What's the latest news about the Mosaic District? (Arlington, Fairfax: movie theaters, living in)

[brooklynborndad]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/19/re...=tw-share&_r=0

[JD984]

Originally Posted by brooklynborndad

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/19/re...=tw-share&_r=0

My immediate reaction was to jump on the NYT and say it was being presumptuous to characterize pre-Mosaic Merrifield as a "suburban wasteland." There ought to be a place in the world for Taco Bells, auto body shops and regional mail warehouses that's immune from the cultural critiques of Manhattan-dwellers. But then I realized they were just using Gerry Connolly's words, so I gave them a pass.

I still like the Mosaic area. I like the way Lee Highway now seems more open and less congested; like the shops at Mosaic; and think the EYA townhouses are interesting. My sense is that the townhouses will sell fairly quickly, but the bigger question is how the retail will fare over time. Fingers crossed.

[yolli71]

This is unfortunate...

Jeff Black’s Empire Oyster House won’t be built in Merrifield’s Mosaic District - Going Out Gurus - The Washington Post

[OrangeFish]

Originally Posted by yolli71

This is unfortunate...

Jeff Black’s Empire Oyster House won’t be built in Merrifield’s Mosaic District - Going Out Gurus - The Washington Post

*sigh*

[brooklynborndad]

Originally Posted by JEB77

My immediate reaction was to jump on the NYT and say it was being presumptuous to characterize pre-Mosaic Merrifield as a "suburban wasteland." There ought to be a place in the world for Taco Bells, auto body shops and regional mail warehouses that's immune from the cultural critiques of Manhattan-dwellers. But then I realized they were just using Gerry Connolly's words, so I gave them a pass.

I still like the Mosaic area. I like the way Lee Highway now seems more open and less congested; like the shops at Mosaic; and think the EYA townhouses are interesting. My sense is that the townhouses will sell fairly quickly, but the bigger question is how the retail will fare over time. Fingers crossed.

I recall a world without Taco Bells, so while I do not expect them to disappear, I won't find the world seriously lacking if they do.

Auto body shops are a necessity (at least until the collision proof car arises) , but they certainly make a place feel like a wasteland, especially when you are walking or biking near them.

I always felt that when passing (by car) through Merrifield. Rep Connolly expressed something I'm sure many of us felt. IF a reporter from the NYT (I suspect their Washington Bureau has a reporter who lives in DC, and I suspect many of the Manhattan based personnel do not live in Manhattan) says the same thing, we perhaps can relax about that. Perhaps someday we will have reached the stage of regional self confidence where we are not so sensitive to outsiders saying things that are, well, true.

I think more important for the future is the success of the multifamily housing at Mosaic now under construction. TH's close to metro are an easy sell. The high end retail if it fails (and the income figures from the article suggest the market research was careful) will mean slightly lower retail rents, and maybe more retail just a bit further downmarket. And of course no future retail projects like that in the area, but then I don't think there are any further retail centers of this size aimed for this corridor - the future of the lots in the area zoned for rebuilding (fewer than one might expect) is mainly going to be residential with neighborhood serving retail, I think.

[JD984]

Originally Posted by brooklynborndad

I recall a world without Taco Bells, so while I do not expect them to disappear, I won't find the world seriously lacking if they do.

Auto body shops are a necessity (at least until the collision proof car arises) , but they certainly make a place feel like a wasteland, especially when you are walking or biking near them.

I always felt that when passing (by car) through Merrifield. Rep Connolly expressed something I'm sure many of us felt. IF a reporter from the NYT (I suspect their Washington Bureau has a reporter who lives in DC, and I suspect many of the Manhattan based personnel do not live in Manhattan) says the same thing, we perhaps can relax about that. Perhaps someday we will have reached the stage of regional self confidence where we are not so sensitive to outsiders saying things that are, well, true.

I think more important for the future is the success of the multifamily housing at Mosaic now under construction. TH's close to metro are an easy sell. The high end retail if it fails (and the income figures from the article suggest the market research was careful) will mean slightly lower retail rents, and maybe more retail just a bit further downmarket. And of course no future retail projects like that in the area, but then I don't think there are any further retail centers of this size aimed for this corridor - the future of the lots in the area zoned for rebuilding (fewer than one might expect) is mainly going to be residential with neighborhood serving retail, I think.

I view a "wasteland" as an area with little or no economic activity but many negative externalities. Think of parts of the Bronx, East New York or Brownsville for many years. Merrifield wasn't a wasteland by any conventional definition. It may have been an eyesore to many, and some of the potential of the area may have gone untapped, but it wasn't blighted, and people who worked there at the auto body shops, cinemas and low-end retail were productively employed.

As to your other point, there are definitely a lot of things that we didn't use to have, or have as many of, in this area that we could certainly live without. Taco Bell is only scratching the surface.

[brooklynborndad]

Originally Posted by JEB77

I view a "wasteland" as an area with little or no economic activity but many negative externalities. Think of parts of the Bronx, East New York or Brownsville for many years. Merrifield wasn't a wasteland by any conventional definition. It may have been an eyesore to many, and some of the potential of the area may have gone untapped, but it wasn't blighted, and people who worked there at the auto body shops, cinemas and low-end retail were productively employed.

As to your other point, there are definitely a lot of things that we didn't use to have, or have as many of, in this area that we could certainly live without. Taco Bell is only scratching the surface.

I doubt there was any part of Brownsville or the South Bronx (if by part we mean an area as large as the entire Merrifield district) that had zero employment, even in the worst of the 1970s when there were entire blocks of burnt out buildings and rubble.

Clearly the use of wasteland varies by context. Mott Haven circa 1975 was not a wasteland in the more traditional usage in the english language (the way say a desert area devoid of any human settlement is wasteland). It was an URBAN wasteland, which meant something specific. Today such urban wastelands are mostly found in places like East St Louis or Detroit, and are less familiar to the residents of major media centers like NY and DC. A "suburban wasteland" I think clearly implies something else which is why Congressman Connolly, who is hardly unfamiliar with the layout of Fairfax county, or the usefullness of auto body shops and their jobs, used it that way.

Of course its always good to give additional information - to clarify that Merrifield circa 1995 was not like Mott Haven circa 1975 - in case anyone is getting that impression. I really doubt many readers of the NYT really misunderstood what was meant in context though.

[Yukon Jack]

I'm a single guy thinking of moving to the Mosaic District (or nearby, e.g., near Dunn-Loring Metro). Does anyone know if singles live there -- e.g., professional singles in their 30s -- or is it just families and couples? (I did some reconn. over the weekend, but in the daytime, & it seemed like lots of strollers / kids, and a huge amount of cars for a "walkable" community.")

[JD984]

Originally Posted by Yukon Jack

I'm a single guy thinking of moving to the Mosaic District (or nearby, e.g., near Dunn-Loring Metro). Does anyone know if singles live there -- e.g., professional singles in their 30s -- or is it just families and couples? (I did some reconn. over the weekend, but in the daytime, & it seemed like lots of strollers / kids, and a huge amount of cars for a "walkable" community.")

If you research the types of apartments already near the Dunn Loring Metro and being built at Mosaic, you'd see a lot of one-bedroom units, so it's hard not to think there aren't an increasing number of professional singles. But the area is not as conducive to bar-hopping as places like Clarendon or H Street, and an area like Mosaic that also has plenty of parking will attract a lot of families and couples from nearby single-family neighborhoods going to Target, the movie theatres, and the restaurants.

[FCNova]

I think there are. My neighbors 30 something sister is single last I heard and lives in the new Halstead development adjacent to the metro. It'll be a lot more walkable once the Harris Teeter is built but I'm sure most people who live there still own a car. A lot of families do frequent that area especially during the day