any extreme position which, if taken to their logical extremes, often result in contradictions and hypocrisy, as I am sure you happily avail of many of the things you rail against, unless you volunteer your time to causes you support and live strictly in accordance with your ideals, regardless of personal comfort. Only you know the answer.
Different anonymous:
Your screenname “ihateyuppies” is gay.
Um, back to City Place… I’m hosting a vote for a new name for the mall.
Riding bikes along East-West Hwy is not safe because of the hills, sharp turns and no shoulder room. Bikers will tell you that and so would police officials. That’s why you don’t see bikers on that road. There might be an idiot who is willing to tempt fate. That’s what I am criticizing. I am not being a hypocrite here.
I really hope the moderator locks this thread because this is getting ridiculous.
Ihateyuppies,
Even if the thread is locked, you can run but you can’t hide.
Extreme and hypocritical views like yours will be challenged everywhere.
Signed…another anonymous poster (there are many of us).
I think we can all agree at the least that the garage is a BAD IDEA.
I just recently moved to the SS area a month ago. I’ve already been to the City Place Mall, and the fact is I had trouble finding it! There is no grand mall entrance and no sign indicating the mall. It is true you see packs of teens walking around which make me uncomfortable. Anyways, the downtown area really needs an electronics store and a toy store, ie Best Buy or Toys R Us. Definitely need more apparel stores appealing to masses such as GAP or Old Navy. Keep the Marshalls and Burlington though because we still need the diversity. If I just need a pair of gloves, I’ll just go to Marshalls for that.