Flashback to November 2006 and you may recall the Silver Spring Scene disclosing ULIs recommendation to tear down City Place Mall and turn it into a parking garage, this was in much disagreement with the community. But at a recent meeting discussing a retail strategy for Silver Spring, the ULI reinforced that recommendation.

The Urban Land Institute, the non-profit concerned with responsible land use, presented, “Developing a retail strategy for Silver Spring”. The meeting was held last Tuesday at the Round House Theater space on Wayne Avenue. Gary Stith, director of the Silver Spring Regional Center made the opening remarks; the study was also funded by the regional center.

Laura Cole, who was executive director at ULI Washington, based in Reston, Va, led the project staff responsible for the one and a half day study. Technical Assistance Panel had several members from outside Silver Spring who were involved in the process, Andrew Brown of Stanford Properties in Bethesda was panel chair. The results were presented along with several recommendations to increase retail in downtown Silver Spring.

“Silver Spring ends up being one of the key models that ULI uses in case studies…in terms of revitalization efforts and specifically how the public and private sector works well together” said Cole.

So what’s the problem? Well for one, downtown Silver Spring is too large according to the ULI. “…The scale of the CBD is so large and retail offerings are so dispersed” said Cole “Silver Spring operates on a local and sub regional level”. The negative perception of Silver Spring’s decline still lingers in the air or perhaps ignorance is bliss?

“Retailers are slow to adopt and adapt to a changing demograpic …Silver Spring is an untapped retail market” said Cole “It’s really important that the new retail offerings that are brought in, support the needs of the existing residents — they’re a little underserved”.

Cole also disclosed that parcel owners unable to assemble smaller lots into larger ones inhibit growth in the CBD. “The lack of capital…the inability for individuals who own these properties to reinvest in them because they don’t know how to do it and increase the lease rates so they can make those types of investments”.

Not all negative, the presentation noted some of the advantages in Silver Spring, like mass transit, an amiable location within the beltway, abundant parking and Silver Spring’s unique and historic character.

Cole proclaimed that Silver Spring has “a strong office market with Discovery and other high visibility tenants”.

Electronics and home goods were noted as some of the retail offerings lacking in downtown Silver Spring.

There were four key recommendations from ULI,

1.) Broaden the success of Downtown Silver Spring by creating a new vision and marketing plan to guide public improvements, private investment and consumer traffic to branded subdisticts with distinct characteristics and tenant mixes. Work with community stakeholders and promote the vision and plan.

2.) Undertake a program to help define and strengthen the mix and concentration of complementary uses throughout Silver Spring by offering financial and/or other incentives to retain, attract, or relocate desired uses and amenities. Encourage assemblage of parcels to attract national retail tenants.

3.) Set the stage for reinvestment along Georgia Avenue (south of Wayne Avenue) by enhancing landscaping, lighting, seating elements, and programming public space. Allow the use of Transfer Development Rights (TDRs) to help property owners raise capital to upgrade, restore, and preserve smaller, human-scale buildings along Georgia Avenue. This is needed to attract a greater and more interesting mix of tenants.

4.) Collaborate with the owner of City Place Mall to identify a repositioning or redevelopment strategy that will establish the appropriate tone and co-tenancies required to make existing retail and entertainment sustainable. Strategy should seek synergies and connections with block across the street (on Colesville Road) where the assembly of parcels could lead to the attraction of a desired big box tenant.

“[ULI] thought it was important to diversify and upgrade the tenant base…you only need so many hair salons close together.” said Cole.

It was also suggested, removing the tree canopy fronting the historic structures on Georgia Avenue would allow them to obtain better visibility.

Cole reemphasized the importance of a new marketing plan that highlights the unique characteristics of the CBD but cautioned that marketing and branding should not be so specific that it becomes unnatural. “A careful balance is needed”.

City Place Mall

Considered the primary issue in ULI’s report, the mall is the ball and chain holding Silver Spring back from achieving “true retail status”. While noting the beautiful architecture of the interior/exterior, poor circulation, low ceiling heights, mix of tenants, “lack of an anchor”, number of floors and historic restrictions have kept national retailers from signing a lease.

To remedy this, ULI offered several scenario’s,

Scenario 1: Convert City Place’s interior space to accommodate a big-box anchor tenant

Scenario 2 (our all time favorite): Convert City Place’s existing space and build office and residential towers above.

Scenario 3: Connect Scenario 2 with a larger project across Colesville Road, taking advantage of co tenancies and joint development opportunities.

Variables left out of the equation

Perhaps there really isn’t a problem at all? The revitalization of Silver Spring is wildly exceeding expectations of not only the community but developers, what was once thought as a “wasteland” and a “highly risky venture” has some the best performing theatres and stores in the nation, over 6,000 residential units underway or in planning and an office vacancy rate that is the lowest in the entire region. The size of the CBD is also not a liability but an asset. As the largest urban district in the D.C. metro and largest in the State outside Baltimore, Silver Spring has many characteristics equal or surpassing some small to midsize cities like Hartford, CT. The CBD is larger than some major city CBDs in geographical size.

I think a better study (and the bigger issue at hand) would have been to try and determine why there is a lack of office development in the CBD. With such a low vacancy it’s concerning why there is none at all at this point in time. Out of all development types, office space is the most favorable in Silver Spring.

Fenton Village was also touched upon, the project staff was aware of the Firehouse and what’s in store for it after the fact and completion of the study which left me scratching my head. What else don’t they know about? They’ve left some very important variables out that make that portion of the study null.

Almost a year ago, the Silver Spring Scene first reported about the Fenton Village redevelopment called Studio Plaza by Michael, LLC/Robert Hillerson. By no measure a small project, it is a truly mixed use development that incorporates office residential and ground floor retail. Why wasn’t the ULI aware of this? They complained about the lack of investment in the Fenton Village area and claimed they took a walk in their day and a half study but didn’t notice the four huge Development Review signs spanning three plus blocks?

As for City Place Mall, I wonder how it stacks up against Ballston Common Mall in the Arlington corridor of Virginia. Like City Place, the four level shopping center (that’s considered struggling by some). And if it’s such a big deal, it seems to have more Hair and Beauty salons in that one mall than the entire downtown Silver Spring area combined but doesn’t get near the negative publicity. It would have been interesting to see this comparison presented by the ULI with the statistical data to back it up.

I applaud and urge for a new marketing plan for the CBD and City Place Mall by respective marketing groups. This would be pivotal to the new office tower that will be by far the largest significant upgrade to the mall since its opening.

I also applaud the use of Transfer Development Rights but question use of the term “Human Scale”, what does that mean? You can build up to 200’feet in some parts of downtown Silver Spring; I have heard some say that is out of “Human Scale”. As a developer, why would I care to use TDRs when whacky zoning laws only allow me to build up to 200’feet next to a metro station? If I use TDRs, will I be allowed to build taller than 200’feet in the Ripley Street and Transit Center area to save Fenton Village or will I have to keep everything to “Human Scale” no matter what? If I can’t build taller than 200’ feet what’s the point of the TDRs?

I highly advise against giving any monetary incentives (any form for that matter) from the County trying to entice retail in the CBD. Retail has little control of where it wants to go, you can’t force it in. It is dependent on residence and jobs. It needs to be said once again that the lack of office development in CBD is telling; if any incentives have to be given that is where it should go. If there was more office development in Silver Spring, the multiplier effect would be greatly astounding, far more then any retail or residential offering could dream of achieving alone. Far more progress would happen at a much faster pace. It doesn’t work nearly as great with residential and retail and those are short term goals in themselves.

Finally, this is slightly off topic but it has to be pointed out; how can a non-profit organization founded on the principals of responsible land use be based in Reston, Va.; a sprawling environmentally damaging, greenfield master planned development in the exurbs of D.C. metro area. Not next to any form of mass rail transit, it has exacerbated suburban sprawl all the way to West Virginia. Doesn’t that speak against almost everything ULI stands for?