Image: A rendering of the Studio Plaza project, as seen from Fenton Street. Courtesy of MNCPPC.
The county’s planning board said Thursday afternoon that it was mostly cool with what one developer has in mind for Fenton Village. But board members also warned of further regulatory hurdles, the project’s potential to sterilize the place, and the developer’s bad rep in the neighborhood.
“Rapid gentrification can lose the character of Fenton Village,” planning commish Joe Alfandre told the developer of the Studio Plaza mixed-use project during its regulatory review. “This has to be a recognizable neighborhood, not just density packed in height.”
Image: An ariel view of what will be the Studio Plaza project. Courtesy of MNCPPC.
The project — proposed by developer Bob Hillerson — is a hydra that will plant about 600 residential units, ground-floor store fronts and office space on a block bordered by Thayer, Silver Spring and Georgia Avenues, and Fenton Street (right).
It will also plow a new north-south street through the block, connecting Thayer and Silver Spring Avenues; as well as a pedestrian path that extends the existing Mayor’s Promenade on Georgia Avenue east towards Fenton Street.
To get some of this built, the project must suck up what is now a county-owned parking lot and some of the alleys leading to that lot. And that had adjacent property owners pissed.
A lawyer for the project’s future neighbors testified that if those alleys were cannibalized, then adjacent businesses — like the Thai Market on Thayer Avenue, and Highland Origins Coffee on Fenton Street — would lose access to loading docks. Another lawyer, this one batting for developer Hillerson, argued that the businesses had no exclusive claim to the county-owned alleys.
After watching these legal eagles trade volleys for a few hours (that’s right, people: hours), the planning board opted not to offer an opinion on who had a rightful claim over what. Instead, they decided to leave that meshugas to the county. However, the commissioners did require Hillerson to prove in future regulatory reviews that his project provided ample wiggle room for deliveries to adjacent businesses.
Issue no. 2 was what to do about those 132 parking spots lost when the public lot goes buh-bye. Hillerson’s design puts a public garage beneath what will be a half-acre, street-level lawn (below). Commissioner John Robinson wasn’t digging that idea: Underground parking wasn’t conducive to shoppers who were just there to grab and go, he said. Commissioner Jean Cryor also wasn’t buying into the security of an underground garage.
But plans are in place to keep the garage safe, senior planner Elza Hisel-McCoy told his bosses. The three-story garage will have an attendant to monitor security cameras, police patrols, exit staircases that lead directly to the street instead of an alleyway, and a design that minimizes hiding places, Hisel-McCoy said.
As far as how parking worked for some customers, Hisel-McCoy admitted the designs needed refining. To that end, board chairman Royce Hanson ordered developer Hillerson to provide more on-street parking for shoppers on the go.
Image: A rendering of Studio Plaza's half-acre lawn. Courtesy of MNCPPC.
Issue no. 3 was the project’s public-use space: that half-acre, street-level lawn. According to Hillerson’s design, the unprogrammed space will sit along the new north-south street bissecting the project, and it will be lined with retail shops. The green’s location — surrounded by what could be 110-foot-tall buildings — didn’t sit well with one area resident.
“This whole development is exclusive,” Karen Roper, with the East Silver Spring Civic Association, testified. “It’s not integrated with the [existing] businesses there at all. It denies the organic flexibility that all urban development has. It’s a gated community.”
And the last issue — one that really can’t be quantified — was the bad taste that Hillerson apparently left in East Silver Spring’s mouth. According to Roper, the developer’s negotiations with local businesses amounted to harassment, and he was less than accommodating to her civic association’s input.
In his defense, Hillerson said he did not displace any existing businesses and even relocated a few — like the Roadhouse Oldies record shop — to new digs in Fenton Village at lower-than-market rents.
Whatever. The planning board wasn’t interested in the back-and-forth bullshit. But commissioner Cryor did have some advice for Hillerson: Make nice with the neighbors.
“There’s a lot more ahead of you than behind you now,” she told Hillerson. “You have some repair work to do with the neighbors.”
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“Raipd gentrification” or “Rapid gentrificiation”?
“Raipd gentrification” or “Rapid gentrification”?
Oh hell.
Editor’s note: That’s okay, Nose. The check is still in the mail. — JD (Jun 2, 2009)
Is Karen Roper the voice of South Silver Spring? I think not, but she sure shows up to complain about anything that smacks of change. This good for the hood, especially Fenton Street. Let’s get over our run down small businesses that draw almost no one to the hood, including residents.
Editor’s note: Karen Roper sits on the board of the East Silver Spring Civic Association, not the South Silver Spring Neighborhood Association. — JD (Jun 2, 2009)
This project is a fantastic way to jumpstart the re-development of Fenton Village. Now before everyone starts screaming about how we don’t need to be redeveloped, I don’t mean tearing down everything that exists. I mean there are dozens of empty lots that could be used for more housing, restaurants and every day shopping. All of that has to be there for Fenton Village and DTSS in general to continue to prosper. We either move forward or stagnate…there’s no in between.
Silver Spring IS developed. The opportunities are in the strip centers like the Glenmont Shopping Center.
This project is too big. It looks like Crystal City without the tunnels.
I don’t know whether this particular project is “fantastic” or not, but I walked Fenton from Coleville Road to Sligo Avenue yesterday morning. A lot of it south of Wayne Avenue would really benefit from redevelopment.
It’s just another case of people with single family houses and backyards loving and taking advantage of everything DTSS has to offer…. until it’s across the street. Residents of woodside do it with the planned devlopment where the parks and planning building is and residents of fenton village do it with development along fenton. If ya want the convenience of having DTSS 5 blocks away, you’re also going to have to put up with having it 1 block away. If ya wanted anything different ya should have moved out as soon as they started taking the plywood off windows 5-10 years ago. There are plenty of completely inconvenient neighborhoods with no metro, no nearby shopping or restaurants or anything else.. just head north on colesville. If that’s what ya want – go there, if not, deal with it.
Speaking of Fenton and Thayer, does anyone know what happened to the Exxon station at that corner? I walked by there yesterday, and it was all boarded and tapped up.
Robert, I believe that there’s some construction work, etc. being done – there were crews out this morning. I was running late today, but tomorrow I’ll try and ask somebody what’s going on. I don’t know how much demand there is for gas in the neighborhood, but having two gas stations a block away from each other seems a little excessive. I’d love to see that all torn down and become a park or cafe.
I agree that there are some problems with the design – I would rather the green space be accessible from the street etc. – but I also agree with paul_silver_spring: bring it on! I moved to East Silver Spring so that I could have a great house AND live in an URBAN (no sub before it!) area – the best of both worlds.
Danielle – And I think that’s AWESOME. I’m all for East SS and woodside and like neighborhoods staying just the way they are. The ability to get that situation is part of what makes our neighborhood so unique. All I’m saying is that when you get the best of both worlds, realize that also means you don’t get to complain about the tall building across the street!
Nice article. I think the project looks good. Whats there now is just empty and/or under utilized space. I live on Thayer and walk by there every day. I look forward to something going up there.
Love it! It looks like the renderings are attempting to emulate that new pedestrian-oriented project in downtown Bethesda at the corner of Arlington and Bethesda Avenues, just next to Bethesda Row. Where did you get those images from MNCPPC? Website? Can you email me with your source?