Posts about Temporary Urbanism

In recent decades, small business have all but disappeared from the area, and in recent years, even larger establishments, such as the National Wholesale Liquidators and the Safeway at the Rhode Island Avenue Center strip mall have closed their doors.

With only a few tenants left, the mall's sprawling parking lots never exceed 50% capacity, even on weekends. Indeed, the lot's landlord even offers "commuter parking" for the nearby Rhode Island Avenue Metro station.

The former Safeway, closed in 2010, has stood vacant, with little sign of activity, for over a year. When it closed, the grocery chain noted that the location had been unprofitable for over 10 years. Grocery stores serve as important community anchors and allow other forms of retail to flourish nearby. This is especially true for this strip mall, which is detached from the surrounding streets and neighborhoods.

Rhode Island Avenue north of Brentwood fares no better. Despite stretches that see over 30,000 vehicles per day, businesses along the avenue are anything but diverse. Sit-down restaurants tend to avoid this part of town, despite plenty of potential customers. The only new food establishments to open recently are a Rita's Custard Shop and a breakfast/brunch-only diner.

Nearby residents lament the lack of retail, but although the area has no shortage of space for new businesses to move in, the high upfront costs of opening shop coupled with the neighborhood's reputation pose an enormous to traditional establishments that might even consider the area as their base. In "up and coming" neighborhoods, entrepreneurs may be hesitant to open businesses despite low rents and high traffic volumes. Many business owners don't want to be roped into a long-term lease if the future of the neighborhood remains uncertain.

With lower operating costs and a greater dependence on readily available, affordable property, pop-up stores might prove to be a great option for Rhode Island Avenue. And, the so-called pop-up businesses might already have some examples to follow in Northeast.

In the Rhode Island Avenue Center, a car-wash and Mr. P's BBQ truck have set-up shop and attract a loyal following of both locals and visitors. On weekends, impromptu flea markets appear and attract residents from Edgewood and other close-by neighborhoods.

Within the vacant former Safeway space, an indoor flea or farmers' market might fit in nicely, especially in cooler weather. Since Safeway's departure last year, residents of nearby Edgewood and Eckington have had to travel to the Brentwood Giant to get groceries; adding an indoor, semi-permanent farmers' market might make their lives a little easier (and tastier).

On the other side of town, in Mt. Pleasant, an ingenious concept called the "Temporium" made use of underutilized retail space on Mt. Pleasant Street NW. Despite being a temporary facility, the space attracted 6,800 visitors and made over $31,000 in sales the last month it was open.

However, before significant development can occur on Rhode Island Avenue, the corridor needs to see some substantial improvements to the area's transportation infrastructure. Currently, the Rhode Island Avenue-Brentwood metro station serves the area, but it lacks adequate neighborhood access.

There are plans to build a ramp across the CSX/MARC/Amtrak line, which would eliminate the circuitous walk or perilous rail crossing to the shopping center and could begin construction in 2012. DDOT has also included Rhode Island Avenue in its Phase II streetcar plan, but this addition should be preceded with a Circulator route or other frequent bus service.

Eventually, the entire corridor will need to adopt a comprehensive plan (such as the one produced during the Fenty administration by the DC Planning Office), but, in the meantime, short-term solutions, such as pop-up stores, exist to improve the livability of the area and make the neighborhoods that surround it more appealing.

One theme became clear: our regulatory structure and business practices are very good at accommodating permanent enterprises, but when it comes to temporary uses, we apply the same licensing burdens, lease agreements, and review processes that are unsuitable for projects that may only last 4 weeks.

If you want to try opening a Christmas market in an unconventional space for just one month, it may be New Year's Eve before you get the necessary approvals to make it happen. All this assumes you were able to find a landlord who knew you existed and had an interest in a one-month lease in the first place.

Landlords prefer long-term tenants, even if it means they have to keep a property vacant for a year to find one. Real estate brokerages are set up to find long-term tenants and are often unaware of a neighbor who has a dream project that is only meant to last for a month. Often our regulatory structure makes short-term leases not worth the administrative and legal hassle.

Tregoning noted the irony that our regulatory and business structures are geared toward permanent uses even though many aspects of our society are increasingly ephemeral. The Office of Planning, she said, while currently in the process of overhauling the District's zoning code, is looking to for ways to make the revised code flexible enough to accommodate temporary uses.

Let's say several artists who live in your neighborhood want to exhibit their art work just for two weeks and they found a vacant home they could lease for two weeks. To turn it into a temporary gallery where they could sell their work, they would need to hire a land-use attorney, appeal to the Board of Zoning Adjustments, and seek ANC support.

That's a daunting and expensive task if you want to open an art gallery just for two weeks. Even if all the neighbors and the ANC commissioner supported the idea, the regulatory framework makes little distinction between this two-week project and the next Corcoran Gallery.

We need a new regulatory and commercial infrastructure to bring temporary projects to fruition:

• "Ephemera" brokerages that connect potential short-term tenants with landlords who have space that's vacant temporarily.
• Lease templates and leasing regulations that treat temporary leases strictly as term-limited and allow landlords to terminate the leases quickly the moment they find a permanent tenant.
• Zoning and regulatory flexibility for short-term uses. Most commercial activity is not permitted in residential zones and DPR prohibits the sale of food in its parks. We should consider permitting exceptions for modest, short-term projects.

One of the great things about living in a city, Washington especially, is the level of delightful surprise. Seeing a new restaurant open, seeing a neighbor paint their house a new color, or spotting a new work of public art can enhance the quality of life.

Whenever I walk around my neighborhood or over to U Street, I always see something new or something existing that was refashioned in an interesting way. These changes are often small, but the frequency of change tells a consistent story: our city is alive.

We have the creative talent to bring short-term projects to fruition, but we need the business and regulatory infrastructure to catch up to make these plans feasible.

The plaza, called CentralSpace, is a good example of how organizations can work together to make small but positive changes to their environment. The effort was a cooperation between JBG, the Rosslyn Business Improvement District, Rosslyn Renaissance, and local volunteer groups. It includes a stage, benches, tables and chairs, as well as a rain garden to help reduce runoff.

Cities are dynamic places that are constantly in flux, as new development replaces old and changes are made to the urban form. Well executed and creative temporary urbanism can make the growing pains more pleasant and exciting, and can make our cities better places.

If the people I see enjoying CentralSpace are any indication, it's been a great success.

Amidst all those empty storefronts, however, are hundreds of small local businesses that would love to occupy a retail space, but can't afford the asking prices for a lease in a good location.

Why not let small businesses use some of these spaces on a short-term basis at reduced rent, while deals with longer-term, higher-paying tenants are being sought?

Actually, there's no real reason why not. That's exactly the premise behind the Mount Pleasant Temporium, a pop-up retail store selling goods from 30-some local businesses that don't have stores of their own.

The Temporium is a project by the DC Temporary Urbanism Initiative, which seeks to promote economic development, incubate local businesses, and activate underused commercial properties. It's an absolutely fabulous idea that benefits just about everyone, and should be emulated across the city.

The Temporium is at 3068 Mt. Pleasant Street and is open 2-7 pm, Monday through Friday, until March 13.

Cross-posted at BeyondDC.

Recognizing that it could be five years before shovel hits dirt, city officials decided to develop an interim use for the property. Their initial approach was to spend $500,000 on an area parking lot. This idea also met with fierce community opposition, ultimately resulting in a commitment of $2M to create a community park.

The interim park is scheduled to open on July 29th, and already includes sod, some trees, two basketball courts, a tennis court, two tot-lots with playground equipment and a small parking lot. A building is to be built in the second phase of the project to support educational programs.

The high price tag for the park led some to speculate that DC might keep it as a park permanently, but this RFP makes it clear the park isn't permanent. On the other hand, it's possible it won't become a school again, either.

Though the RFP clearly has the educational needs of the community as a priority, developers have the option to submit proposals that don't include a new school as well as ones that do. In the event that a winning proposal is focus primarily on the commercial aspect of the property, the RFP states that funds generated from the conveyance of the property to the developer would be used to "fund school improvement at the off-site Bruce Monroe Elementary School at Parkview."

This clearly brings the modernization of the Park View school back into the mix. This is significant since a renovated Park View has been rejected by approximately 30 to 40 of the parents of the 414 students who attended the school this year.

Its impossible to see which way this issue will go until proposals start to roll in. Its certainly possible that a new school will arise on the site of the old. Yet, each twist and turn seems to include an additional challenge for that vision.

Those interested in reading the full RFP, as well as the contents of the four appendices, can do so by going to the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development's Web site.

In addition to the original tennis court and basketball court, as second basketball court has been added as well as two tot lots and a parking lot for visitors to the park. While DMPED's original proposal to make the entire site a parking lot was successfully defeated by well-organized neighbors, Byers stated that zoning required the parking spaces included on the plan, even if the site was being used on an interim basis.

Work on phase one is scheduled to be completed by mid- to late-July. The initial development will not include water or lighted courts. The only lighting that will be in place will be for security purposes.

An area will be reserved for a future urban garden, and the athletic courts have been relocated along Columbia Road to free up the northwest corner of the property for a farmers market. Due to zoning restrictions, only the property along Georgia Avenue can be used commercially. The remainder of the property is zoned R-4 residential.

The second phase will include water and lighting for the entire site. There will be no designated lighting for the athletic courts. Programming and permitting for the second phase will occur while the initial development is underway, and may even begin before the first phase is completed.

Finally, a building of some sort will be located at the center of the property to support educational programs and other community needs. Whether it is a trailer or permanent structure does not appear to be settled at this time. When pressed on how the $2 million was to be used, Byers responded that it was all allocated for construction, development and programming.

The current budget does not have specific line item allocations. Once completed, the site would be operated by the Department of Parks and Recreation, and maintenance costs would need to come from them.

The discussion thus turned to how DMPED will avoid creating the same exact problem with the next property that they might attempt to turn into a parking lot. One resident asked that since individual property owners in the District were required to post physical, visible signs on their property about zoning requests and buildout proposals, why doesn't DMPED also post signs on their properties such as alerts about RFPs?

Jackson replied, "Signs? Signs? We don't do signs. That isn't what we do." But the next words out of his mouth were, "We need to talk about communication. How can we communicate with the community?"

The DMPED representatives did give residents the direct emails of the officials involved with the 5th and I project, but since it's now too late to do anything since the contract is already signed, they instructed residents to email the Mayor's correspondence unit instead. They also said that DMPED officials are unable to answer all email inquiries sent directly to them.

My emails to Deputy Mayor Santos's published email address had all gone unanswered after weeks, so apparently DMPED is not in the business of responding to taxpayer inquiries via email, unless you go through specific channels. They also mentioned that Jose Soussa checks the dcbiz@dc.gov email address regularly and could ensure a response.

Councilmember Jack Evans (Ward 2) did not stay for the DMPED presentation, but when I asked him about the 5th and I debacle, he said, "The last thing this part of the city needs is another parking lot. They aren't doing anybody any good." I thought that was a very strong and positive statement across the board.

The DMPED reps said that they had no expertise in temporary urbanism. They also said that at other such sites in the city, neighbors who liked the temporary uses sometimes opposed the development projects that had been originally planned. That might indeed happen, but isn't a good enough reason to create parking lots just because neighbors won't oppose their redevelopment years later.

5th and I experience is irksome, the larger issue is DMPED's process for interim property management when the economy hits the skids. They seem to go to parking lots by default, and those plans were only stopped by well-organized residents and eagle-eyed Councilmembers. That's simply not a fair way for DMPED to operate. DMPED needs a different process that automatically seeks community input before signing any contracts for interim uses of city property.

Well before the scheduled start time of 6:30 pm, parents, teachers, and students of the Bruce-Monroe @ Park View school started filing into the room with banners, picket signs, and plastic cups taped together with stones inside to make noise.

They were angry, they were frustrated, and they were vocal. They made it clear that an interim use of the site is unacceptable. They want a school, and they want it by 2011.

A cacophony of chanting broke out time and again, frequently being "Build our school." Early attempts to start talking about the interim use of the site were disrupted by frustrated attendees that wanted to see the school move forward. While eventually Ward 1 Community Planner Tarek Bolden was able to make his presentation, it was an uneasy peace that allowed him to move forward.

While it is easy to understand where the representatives of the school are coming from, it was frustrating to hear the District representatives questioned on why a school hasn't started to be built when charter schools are moving forward and a new CVS is being constructed—projects that are not funded by the city the way public schools are.