What’s the fate of Falkland Chase?
By Silver Springer • Jul 11th, 2008 • Category: MORE NEWS, Real Estate
You’ll just have to wait. A night of countless presentations and testimonies didn’t bring a verdict to the fate of two issues in contradiction. The decision on whether the 1938 Falkland Apartments, North Parcel would be spared from the wrecking ball or if developer Home Properties would be able to move forward and build the largest residential project in Silver Spring in recent times, was left open ended as the planning board takes more time to sort it all out.
It will be at least September before a final decision is made by the planning board and even afterwards the County Council has the final say.
While the collective planning board decision is unclear, it was evident last night that at least one commissioner had frustration and anguish over the Home properties plans for 1,059 residential units in a high-rises project less than a five minute walk from Silver Spring’s metro station – the busiest in the state.
Home Properties argued that the north parcel of the existing Falkland Apartments was not as significant as the south parcel where the renowned cupola structure sits. Likewise for the west parcel immediately outside Silver Spring’s Central Business District, speakers noted that it was insignificant as well.
But Home Properties did not object to designating the south and west parcels as historic, as recommended by the planning board staff.
Home Properties said they are willing to drop their own most current design and follow that which was illustrated in a recent planning staff report. Going as far as depicting their own version.
Newly appointed planning board member and commissioner, Joseph Alfandre of Potomac, found the testimony of Home Properties to be highly insulting to the legacy and pioneers of the Garden Apartment. “I don’t know where you guys are going with this but I don’t appreciate the disrespect that you show the garden city movement†said Alfandre
He went as far as to tell one architect speaking on behalf of Home Properties that she “outta know betterâ€. followed by a round applause.
Alfrande had several quotes prepared on the importance of the garden apartment that he read before the audience of over 50 people that packed the planning board room.
“I’m doing a slow burn and I got to get this off my chest, I’m the new guy but I’ve got to speak for the people who aren’t here, the founders of the garden city movement, Sir Ebenezer Howard, Raymond Unwin who began that movement…It’s difficult for me to read all of this from planning staff and developers and the reasons why this isn’t part of the garden city movementâ€
Richard Pavlin, Co-Chair, of Action in Montgomery (AIM), an affordable housing team says his group supports the approval of the Home Properties project because of the amount of affordable housing, “A Balance can be struck by preserving the south parcel…of the 1,059 units, 282 will be affordable housing, even though the people there are going to be displaced, we know that that’s a hardship but look at the greater good for the whole County when you have a 100 more than what’s required by law.â€
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According to the MoCo Planning Board Meeting Agenda Web Site, the staff recommendation was to Transmit recommendation to County Council for partial Master Plan designation; vote to partially remove from the Locational Atlas
This morning it said Planning Board Action/Decision: No vote taken. .
Tells us, Oracle of Silver Spring–what does it all mean?
Well, it’s the journey not the end result that I hope you’ll enjoy.
Give me a break! I rolled my eyes reading Joseph Alfandre’s comments. Talk about being completely one-sided and naive to current sensibilities and societal needs! The founders of the garden city movement sought to give the working class a place to live (i.e. fresh air & “country style”) away from the densely populated, dangerous, polluted & industrial cores of most large American cities at the time. Ironically, this didn’t apply to Washington then or now since we were never an industry town and there have always been massive parks and natural areas.
Just because a developer wants to replace part of a site SOME feel is historic doesn’t show any type of disrespect. I guess he feels that all the brutalist architecture throughout downtown DC should be preserved because those architects were the “pioneers” of that movement, too.
Home Properties has gone way above and beyond what most developers would propose for a similar site, especially since they agreed to completely revise their design and go with something similar to what the planning board suggested.
Part 2. Alfandre sounds like the typical urban planner/architect who hasn’t spent much time, if any, in the real world of developement. Instead, he sounds like academic who knows only to espouse ideals that are often out of touch with reality.
Actually, unless it’s a different Joseph Alfandre, he IS a developer. He built the Kentlands, I believe.
You’re right…obviously he is a developer…oops, I guess I went on a rant.
Even so, then he sounds like a New Urbanist who got drunk on his own wine. Despite all the well-deserved accolades received by the Kentlands, it was planned & built on farmland in the middle of nowhere at the time. I guarantee you if he owned Falkland Chase he would be pursuing a similar path of redevelopment and do just what Home Properties did–offer a very reasonable compromise. Instead, he arrogantly insulted the architect as if she is the developer.
I’m with Woodsider. The Garden City movement’s time has come and gone. We have plenty of garden apartment buildings in Silver Spring (see Summit Hills) and nearby Takoma Park, Long Branch, and Langley Park and, with some exceptions they are mostly squat, unattractive buildings. We certainly do not need to build more of them. I am for preserving the best examples of the Garden City movement, which is why I’d like to see most of Falkland Chase preserved–but we also need more density and affordable housing near metro stations, which is why I’m in favor of developing the North Parcel.
Still, I think we can do better than the Home Properties’ proposed high rise development. Enormous high rises can be just as awful as squat garden buildings. Is there a happy medium somewhere?
I like the look and density of some of the new apartment buildings built around the Columbia Heights metro station. Maybe something along those lines would be a good fit. Or maybe the developers can study the tall but not too tall apartments that line Connecticut Avenue north of the Van Ness metro. Some of these buildings are truly beautiful.
The decision about replacing the Fauklands should be based on what would be developed in its place but on the merits of putting people and denser units near public transportation hubs instead of allowing sprawl to continue.
The decision about replacing the Fauklands should NOT be based on what would be developed in its place but on the merits of putting people and denser units near public transportation hubs instead of allowing sprawl to continue.
Falkland Chase a “garden city?” Oh, get serious! There is nothing distinctive or particularly interesting about the north parcel. Historic preservation is an important social (and economic) goal. But while some things are historic, others are just old.
I live there, and I still think this project makes a lot of sense. If we are serious about “smart development” — building around walkable communities and mass transit — we need to see this project approved. Falkland Chase has very fairly offered to have 2/3 of the development preserved.
To those who bemoan the “loss” of the north parcel, I have one request — come walk around the place. Look for elements of great historic and architectural significance — you won’t find them.
It’s not a bad place to live. However, the project is in line with development goals, is a fair compromise and will provide an exciting new development adjacent to downtown.
I agree, it should be developed. It goes without saying that it should be developed right, but it looks like they revised their plans.
i agree with woodsider. i’ve walked around those apartments and they are okay, but nothing special. my (admittedly) untrained eye doesn’t see anything architecturely significant there.
Of the four large “New Urbanism†(highly misleading) developments in the County (others being Clarksburg, Fallsgrove, King Farm) , Kentlands has got to be the worst. There was a graduate student at the University of Maryland that did a study on why Kentlands is a failure. Most people who I know that live around there don’t like it.
I know that area of Gaithersburg very well and watched it spring to what it is today almost from the beginning, I have never thought things were possible development wise until I saw the Kentlands.
1) They forgot the WORK, in live, work and play that justifies the label mixed-use. A major reason why it is insulting to the name mixed-use and urban is the fact that it lacks any significant office space. No one can work there, only very recently have they added a scant amount of office space that barely reaches 50,000 square feet.
2) I do not believe there was any affordable housing included in the project, not with $500,000 homes on 1/12 acre pads.
3) Kentlands has a very high retail failure rate. The turnover is embarrassing, from Boston Market , Uptons, Crown Books, MJ Designs (never even opened) to name a few. Not to forget the small businesses like the internet café that went belly up. And why? Because someone in management won’t get off their high horse and charge reasonable rates. Kentalnds was never the retail Mecca they had hoped for, just look at the sea of empty parking spaces. I’m surprised K-Mart survived.
4) Parking brings me to my fifth point that the Kentlands defeats the purpose of “New Urbanism†because inherently, cities are efficient and environmentally friendly compared to suburban sprawl. Imagine if the square footage in New York City was divided amongst a strict limit of 2 story buildings. How much land would that waste? Kentlands is very car oriented.
Even with the strict height limit in Kentlands (which I really don’t oppose), look at the sea of parking and how much is unused. They recently added a Chipotle at the corner of the Lowes lot but it’s also a waste for a 1 story structure.
In fact the whole second retail section with the movie theater was unnecessary in its current location. The plentiful parking lots are open and free. That space could have been used for additional retail easily.
5) It still irks me how they demolished the Uptons building after only 3 years of non use and about 8 years total existing. I have never seen such a new and large building demolished in my life, before the Kentlands I didn’t think it was economically feasible. Instead of a new theater they could have transformed that building into one or create a special retail district in around it like Faneuil Hall in Boston.
Kentlands is an environmental disaster. In a nutshell the developer was thinking, let’s take 600 acres of pristine natural farmland and do a Greenfield development 10 times the size of a typical subdivision. Exclude office space and jobs so that everyone drives to work. Create a large residential swath so that it’s impossible for you to walk to the grocery store from the other side and walk back. Keep all the buildings at a max of 3 stories so that we take up as much land and cut down as many trees as possible because its are mandate to spread out with large building footprints. Lastly we will build a large Power Center with so much parking/pavement, two football fields couldn’t handle it.
Only the nuts in Montgomery County would fight tooth and nail for an old, unattractive apartment complex. Knock it down and move on. Progress people, progress.
Big shout out to my arch rival ILY.
This development plans sucks because:
A. It doesn’t address the serious traffic problems on E-W Hwy and 16th Street that this development would cause. As a resident of Summit Hills, getting through that intersection could become a nightmare.
B. Urban green space is basically slaughtered for concrete, steel and asphalt. If you asked Falkland Chase residents what they like about their living situation: they can own big pets and lots of green space. Go ahead…ask a Falkland Chase resident? Oh…you guys who have grand planning and architecture dreams really don’t care about people. I forgot.
C. Real Estate Developers don’t like to provide affordable housing. Home Properties is no different in this matter. If anything rents will continue escalate driving more people out.
If the developer can guarantee that at least 40 percent of the units could be set aside for affordable housing (i.e. rent control), then I will I sing my praises to the real estate developer and korporate Amerika.
Aw contrair, Kentlands is the most succesfull of the New Urbanist projects if the “market place” is held as the barrometer. The reason it failed to attract office development is that it was conceived and executed within the land-use and money lending rules of it’s day. Banks had no idea what Alphandre was proposing and he bought a random farm to develope in the middle of a traffic engineer’s wet dream, ie; highway hell. If the government worked in coordination with developers to lay out towns in concert with reliable public transportation, then you might get more sustainable developments. On the other hand, if the government laid off the zoning mantra and let functions cross pollinate more, you would foster this vitality we all strive for.
Isn’t it ironic?
[quote comment="4856"]Aw contrair, Kentlands is the most succesfull of the New Urbanist projects if the “market place” is held as the barrometer. The reason it failed to attract office development is that it was conceived and executed within the land-use and money lending rules of it’s day. Banks had no idea what Alphandre was proposing and he bought a random farm to develope in the middle of a traffic engineer’s wet dream, ie; highway hell. If the government worked in coordination with developers to lay out towns in concert with reliable public transportation, then you might get more sustainable developments. On the other hand, if the government laid off the zoning mantra and let functions cross pollinate more, you would foster this vitality we all strive for.
Isn’t it ironic?[/quote]
Ok for arguments sake but what have they done to rectify the situation. Kentlands is over 20 years old now isn’t it?
I Hate Yuppies, you should also hate uninformed calumny.
The Home Properties development plan guarantees 282 units of affordable housing.
133 units would rent FOR LESS THAN THE CURRENT FALKLAND APARTMENTS and are guaranteed to remain affordable based on Area Median income for the next 99 years. Another 100 units of workforce housing would be guranteed to remain affordable for the next 20 years. And Home would keep 49 units in another Silver Spring apartment it owns for another 20 years.
By contrast, NONE OF THE CURRENT FALKLAND UNITS ARE IN ANY WAY RENT CONTROLLED. The development would be a significant boost to affordable housing in Silver Spring.
But it would also be a model of mixed-income housing development for Montgomery County and the region.
While there may be some sense in tweaking the design, the overall objective of adding residential density within walking distance to metro stations should also be a regional objective. Metro stations are very expensive bits of infrastructure and leaving low density around them is essentially a huge public subsidy for a few. Also, for what it is worth, the developer is also committing to creating a 1-acre park and playground in the middle of the southern parcel. There is currently no playground in the area.
Commissioner Alfandre’s upbraiding of the developer was disturbing. (I attended the hearing.) It’s going to be interesting to see where he goes with this. There is a concern among some of us in the smart-growth community that he’s made a political bargain to kill smart-growth projects downcounty in order to push development (sprawl) into the upcounty where he’s practiced his craft to very mixed results.
He is an ardently pro-ICC developer, yet his lead supporter on Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce was Marc Elrich. Marc lead the effort on the Council for Alfandre, over Purple Line/smart growth advocate Ben Ross. (Just ask Don Praisner, whom Marc belabored endlessly on behalf of Alfandre.) Why?
I’ll conjecture that Alfandre promised Marc (and West County council member Roger Berliner that he’ll oppose down-county smart-growth projects in Bethesda and Silver Spring in exchange for their support. Marc and Roger get to satisfy their NIMBY constituents and Alfandre gets his ICC-fueled sprawl.
Time will tell if my conjecture is on target. It will be interesting to see how Mr. Alfandre votes on this. It would be a real pity to kill this project.
I forgot to mention that Home properties also offered to relocate any resident who would be displaced by development on the north parcel with a comparable unit on the south or west parcels, which the developer consents to leave under historic preservation protection.
Kentlands does provide affordable housing in the form of rented “granny flats” over garages (though I don’t have any numbers as to how many actually are rented) and a fairly wide range of house sizes. There are quite a few small cottages (two bedrooms, 1,000 square feet) that when built (way back in the 90’s) sold in the low $100’s. King Farm, Fallsgrove, Clarksburg - none of the other NU developments in Montgomery County can claim as wide a range of house types as Kentlands. The problem is that no, they weren’t subsidized, and as the community became more popular those small houses became very, very expensive. Is that really Kentlands’ fault? Can’t blame them for trying.
That being said, though, Kentlands does fail when it comes to providing jobs or getting people out of their cars. I’ve interviewed people who live there (for school research) and most I talked to said they’ll even drive to the neighborhood cleaners.
dan:
You are absolutely right, Kentlands has many, many serious failings in spite of it’s charming architecture and intriguing concept.
The basic problem is that it is located out in the sprawl. If it were an infill development somwhere inside the Beltway, or close to a metro station, like Rockville Town Center, it would have had a better chance. But the major flaw is that it is a car-oriented location.
It will be interesting to see if Mr. Alfandre shows that he has learned from his failure in Kentlands or whether he continues to support sprawl projects or spurns infill projects.
@Walker in the City -
This is true, I moved from the North Parcel to the uhh. South? I have no idea where I live now…anyway, they waived some fees and hooked me up.
Two random comments. The first, my sweetie and I were crossing E/W to get our car this morning and realized what a cluster-F#@$k it’s going to be if/when construction starts. We’re trying to buy a house prior to that just to avoid it.
And second, not sure what’s going on, but we’ve had three cars either stolen or broken into on our little one way street (Draper Lane) quite recently, mostly in broad daylight. Any insight or comments? I just hope if someone decides to bust my window, they take the whole car!
@pia -
(not three of my cars, I meant three cars of neighbors, on my street)