Off-Topic

Its in the works. White Flint is part of the whole County White Flint Master Plan that allows big mixed use developments fast track approval if they conform to the specs in the plan. Mid Pike Plaza is also going to be blown up and will be density mixed use with structured parking.

Basically everything on both sides of the Pike from White Flint north to Mid Pike that hasn't already been re-developed like North Bethesda Market (where Whole Foods & Seasons 52 is) will be blown up in the next few years and will go mixed use density.

Wegman's is in discussions to be part of the White Flint Mall re-development.

Here is a link to all the proposed projects. The White Flint Mall one on here is a little dated, so I think it has evolved. The Mid Pike Plaza re-development is as shown and is already in process.

The whole idea is to re-construct the road system there to more of a city grid with density around metro.

Here is a doc on it:

I'm in my phone so I'll look at that later, but whole "density around Metro" assumes people travel only by Metro which is never true. Wait until the planning says "1 parking space per unit" and everyone has two cars.

And double LOL at all the new stuff being built on the Strathmore land. Might be part of the master plan but who is selling "from the low 600's" town homes these days?

Lerner's planning on spending 10-20 years to change the mall over to a urban mixed use development. It'll end up being in the same vein as Bethesda or Silver Spring, as opposed to Rockville Town Center or the Kentlands. There are very, very preliminary sketch plans of what Lerner wants to do, but I don't think they'll be doing anything for 3-5 years due to the leases that are in place at the mall. Bloomindale's is leaving because that location is one of their smaller stores and they just finished the new one down in Friendship Heights. It's part of an overall portfolio strategy by Bloomingdale's, not due to the Lerner's kicking them out.

The southern end of Mid-Pike Plaza - Toy's R Us, World Market area, is going to get torn down in July time frame and several hundred apartments over first floor retail are going to be built. About a year after that, the next third of Mid-Pike is going to go, then the final third is somewhat up in the air after that.

Pretty much every property between Montrose and the south end of the mall is going to get torn down and redeveloped into a much higher density over the next 15-25 years. The goal is to turn it into Bethesda North, basically. Federal Realty is expecting to take 7-10 years to redo Mid-Pike, the Lerner's are planning on ~20 years, LCOR is planning another 5-7 years on their stuff, and all of the various other smaller properties are going to take 5-10 years to get going and be finished. JBG is in the planning/design phase of their development next to NoBe Market and that should be breaking ground in 12-24 months. LCOR has been rolling along and they have another start or two planned in the next 24 months or so, and Mid-Pike is breaking ground over the summer. It's going to be a long process before everything is finally redeveloped.

The argument that it's going to create a lot of traffic is total garbage. Look at Bethesda. Look at Silver Spring. They're both well thought out, walkable, transit accessible urban environments. No one bitches and moans about the traffic in those places. People bitch about Tyson's, Reston, and the current iteration of Rockville Pike. Traffic sucks in these places because it's impossible to get anywhere without a car. The master plan for White Flint is well thought out and has the backing to succeed. There's no reason to think traffic will be any worse than it already is. In fact, I'd wager it'll end up getting better as a result of this development.

When I lived in that area, I always thought that was a terrible mall. Nothing interesting in the place. Of course, my wife loved it and said I didn't like it because I have terrible taste when it comes to shopping.

LOL

So the DC area is going to turn into old town Greenbelt?

Bwaaaaaaahaaaaahaaaaa

Don't tell Viper

right, but haven't developers 'solved' problems only to find the solution caused/amplified other issues? besides, central planners/govt can screw up the best plans (an example might be the re-introduction of street cars for 3x cost of buses in dc)

anyway, back to the walkable community thing: dc condo developers are going nuts building (and retail is drawn to) in columbia heights, u street, etc. What happens when they run out of upper middle class 28 year olds who want to live in 600 square feet? These guys are building thousands of units; can the demand really support it? Can the demand also support the new construction in tyson's? and now in white flint? and all over alexandria.....etc

What will be interesting is the migration of baby boomers back in the city. I have seen some private data already showing the shift from the suburban single family home with a yard to single floor urban condo living. Developers are expecting a large migration of empty nest baby boomers back in to the city where they can live on one level, no yard to maintain, and have amenities/culture and public transportation within a short walk.

I wouldn't be surprised to see the capacity continue to fill fairly steadily inside the beltway. It will be interesting to see how the suburban areas evolve. If our government continues to expand, DC population will grow along with it.

Are boomers really going to buy a $400,000 condo on U Street or in Chinatown? I'd think they'd rent in Friendship Heights or Glover/Cleveland Park before doing that.

Do you have a link to that data? I'd be interested in reading more about that.