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dan! nice entry on thecamp etc., although I can't imagine Suzanne's parents will want to go... the same retail group has developed some concepts for "Downtown" Anaheim--it's not a downtown like we think of, but where the city hall and some public buildings are, the ice rink for the Ducks, a parking structure with restrooms, etc., although they have a great fleamarket on the last Sunday of the month.

charlie -- interesting point about ranking developers. If we did, at least then there would be some suasion opportunity for getting the laggards to improve. E.g., Federal Realty wouldn't have been interested because the site isn't really mixed use, but they would have been much better on the retail (e.g., Bethesda Row).

I have been remiss on blogging about a new apartment project on Rte. 1 in Fairfax done by Wood Partners and it is interesting for the same reason, the developer is doing a high quality project, even though nothing else on the corridor is developed similarly, but since it is 1.5 miles from the Huntington Metro, they are positioning it that way.

So like Abdo doing the Childrens Museum redev on H St. and setting the bar for higher quality, or Donatelli on U St./14th St., having developers that want to do work that has staying power is key to successful revitalization.

And as I have blogged on Georgetown, just because it's more successful than most places in DC proper, it still needs to plan, have a plan, and has to remain competitive with other destinations in the regional retail landscape.

But yes, because it's a key tourist destination, that makes it harder to incentivize quality, because some of the property owners (not Lanier) realize that most of the visitors only come once so they don't have to worry about attracting repeat business.

by Richard Layman on Sep 18, 2012 4:21 pm • link • report