Bowie - Greater Greater Washington

And...

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 08:58:00 EDT

A cyclist was hit near the MLK memorial. (WashCycle) ... Bowie's railroad museum teaches homeschooled children about trains. (Gazette) ... New, pretty renderings are released of the proposed park for McMillan. (UrbanTurf)

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Multiple pedestrians die

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 08:46:00 EDT

by David Alpert

Cars and drivers killed a 94-year-old woman on Georgia Avenue near Howard (by turning into the woman in a crosswalk), a 59-year-old man crossing Georgia in Aspen Hill, a man in Bowie on Route 301, and this morning, a man on New York Avenue by Ivy City. (WTOP, WJLA, Gazette)

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You're free to mow down pedestrians in Prince William (Oct 15, 2010)
How pedestrians "interfere with traffic" (Feb 28, 2011)
Wall in White Flint endangers pedestrians (Aug 18, 2010)
Police report for Connecticut & Nebraska crash (Feb 4, 2009)
Gaithersburg police target people in the way of cars (Oct 4, 2010)

Retailers are embracing urbanism with zeal

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 13:12:00 EDT

by Cavan Wilk

As enclosed malls continue to decline and close, more and more retailers are opting to locate in pedestrian-friendly urban districts.

Photo by NCinDC on Flickr.

3 years ago, I expressed sentiments that the car-oriented shopping mall was a business model with no future. The events since have offered further proof that retailers and customers now prefer an urban format, at least in our region.

Recent news that Bloomingdale's in White Flint and Macy's in Laurel will close has little to do with the sales performance of those stores, and everything to do with their host malls being unable to survive. Both have been visibly declining for years, and will soon be redeveloped into mixed-use walkable urban places.

The Laurel Macy's has managed to remain open for years despite much of its host mall being shuttered. That store would likely have closed years ago if it wasn't making money, especially in the wake of the Great Recession.

Similarly, if it had not been profitable the White Flint Bloomingdale's would have closed in 2007 when another location of the luxury retailer opened a mere 3 Metro stations away.

Within the Favored Quarter, the most economically competitive and healthy part of our region, only the largest and most dynamic enclosed malls are continuing to thrive. The rest are slowly dying.

In Maryland, Montgomery Mall is the most vibrant, while in Virginia the Tysons cluster reigns supreme.

When the White Flint redevelopment plan was approved in 2010, it provided the owners of White Flint Mall the opportunity to earn a healthier profit by giving the market more of what it wants: walkable urbanism.

Elsewhere in the region the malls are doing as bad or worse. Most have either closed or are in the process of being converted to walkable town centers.

Arlington has had success turning the area around its two enclosed malls into mixed-use towns, first at Ballston and now at Pentagon City, where the process is still under way.

In Fairfax, Springfield Mall is slated for redevelopment, and Fair Oaks Mall is actively considering a mixed-use future.

In Prince George's County, the area around the Mall at Prince George's (formerly Prince George's Plaza) has been undergoing a process similar to Pentagon City. At Bowie Town Center, County officials are looking at adding more entertainment and housing options.

Meanwhile, urban shopping areas that I mentioned three years ago have increased in prominence:

In the District of Columbia, there are four shopping districts that support clusters of national retail chains that are usually mall-based: Downtown (Old Downtown clustered around Metro Center), Connecticut Avenue between Farragut Square and Dupont Circle, Friendship Heights, and Georgetown. Columbia Heights is emerging and has a different mix of retailers.

Urban-format suburban shopping districts also continue to thrive and grow.

Silver Spring's retail is more vibrant than ever. The space vacated by Borders was quickly filled by Smart Toys. Bethesda and Clarendon are continually adding to their mixture of chains and smaller upscale retailers. Wheaton is a work in progress.

Even outside the Beltway, urbanism is catching on. Rockville Town Square and Gaithersburg's Washingtonian Center are growing, and National Harbor is setting the standard for Prince George's County. Two decades ago, all those developments likely would have been enclosed malls.

While purely car-dependent malls aren't going to go completely extinct, they are becoming far more rare. In the future, it is likely the only enclosed malls that remain will be the largest super-regional "winners" inside the Favored Quarter. Meanwhile, no new malls are planned.

As the 21st Century continues, both living and dead mall sites will be either be completely redeveloped or will evolve into mixed-use walkable urban places. Retailers will continue clustering at transit-oriented, walkable urban locations, both downtown and at new suburban "uptowns."

44 comments

2010 wish list for transit (Dec 23, 2009)
Back to the future in commercial real estate (Jan 2, 2009)
White Flint at forefront of urbanism on Rockville Pike (Oct 20, 2008)
The only thing we have to fear is fear of traffic (Jan 13, 2010)
"Mall people" and Montgomery County's downtowns (Jul 2, 2008)

DC grid isn't Maryland's only street name pattern

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:56:00 EDT

by Matt Johnson

Yesterday, I discussed the extension of DC's alphanumeric street naming system into Maryland. But there are other naming systems which are perhaps less logical but quirky enough to deserve mention.

Bowie, Maryland has a quasi-systematic set of named streets. Most of the suburban style housing built in the post war era falls in to sections where each street starts with the same letter. I've been told that many Bowie residents refer to their neighborhood simply using the letter, as in "E-section."

Another place worth mentioning is Bethesda. Several of the streets in and around the central business district are named after places in Northern Virginia. Arlington Road, Clarendon Road, Del Ray Avenue, Fairfax Road, Norfolk Avenue, St. Elmo Avenue, and Woodmont Avenue all reference places on the other side of the Potomac.

The region has not one, but (at least) two neighborhoods with streets named after places or characters from Star Trek. One is near Gaithersburg, the other in Largo.

As I pointed out yesterday, College Park uses university names as a part of its alphabetical street naming system. But two other Maryland neighborhoods also use colleges to name streets. One instance is in College Gardens, near Montgomery College. The other is Glen Echo.

Image from Google Maps. Click for interactive version.

Takoma Park has two different street naming patterns. In the central part of Takoma Park, streets tend to be named after flowers and trees. Closer to Silver Spring, streets are named after American cities.

There are probably other places in the region with interesting naming systems. Do any of you know where else we can find them?

23 comments

Maryland's systemic streets (Sep 2, 2010)
Washington's systemic streets (Aug 7, 2009)
Arlington's systemic streets (Dec 10, 2009)
A timeline of the Metropolitan Branch Trail (Aug 27, 2010)
Stand up for the Purple Line in November (Oct 3, 2008)

What Prince George's wants

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 12:42:00 EDT

by David Alpert

Residents at a Prince George's planning meeting asked for a Purple Line all the way around DC. A Bowie Planning Board member wants more traffic flow on Route 197 and also to make it safer for pedestrians and bicyclists, which seem to be somewhat in conflict. (Virginia Terhune/Gazette)

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MARC-oriented development at Bowie State

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 09:39:00 EDT

by David Alpert

Bowie State hopes to expand right at the MARC station. Some neighbors and leaders worry the development would "burden roadways," but at least development at MARC would burden them a lot less than somewhere else, something the County's "adequate public facilities" road-widening policies don't really take into account. (Gazette)

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Wider, wider, wider

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:18:00 EDT

The Bowie City Council approved State Highway Administration plans to widen Route 197. Some County Councilmembers raised concerns about the width, but mostly to complain about sidewalks, which they think are unnecessary because nobody walks there (might they one day?) or a "bicycle-compatible lane", which might be superfluous since there's a "recreational bike path" already. (Gazette)

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MoCoCo agrees with Planning Board on Road Code (Oct 7, 2008)
Hyattsville approves sidewalks over objections (Jul 22, 2008)
14 year-old cyclist killed. Will safety improvements follow? (Feb 17, 2009)
Council balks at bike lane parking fines (Jul 16, 2008)
Prince George's transportation plan, part 1: More sidewalks, more roads (Jan 30, 2009)