Route 1 Renaissance: Development Projects in College Park and Beyond

The busy corridor is quickly maturing into a vibrant, urban hub

#1 Liquor is the lone holdout on this block of US Route 1 in College Park after being surrounded by high-density residential development
Photo credit: Google StreetView

[Sorry for the long hiatus. I have been very busy with work, and with my posts being so long and detailed they require a lot of time and effort. I hope to post more frequently this year]

College Park, Maryland is home to the flagship campus of the University of Maryland (UMD), but has frequently been criticized as a middling college town, especially compared to other well-known college towns around the country such as Berkeley, CA and Ann Arbor, MI. Critics have given a number of reasons as to why College Park is considered to be a mediocre college town: 

• the lack of quality retail establishments 
• a heavily congested main road artery lined with not-so-attractive businesses
• poor access to the existing rail transit station
• a relatively high crime rate. 

Fortunately, over the past decade or so the city has seen a steady stream of substantial improvements in all the areas noted above, and with development interest in the city at an all time high, College Park is on the verge of becoming a far more livable and attractive college town.

The major transportation corridor for College Park and its neighbors is US Route 1 (Baltimore Ave./Rhode Island Ave.)--the national highway famous for connecting Maine and Florida. In addition to being the area's busiest vehicular artery, it has also been its primary commercial strip for nearly 100 years. Although there has been a steady stream of new development projects going up around College Park in recent years, many obsolete buildings, and the street itself seem to be stuck in a time warp. 

Fortunately, the recently funded reconstruction of US Route 1, which will include widening, the addition of bike lanes, and a much improved  environment for pedestrians which will do a lot to alleviate congestion and improve mobility. 

Just as important, as far as transportation infrastructure is concerned, is the Purple Line light rail line, which will be built through the heart of the UMD campus to connect the school to the existing College Park Metro/MARC rail station, as well as the commercial hubs of downtown Bethesda and Silver Spring. 

Notably, the high-quality projects coming to the Route 1 Corridor are attracting nationally recognized names such as: CVS, Hyatt, Choice Hotel's premium Cambria Suites brand, Whole Foods (opening its first store in the county), and Target (which is opening one of its first urban-format TargetExpress stores in the country). 

Continue reading for a list of all the mixed-use development projects recently completed (past 10 years), planned, or under construction in the Route 1 Corridor in College Park and beyond:

*Remember to check my comprehensive Urban Development Map for more details on these development projects and others in the area. 

City Halls of the Mid-Atlantic

The region boasts a vast collection of architecturally impressive municipal headquarters 

The city hall is the principal administrative building of a city. As symbols of local government, city halls often have distinctive architecture, and many of these buildings have great historical significance, being among the oldest buildings in their cities. 

The Mid-Atlantic region, which is one of the oldest and most heavily populated regions in the nation, is home to a relatively large number of city halls. As you'll see further down this page, certain city halls in the Mid-Atlantic hold records for being largest, tallest, or oldest in the nation. 

Most city halls in the region were built in the late 1800's when urban areas began to see heavy population growth, and municipal government services were in high demand. City halls in this era were usually built in central locations and designed in some form of Revival Architecture which gave these buildings with a grand presence. In addition to their elaborate architectural, many city halls were the among the largest buildings in their respective cities, and some still are today.  

Below you can view photos and information of the most exquisite city halls located in the Mid-Atlantic's largest (incorporated) cities.

WASHINGTON D.C.

John A. Wilson Building
Photo Credit: Wally Gobetz via flickr

Year Constructed: 1904
Architectural Style: Beaux Arts
City Population (2013): 646,449
Notes: Originally named the "District Building," the John A. Wilson Building is the city's second city hall. The original city hall was constructed in 1820 in the Neoclassical Style and is currently home to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals


DELAWARE
Wilmington

Daniel L. Hermann Courthouse

Year Constructed: 1916
Architectural Style: Neoclassical Revival-Greek Revival
City Population (2013): 71,525
Notes: This building originally held a number of courts and municipal offices and was at one point informally named the "Public Building," receiving it's current name only a couple of decades ago. The city and county government offices eventually moved to the Louis L. Redding City-County Building (built 1977) and in 2002 the courts moved to the newly built Justice Center, leaving the building vacant. The building was eventually purchased by developers and converted to office space, which has been occupied by a prestigious law firm since 2009.

MARYLAND
Baltimore

Baltimore City Hall

Year Constructed: 1875

Architectural Style: Second Empire
City Population (2013): 622,104
Notes: Designed by George Aloysius Frederick, a 22-year old architect. The building cost $2,271,136 and took eight years to complete.

Annapolis

Annapolis City Hall

Year Constructed: 1764 (original structure), 1867 (current structure)
Architectural Style: Neoclassical-Georgian
City Population (2013): 38,722
Notes: The original structure on this site was known as the "Ball Room" and used as different points in history as a meeting place of the Maryland Assembly, local headquarters
of Union troops during the Civil War, a guard house, and a prison camp. While being used as a prison camp it burned down and a new city hall was built on the ruins using three of the exterior walls of the original building.

Downtown Silver Spring's Upcoming Wave of Development

Development boom poised to be biggest since the 1960's

Skyline of Downtown Silver Spring in 2012
Photo Credit: Dan Reed via flickr

UPDATED 09/16

With the completion of Fenwick Station this past July and the upcoming delivery of the Residences at Thayer this fall, the current wave of building construction in downtown Silver Spring is now tapering to an end (the publicly-funded library and transit center projects are exceptions). The lull in development will be short-lived however, as downtown Silver Spring is on the verge of seeing yet another development boom in the coming years. This next wave of construction is poised to be even bigger than the last wave, which was already the urban hub's largest in nearly half a century.

A History of Development in Downtown Silver Spring
Silver Spring was originally 'founded' in 1840 when Francis Preston Blair and his daughter discovered a spring flowing with chips of mica on land just north of the Washington D.C. border. Blair later purchased the land surrounding the spring to create a summer estate which he named "Silver Spring." 

By the early 1900's Silver Spring had begun to grow into a small suburban town on the B&O Railroad's Metropolitan Branch. During the 1960's, the growing commercial hub experienced it's first high-rise construction boom, along with other lower county communities. Between 1961 and 1971 an impressive 23 high-rise buildings were constructed in downtown Silver Spring. However, following the boom was a long dearth of building activity, and the downtown area entered into a period of economic decline from the mid-1970's onward. Even the arrival of Metro's Red Line in Downtown in 1978 did little to rejuvenate the area. 

Downtown Silver Spring didn't really see any significant construction activity again until the arrival of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) headquarters in the late 1980's and early 1990's. NOAA's massive complex along East-West Highway added four high-rise office buildings to the urban center's skyline, including two of its tallest buildings. Despite the economic boost brought by the NOAA headquarters, the development lull in downtown Silver Spring continued throughout the 1990's.

The center of Downtown Silver Spring

The Beginning of a Renaissance
At the beginning of the 21st century, signs of new life began to emerge in downtown Silver Spring. Several city blocks near the decades-old City Place Mall were completely demolished to accommodate a new 440,000 sq. ft. outdoor retail/entertainment center. In 2003, Discovery Communications completed construction of its new headquarters in the center of the business district, a move the really accelerated Silver Spring's resurgence. Between 2001 and 2010, nearly 15 new high-rise buildings were constructed in Silver Spring compared to the 6 built during the previous decade .

In addition to the surge of private investment, heavy public investment from Montgomery County, as well as the nationwide 'back to the city' movement, also played major roles in Silver Spring's rejuvenation. However, with the still depressed office market, nearly all of the new development in downtown Silver Spring has been residential (with retail components). Between May 2013 and July 2014 an unprecedented six residential apartment buildings (the same total number of buildings completed over the entire decade of the 1990's!) were completed in Silver Spring.

*Newly constructed buildings of 5 or more stories. Does not include conversions of existing buildings (e.g. office to residential)

The Next Wave
As huge as the recent development blitz has been, the upcoming wave could likely surpass it, and possibly the massive 1960's boom. There are over 20 planned or approved high-density projects currently in the pipeline for downtown Silver Spring, with 12 buildings projected to be completed by 2018. 

Below you can find detailed information on every development project currently in the works for downtown Silver Spring:

*Remember to check my comprehensive Urban Development Map for more details on these development projects as well as every project completed since 2005 in Downtown Silver Spring. 

The "Snobbiest" Small Cities in the Mid-Atlantic

Bethesda Row in Bethesda, MD - #2 Snobbiest Small CIty
Photo Credit: ehplen via Flickr

Last week, real estate website Movoto released its ranking of the "10 Snobbiest Small Cities in America." This ranking is in the same vein as Movoto's previous ranking of the "10 Most Exciting Suburbs." 

While I'm not sure I agree with the use of the word "snobby" to describe these admittedly affluent cities, since it could be viewed as derisive to their residents (personally I would use "preppy"), the ranking does seem to be somewhat accurate. (I tend to appreciate rankings that actually use statistical data as criteria, rather than anecdotal experiences or informal polls.) Out of the top 10, three of the cities are located in the Mid-Atlantic: Bethesda, MD (#2), Hoboken, NJ (#6), and Rockville, MD (#8). 

Washington St in Hoboken, NJ - #6 Snobbiest Small City 
Photo Credit: City of Hoboken

Bear in mind that to qualify as "small cities" according to Movoto (and similar to my definition) populated places (incorporated or not) had to have populations of between 45,000 and 65,000. This explains the absence of places such as Potomac (which just barely missed the 45K cutoff) and Chevy Chase, MD  and Scarsdale and Chappaqua, NY. I honestly think the ranking should have focused on smaller towns (pop. ~25,000-50,000) which have less income and cultural deviations. Some of these cities (such as Hoboken and Rockville) are rather large and multi-cultural to be considered "snobby" (preppy) as a whole.

The other issue with this ranking is that it doesn't take into account relative wealth. For instance, in Montgomery County, Rockville isn't really viewed as a "snobbish" or particularly exclusive city, especially compared to it's neighbors immediately to its south. Compared to other cities in other states it might seem very well-to-do, but in the 2nd wealthiest metro area, in the 2nd wealthiest county of the wealthiest state in the nation it is merely "upper middle-class."

Top 10 "Snobbiest" Small Cities in America
Rank	City
1.	Palo Alto, CA
2.	Bethesda, MD
3.	Brookline, MA
4.	San Rafael, CA
5.	Walnut Creek, CA
6.	Hoboken, NJ
7.	Oak Park, IL
8.	Encitas, CA (tie)
8.	Rockville, MD (tie)
10.	Laguna Niguel, CA

The Mid-Atlantic's Casinos

The Gold Rush to Build New Casinos in the Region Continues to Gain Momentum 

Future MGM National Harbor
National Harbor, MD
Photo Credit: MGM

Until about 20 years ago, the only casino gambling options available to residents of the Mid-Atlantic were located in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Today, while other regions still only have legalized casino gambling concentrated in select few jurisdictions (particularly in the South and West), every state in the Mid-Atlantic region has legalized at least some form of (strictly) regulated commercial gambling and has at minimum solicited bids for the construction of multiple casinos.

Casinos in the Mid-Atlantic: The Numbers
Number of: Delaware Maryland New Jersey New York Pennsylvania West Virginia Casinos 3 6* 11 9 13* 5    - Commercial 0 3 0 0 4 0    - Racinos 3 1 0 9 6 4    - Resort 0 2 11 0 3 1 Slot Machines/VLTs 7,000 12,893 24,368 15,779 27,250 8,020 Table Games 172 402 1,540 0 785 228 Hotel Rooms 500 500 17,638 573 1,378 1,520

*Includes one casino to be constructed in the near future

Resorts International Atlantic City: the East Coast's first casino
Atlantic City, NJ

History of Mid-Atlantic Casinos
Casino gambling first arrived in the Mid-Atlantic in 1978 in Atlantic City. ("Gambling halls" with slot machines did exist previously however in Charles County, MD from 1949 until they were outlawed in 1968). Between the end of World War II and the 1970's, the previously well-regarded resort city had entered into a steep decline, becoming plagued crime, poverty, and corruption. In an effort to revitalize the city, in 1976 New Jersey voters approved casino gambling for Atlantic City. Immediately after the legislation passed, the owners of the Chalfonte-Haddon Hall Hotel began converting it into the Resorts International. It was the first legal casino in the eastern United States when it opened on May 26, 1978 and still exists among 10 other casinos currently operating in the city.

While Atlantic City never reached the success of Las Vegas--the so-called "Entertainment Capital of the World"-- the city's casinos helped the city regain its status as a desirable resort destination, one of the most popular in the nation by the end of the 1980's. 
The success didn't last long though. WIth the advent of two Native American casinos in Connecticut and the era of "mega resorts" in Las Vegas in the 1990's, tourism in Atlantic City began a period of decline that continues to this day. The arrival of casino gambling in neighboring states has significantly compounded the problem and will likely continue to do so into the future.

Aerial view of Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races
Charles Town, WV

Casino Gambling Expands Beyond Atlantic City
Atlantic City's first wave of regional competition appeared in 1994 when both Delaware and West Virginia legalized gambling at "racinos"--combined horse (and dog) racetracks and casinos. Two years earlier, in New England, Rhode Island had also legalized racinos. Racinos proved to be very successful, particularly in West Virginia, and helped revitalize run-down racetracks as well as provide an overall boost to the horseracing industry. Legalization of racinos soon spread across the country, as far away as New Mexico, and are now legal in a total 12 states. New York, one of the most recent states to authorize racinos, legalized them in October 2001, and there are now 9 located throughout the state, including two located in or near New York City: Empire City Casino at Yonkers Raceway and Resorts World Casino New York at Aqueduct Racetrack. The opening of the New York  casinos further added to the misfortunes of the Atlantic City casinos.

SugarHouse Casino
Philadelphia, PA

Later in the decade, the legislatures of Maryland and Pennsylvania (the last two commercial gambling holdouts in the Mid-Atlantic) both passed measures to legalize casino gambling in 2008 and 2004 respectively. Unlike the other states of the region (except New Jersey), both states went a step further than racinos by legalizing a limited number of stand-alone casinos with strict restrictions attached. In addition to seven racino licenses, Pennsylvania made five licenses available stand-alone casinos (two in Philadelphia, one in Pittsburgh, and two at-large), and additional two to existing hotel resorts. Maryland passed similar legislation (ratified by voters in a 2008 referendum) which allowed the construction of five casinos in four counties and Baltimore city geographically dispersed throughout the state. Two of these casinos were built as racinos at existing horse tracks.

Horseshoe Casino Baltimore (opening fall 2014)
Baltimore, MD

Custom Google Map with location, pictures, and critical info of every casino in the Mid-Atlantic:

(Tip: Press the box above the map in the top right corner for a better view)

Baltimore's Skyscrapers (Part II)

New Skyscrapers to Elevate City Skyline

414 Light St

Two weeks ago, I wrote about recent skyscraper proposals in Baltimore that didn't survive the recession. Now that Baltimore is well on its way to recovery, and development demand in the city is again on the rise, there have been quite a few new high-rise proposals put forth by developers. Not surprisingly, the vast majority of these proposals are primarily residential in nature, particularly rental apartments, but there is at least one build-to-suit office project as well as a condominium project on the near-term horizon. 

According to 2014 release of the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore\s annual development report, there are 1,137 apartment units under construction and over 2,010 units in the planning (including office-to-residential conversions). The report also estimates that over the course of the next several years, an additional 3,300 housing units, 550 hotel rooms, 300,000 sq. ft. of retail space, 560,000 sq. ft. of office space, and 760,000 sq. ft. of institutional space will be added to the Downtown Baltimore market.

Despite the promising statistics, the Baltimore real estate market is still struggling in a number of areas. Not only is the office market continuing to be pretty weak (the tallest buildings in nearly all large American city are office buildings), the retail sector has also seen surprisingly sluggish growth (which will likely improve over the long run). In addition, the 'new generation' of Baltimore high-rises are modest in scale compared to the pre-recession proposals. Only one building proposed exceeds 400 ft in height (and even that was greatly reduced from 715 ft.). Developers (and their financial investors/partners) are clearly more cautious and risk-averse now, so this sudden "fear of heights" might unfortunately be a part of a new, post-'Great Recession' reality. 

Another cause for the smaller scale of new skyscrapers, specifically in the residential sector, is the stiff competition  from the ever increasing number of office-to-residential building conversions in the downtown area (thanks to the weak office demand). Some buildings, such as the Four Seasons hotel/condo skyscraper and Exelon headquarters tower, have seen their height reduced significantly. 

In any case, any additional skyscrapers will be an improvement on the Baltimore skyline which is becoming increasingly aged due to the lack of development. Listed below are the current proposals:

(Note: This list contains buildings proposed to be 200 ft or taller likely to be constructed over the next few years. For existing proposals that have been delayed indefinitely see Part I)

Baltimore's Skyscrapers (Part I)

'Charm City's' Tallest Buildings, and Ambitious Proposals Thwarted by the Recession

Proposed 44-story Four Seasons Hotel & Residences
(currently only partially completed)

Last February, I posted an article on the tallest existing and proposed buildings in Washington D.C. and its immediate suburbs. This two-part post will take a look at the tallest buildings in Baltimore as well as the latest proposals for new skyscrapers in the city, (plus some that were proposed over the past decade but never built).

Washington is well known for it's short, uniform skyline with nearly every building being built less than 200 ft. high. Of course this allows the 555 ft. Washington Monument and the 289 ft. U.S. Capitol to easily stand out against the backdrop of mostly 10- to 15-story "highrises." Unlike Washington D.C. though, it's more blue collar neighbor to the north has a more "conventional" urban skyline. Baltimore has a number of considerable number of skyscrapers (defined as buildings over 300 ft on this site) including the tallest building in the entire Baltimore-Washington Region--the 529 ft. Transamerica Tower (formerly the Legg Mason building).

Despite having a significant amount of buildings over 300 ft., Baltimore still lacks any "supertalls" (buildings over 1,000 ft. tall) and it's tallest building is shorter than the tallest buildings of many less-populated cities. A major reason for this has been the weak residential and office market in Baltimore over the last few decades. While Washington D.C. has seen a boom in new residents and hasn't lacked for well-paying jobs thanks to the federal government, Baltimore, on the other hand, has been somewhat struggling to attract and retain businesses as well as residents (as has been the case in many blue-collar cities in the Northeast and Midwest). 

Baltimore's fortunes have begun to change though. A recent reversal of the decades-long population decline and a large influx of residents into the city's core neighborhoods surrounding the Inner Harbor, are promising signs of a brighter future, although business growth has still remained slow. Developers have taken notice of the city's recent resurgence and have proposed (and constructed) a multitude of new buildings in the city (nearly all residential), including skyscrapers. 

Unfortunately, the recent recession took it's toll on Baltimore's real estate market, and many of the more ambitious (read: very expensive to finance) projects have failed or been postponed indefinitely, including a number of buildings that would have been the city's tallest. Below is a ranking of the tallest buildings in the city currently and, following that, proposals for new skyscrapers that were derailed by the recent recession. In a second part to this post will be a list of new skyscraper proposals that are somewhat toned down in scale, but (hopefully) more likely to actually be constructed. 

Transamerica Tower- Currently the tallest building in Baltimore

Below is a ranking of the tallest buildings in Baltimore:

	Name	Stories	Height (ft)
1.	Transamerica Tower	40	529
2.	10 Light St	37	509
3.	William Donald Schaefer Building	37	493
4.	Commerce Place	31	454
5.	100 E Pratt St	28	418
6.	Baltimore World Trade Center	32	405
7.	Tremont Plaza Hotel	37	395
8.	Charles Tower South Apartments	30	385
9. =	Blaustein Building	30	360
9. =	250 W Pratt St	24	360

Continue reading to see Baltimore skyscraper proposals that failed during the recent recession:

The Mid-Atlantic's Most "Exciting" Suburbs

Downtown Silver Spring, MD at night
Photo Credit: UrbanTurf DC

Yesterday, real estate website Movoto released its ranking of the "Most Exciting Suburbs In America." Movoto created its ranking by selecting the 139 largest suburbs (using Census data)
and averaging their ranking over the following 6 criteria:

• Nightlife per capita (bars, clubs, comedy, etc.)
• Live music venues per capita
• Active life options per capita (parks, outdoor activities, etc.)
• Fast Food restaurants per capita (the fewer the better)
• Percentage of restaurants that are fast food (the lower the better)

A number of suburbs in the Mid-Atlantic made the top 50 ranking, although none of them made the top 10. The region also seems to be a little underrepresented on the top 50 as well with only with only five suburbs ranked (16% of US population should equal exactly 8 on the list). 

The #1 ranked suburb in the nation, Cambridge, MA, isn't really a surprise, neither are a few of the others in the top 10 such as Berkeley, CA and Santa Monica, CA. Some of the other top 10 suburbs however, might cause a few raised eyebrows.  It should come as no surprise though that many suburbs on the list are college towns including the Mid-Atlantic's "most exciting": Towson, MD.

Continue reading to see the national top 10 "most exciting" suburbs ranking as well as the most exciting suburbs here in the Mid-Atlantic.

Bethesda's Building Boom: A detailed list of development activity in downtown Bethesda

Photo credit: BethesdaNow.com 

UPDATED 02/06/15

Since the delivery of a few projects between 2008-2009 (in the midst of the recent recession) there had been no new residential or commercial development projects completed in downtown Bethesda, Maryland. That changed just two weeks ago with the opening of the 17-story Gallery Bethesda apartment building in the Woodmont Triangle district. The Gallery is just the first in a slew of new high-density development projects to be constructed over the next few years in downtown Bethesda.

The vast majority of these projects  are residential in nature, with over 3,000 new apartment and condo units in the pipeline. However, a hotel is also in the works, and even a few office buildings, one of which is already under construction--a rarity in Montgomery County these days and Bethesda's first in over a decade. Nearly all of the projects in the pipeline are within walking distance of the Bethesda Metro station and/or the future Purple Line light rail station promoting transit usage.

THE FACTS
Coming to downtown Bethesda over the next several years:
- 30 projects
...including...
- 16 residential mid/high-rise apartment buildings
- 6 residential mid/high-rise condo buildings
- 5 office buildings 
- 2 hotels
- 1 police station
...containing...
- 4,003 residential units 
- 1,022,000 sq. ft. of office space
- 244,680 sq. ft. of retail space
- 452 hotel rooms

Here's a detailed list of all of the medium/high-density development projects going up around downtown Bethesda along with their current statuses (Remember to click on the photos to enlarge):

2013 Spotlight on Prince George's County: Maryland county secures promising future

Rendering of initial vision for MD Housing Dept headquarters
New Carrollton, MD
Photo courtesy: WTOP

Despite it's large population and numerous important institutions (NASA-Goddard, IRS, Census Bureau, Joint Base Andrews, University of Maryland, etc.), Prince George's County, which shares nearly its entire western border with DC, has been struggling to keep pace with other Beltway counties in attracting high-paying jobs and high-quality retail/residential/commercial development. This is probably mostly due to the persistent negative image the county has had because of its relatively high crime rates (despite serious crime being concentrated mainly in small pockets inside the Beltway and decreasing year over year) and schools that are perceived to be of lower quality than those in other suburban jurisdictions. 

That said, 2013 brought some very welcome news for the county in terms of its economic prospects, and the year was no doubt an unqualified success for County Executive Rushern Baker. A number of projects were announced this year that would bring hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity, as well over 20,000 jobs to the county over the next few years:

Mid-Atlantic States Show Average Population Growth in 2013

According to the 2013 state population estimates released on Monday by the U.S. Census Bureau, the states of the Mid-Atlantic Region and Washington D.C. individually showed growth rates ranging from strong to weak, with the region's overall growth rate being decidedly below average. The estimates were taken on July 1, 2013. Here are some quick observations:

- All five Mid-Atlantic state with the exception of Delaware were in the top 20 most populous states, including New York and Pennsylvania, which were in the top 10

- The District of Columbia had a far higher growth rate than any of the states in the region, which is not surprising since urban areas have recently started to outpace many suburbs and rural areas in terms of growth.

- Pennsylvania easily had the most disappointing growth in the region and was the third slowest growing state in the entire nation between 2012 and 2013 (after Maine and West Virginia which both saw population declines)

- Florida, which added ~270,000 residents as the 8th fastest growing state in the nation is only ~100,000 residents away from displacing New York as the 3rd most populous state, which will likely happen some point next year

- Delaware was the fastest growing state in the region in 2013, ranking 16th with a nearly .1% rate of growth

- After Delaware, Maryland was the next fastest growing state in the region, ranking 23rd with a relatively average .7% growth rate

- New York and New Jersey both had below average growth, ranking 31st and 32nd respectively in terms of growth

Montgomery County thinks urban...except when it comes to banks

M&T Bank in Downtown Silver Spring
Image Courtesy of Adam Fagen

This article one part of a multi-segment series titled The Urban Transformation, which takes a look at how certain public institutions and private businesses are adapting to nascent urban environments

Montgomery County, MD probably utilizes more new urbanist, smart growth principles in development planning than pretty much every other jurisdiction in the DC Metro region (outside of Washington D.C. itself), and more so than most suburban counties in the nation. However, while new walkable, transit-oriented urban centers in the county have been rapidly growing over the past decade or so with the construction of new high-density, mixed-use development built along these principles, it seems that one type of business has stubbornly resisted the urban transformation: bank branches.

The typical template for mixed-use development in Montgomery County's urban centers comprises either residential units or commercial office space (relatively rare in these days of high vacancy rates across the Metro area and limited government and business expansion) above ground-floor retail in mid- or high-rise buildings. When I use the term "retail" I'm encompassing a wide range of businesses such as: restaurants, nightclubs, barbers, supermarkets, pharmacies, bars, bank branches, etc. The combination of uses in these mixed-use developments is crucial to creating a true urban environment where residents can live, work, shop, and play, and the streets are active from dawn well into the night.

For some reason, banks (in Montgomery County's urban areas) have shied away from this type of development, while pretty much every other form of "retail" has embraced it. There are a number of new bank branches popping up in the county's urban areas, but many as traditional stand-alone single-story buildings with parking, rather than on the ground-floor of multi-story buildings. Some of these locations are pretty high-profile and on very valuable plots of land.