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Nothing gets my goat more than when people call a new development "Disney-esque." While I agree with Thayer that everything is a derivative of something that came before, I think that we also can't judge a new project, particularly one as complex as a town center, right out of the gate.

It takes a long time for these developments to become fully occupied. Bethesda Row took 10 years to complete. Rockville Town Square opened in 2007, but it took years to fill all the apartments, and the grocery store never opened. Downtown SIlver Spring opened in 2002 and their apartments are just being built now.

On top of that, you have to let people "make their mark" on the space. The apartments fill up. The shops might turn over until the "right" retail mix is found. And the introduction of publicly-owned and operated space, like Rockville's town square or Silver Spring's civic building, gives people First Amendment rights to assemble and protest, something that most shopping centers or Disney World will never have.

We can't make an "authentic" place from the start. Give it a few years, however, and we'll see if these "town center" developments can become real places. My guess is they can and will.

by dan reed! on Feb 25, 2012 3:51 pm • link • report