On
Arlington’s Clarendon Boulevard, within easy
walking distance of a METRO station, a large city
block sits empty save for a Gold's Gym and an
expanse of asphalt parking lot. David DeCamp had been
eyeing the property for quite a while. As a commercial real estate broker
active in Washington,
D.C.’s inner suburbs,
he saw incredible potential to develop the parcel --
not only to make a profit but to enrich the urban
fabric of the neighborhood.
DeCamp
envisioned a complex of medium-rise buildings: a mix
of condos, offices, street-level stores and
tree-lined streets similar to other development
taking root in the Clarendon area. He pictured
people walking to nearby offices or taking the METRO
into Washington
to work. He
imagined people coming home from the daily grind and
-- instead of driving to an Applebees in some
shopping center -- strolling down the street to a
neighborhood restaurant. In his mind’s eye, 2900
Clarendon never emptied out during the night or day,
but bustled with activity around the clock.
DeCamp
and his financial backers acquired an option on
the property and last year submitted a proposal to
Arlington County to build
four buildings containing 300 residential units and
86,000 square feet of commercial space. Despite some
contentious public hearings – a number of
neighbors fought the project – they won their approval.
He's brought Bush Construction Corporation into the
development team, and now is lining up roughly $75
million in project financing. DeCamp hopes to
turn dirt this spring and finish the first building
within 22 months.
“This
is an outrageously good alternative to suburban
sprawl,” says an enthusiastic DeCamp, who believes
passionately in what he's doing. “What we’re doing is
not for everybody. But we think there are a lot of
young, urban professionals who would rather live
here” than in some isolated apartment complex out
on the urban fringe.
Although
2900
Clarendon stirs the fears of neighborhood NIMBYs, mostly home owners in single-family
dwellings who fear dense development of any kind
near them, everyone else in the Washington metro
area should hail DeCamp as a hero. Viewed from a
regional perspective, the project is highly
desirable. Indeed, the
only salvation for Northern Virginia
– and perhaps Virginia’s other metro
areas – lies in in-fill development that
transforms ugly and underutilized property like
parking lots into mutually supporting pieces of an urban
jigsaw.
The
beauty of 2900 Clarendon, as opposed to a greenfield
development in an
outlying county, is that it exploits the presence of
the METRO station to reduce the number of auto trips
by half, as well as an existing road network and
utility lines. The project places no burden on
fiscally stressed state and local government to add
infrastructure of any kind. This development -- in
stark
contrast to so much else that takes place --
accommodates the growth of Northern Virginia’s population by
an estimated 450 people in a highly tax-efficient
manner.
Less
obvious, but equally important, DeCamp’s project
contributes to the urban vitality of the Clarendon
neighborhood. His 300 condos won’t sit,
disconnected, in some suburban pod. Homeowners will
enjoy the amenities of book stores, a grocery
market, restaurants and shops within easy walking
distance. Likewise, the retail establishments in his
project, including a smaller Gold’s Gym and at
least one restaurant, will add to the options
available to others in the neighborhood. 2900
Clarendon contributes to the ongoing development of Arlington
into a place where people really like to live.
As
the United States
morphs into an
increasingly knowledge-based economy, economic
development becomes less about recruiting corporate
investment and more about developing, attracting and
retaining human capital. The great challenge today
-- as yet largely unrecognized in Virginia
-- is creating the
kinds of communities where artists, entrepreneurs,
scientists and other members of the “creative
class” want to live and work. Virginia
needs to figure out
how to build more neighborhoods like Clarendon,
which cater to knowledge workers’ lifestyles,
cultural preferences and desire for stimulation and
personal interaction.
DeCamp's
vision (above)
Current
reality (below)
Over
and above its positive impact on core issues of
taxes and lifestyles, 2900 Clarendon minimizes
impact on the environment and provides resources for
affordable housing. On the far side of Dulles,
DeCamp estimates, the offices and condos of his
2.25-acre development would translate into some 155
acres of residential development plus
two or three
acres of office buildings and parking lots that
would disrupt wildlife habitat and create run-off
into the
Chesapeake
Bay
watershed. Meanwhile, 2900 Clarendon Development
Associates will contribute $1.45 million in cash to Arlington
County
to underwrite the development of affordable housing
for lower-income residents.
The
project makes such a positive all-around
contribution to the Washington
metro area that it won kudos from the Washington
Smart Growth Alliance Recognition Program for
“wise land use and efficient design.”
2900
Clarendon
sounds like a terrific project, says E M Risse, a
principal in Synergy Planning Inc. (and a
contributing columnist to Bacon’s Rebellion). But
the dysfunction of
Northern Virginia
development since the 1960s runs so deep that a dozen 2900
Clarendons won’t heal the region’s
self-inflicted wounds, he cautions. Arlington
County,
which has been planning for METRO-oriented
development for 40 years, is one of the few places
in Northern
Virginia
where such development can take place -- METRO
stations in Fairfax
are surrounded by commuter
parking lots! Furthermore, Clarendon is designed
for childless households. A truly balanced community
needs to accommodate Leave-it-to-
Beaver families
close to METRO rather than relegating them
to the lower-density periphery.
2900
Clarendon is trying to do things right, Risse says.
His concern is that the system is stacked against
entrepreneurs like DeCamp. Developers have built
similar New Urbanism projects at Pentagon City and
in Bethesda but say they will not do more because they couldn’t make
money. Delays inherent in the system – negotiating
with the county, negotiating with the NIMBYs,
negotiating with leasing agents – can stretch out
the development time-frame from five years to ten.
Says Risse: “It takes time, and time is money. For
the effort required, most developers will stick to
strip malls.”
DeCamp
had a taste of what Risse is talking about. His team
made
diligent efforts to involve the community in his
project planning early on. Regardless, vocal
opposition surfaced during the approval process and
pressured him into making significant concessions.
Still, DeCamp and his associates passed through the fire
and 2900
Clarendon remains financially viable. Construction
will begin shortly.
Over
the years, DeCamp has become a student of New
Urbanism, a design philosophy that pays particular
attention to the quality of public spaces and the
pedestrian environment. He has applied many of the
movement’s tenets to 2900 Clarendon. Many are
common-sense design principles which, incredibly
enough, are honored in the breech in new development
– even in urban environments where they are
clearly applicable.
As
he analyzed his parcel, DeCamp decided to divide it
into two blocks, even though it meant bequeathing
space to a public thoroughfare. “It’s an
unnaturally long block,” he explains. “For a
pedestrian, it would be more convenient to cut right
through.” Plans call for adorning a narrow
cut-through street with trees and sidewalks,
creating a visually interesting promenade.
Although
the new buildings will be architecturally distinctive,
the development carries through themes found in the original
Clarendon buildings, like the old Odd
Fellows
Building,
built before 1960. The buildings will fit snug with
the sidewalk, providing a continuous face to the
street. But their brick faces will be capped by
distinctive cornices and their windows will vary in size and
treatment to dispel any sense of uniformity.
DeCamp
will plant native-specie trees along the streets and
install street lighting, even extending his
streetscape improvements to a portion of the block
not included in the project. A courtyard featuring a
fountain and extensive plantings will create an
inviting public space where people can mingle.
Parking
is becoming a problem in Clarendon, where density
has increased significantly over the years. DeCamp
plans to put most of the parking spaces underground.
However, metered street parking for
short-term visitors will surround the site. This curbside parking serves a
dual purpose: Besides providing a convenience for
visitors, it buffers pedestrians from
traffic in the streets.
Mitigation
of the transportation impact of 450 residents and
numerous office workers is central to the
development. Based on past experience, Bush
Construction estimates that 46 percent of the residents will take
the METRO to work. The development also will encourage the use of
bicycles – adding bicycle parking, providing
shower access for office employees biking to work
– although, realistically, DeCamp expects few people to
use this option regularly.
DeCamp
gets most excited when he talks about plans to
“animate the streets” with pedestrians. Already,
he says, people are walking more in the Clarendon
neighborhood. “You see people walk to the property
next door, the Market Common,” a retail center
with a Barnes & Noble, an Apple Computer store
and other stores. His project will extend the
positive pedestrian environment by two more blocks.
He hopes to see residents hoofing it to neighborhood
amenities such as churches, day care centers,
stores, parks, schools and playgrounds --
eliminating the need for dozens more car trips.
Everybody
wins, DeCamp contends – even the neighbors who
objected to the project. 2900 Clarendon will boost Arlington
County
tax revenues from about $90,000 annually to $1.3
million. Neither the county nor the state will have
to invest in infrastructure – they are paying for
crosswalks with countdown signals, a storm-water management and
filtering system, the cut-through road and a public
plaza. By contrast, the singles and empty nesters
buying the condos will require minimal government
services.
Well
planned, livable communities like Clarendon make
Northern
Virginia
a better place to live and to do business, DeCamp
asserts. “Even now, with a bit of a recession,
companies are finding that their scarcest commodity
is the creative people it takes to make their
businesses successful. 2900 Clarendon contributes to
making a place
where people want to be.”
--February
19, 2003
|