Economic development is blooming at Georgia Avenue and Colesville Road, and it’s budding just south of the Sligo Avenue train trestle. But between the glossy downtown and artsy south Silver Spring is a boulevard that time and money have forgotten. Could the area be Silver Spring’s next big thing? The Urban Land Institute says yes.
The Georgia Avenue strip between Wayne and Sligo avenues is haunted by its past and wary of its future, said Laura Cole, a real-estate advisor speaking for the Urban Land Institute.
The perception of high crime and urban blight lingers, Cole told the urban-advisory committee last month. At the same time, residents worry that development could spawn what Cole called “Generica” — a formulaic suburban shopping center.
However, Cole and her colleauges with the ULI believe that money and marketing can heal Georgia Avenue’s wounds.
“One of the wonderful things about [the area] are the historic buildings, the facades,” Cole said. “You can really hit the ground running if you put the resources into the area.”
The strip also has a unique, naturally “funky” identity that could be marketed to attract distinct retailers, Cole said. The ULI even suggested names for the neighborhood that would encapsulate its character: SoBo (south of Bonifant Street) and Ripley.
“You have something unique here. You don’t want to force it too much, but you do want to build an identity,” Cole explained. “Marketing is important.”
(Got better ideas for the neighborhood’s name? Take The Penguin poll.)
Educational programs in marketing also could give existing retailers the competitive edge as commercial rents increase. “A number of merchants that we spoke to would like to understand marketing better,” Cole said.
The neighborhood has already attracted two entrepreneurial businesses. Pieces, a clothing store, opened on Georgia at Silver Spring avenues last month. Also, both the Silver Spring Scene blog and the Washington Post report that the Hook and Ladder Brewery is close to settling into the 100-year-old firehouse on the opposite corner.
Silver Spring “is the place that a lot of other places are trying to emulate,” Cole said.
Related articles:
“The Penguin poll: Name that neighborhood” (Silver Spring Penguin)
“Hook and Ladder Brewing Company will embark on old firehouse” (Silver Spring Scene)
“Finding a hook in Silver Spring” (Washington Post)
Photo by Ron Pace for The Silver Spring Penguin.
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“Georgia Avenue between Wayne and Sligo avenues?”
They call it Fenton Village (don’t ask me!). To the west of Georgia, between the track and south of Bonifant is known as the Ripley Street District (again don’t ask me!).
Phewf…all that traffic there though…it’s not exactly downtown, uhh, Kensington, if you know what I mean.
Why isn’t “Downtown Silver Spring” enough to denote the entire area? I will never call it SoPo . . . I feel like if people have a good impression of Georgia and Colesville, which we call “Downtown Silver Spring,” they’ll feel the same way about Georgia and Bonifant if we call it the same thing.
Anyway: Just Up The Pike finally talks about Marilyn Praisner. Check it out.
I’d call it ‘The Strip’ or ‘The Stretch’.
Lumping everything under one name ‘DT SS’ is a disservice for an urban area. Successful urban areas are composed of unique, identifiable neighborhoods that all come together under one larger entity.
‘Fenton Village’ exists for the Fenton St. corridor; I understand ‘The Ripley district’ to incorporate the development behind Pyramid Atlantic; and SoPo is a moniker for South Silver Spring which has historically consisted of the area around the underpass and the DC line.
How about N’So’Po (North of South Point)
What about Notre (north of the trestle)?
I have to admit I like N’So’Po, if only because it sounds like some kind of African beef stew.
Whatever the area is called, it’s home to a few of my favorite places in Silver Spring.
- The Plaza store is very nice and they treat amateurs just as well as they do more adept artists.
- The Peruvian rotisserie chicken place (it’s changed names and I’m blanking on the name at the moment) is wonderful.
- Tian Jin has great Chinese food at unbelievably low prices.
- Dale’s Music store is also amazing. I found sheet music for BUGLE calls/sounds (you don’t call bugle songs music) there, of all things (a friend of the family was a bugler in the Marines in WW2 and wanted to play at veterans’ events). How many places carry sheet music for bugles? Just sayin’.
- Negril’s. OMG, I do love a Jamaican meat pie!
- Roger Miller’s restaurant makes that wonderful grilled fish with the veggies on top. Mmmmmm.
- Langano’s has injera that made with the teff and not just regular wheat flour. Good stuff.
- Half Moon Barbeque. Gone but not forgotten. Sniff.
- Quarry House. I haven’t gone in since the new ownership, but not out of any kind of statement. I need to drop in there.
- Thai Derm. Good Thai food and nice people.
- My Le is my comfort food place. I walk over there for lunch on days that I need cheering up. Pho is good for the soul.
I know I’m missing someone else on here.
It should be called the Hardcore District.