Bacon's Rebellion

James A. Bacon



 

Attaway!

Building a Better Place

2900 Clarendon in Arlington County is a model for tax-efficient, environmentally friendly development that contributes to neighborhood vitality.  


 

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

 

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