Springfield Town Center!!! The opportunity arises! (Alexandria, Fairfax: Home Depot, neighborhood, buying)

[tgbwc]

We ate at Rockville Town Center this spring and thought it was pretty nice. It had a "downtown vibe" to it.

[South Jersey Styx]

Originally Posted by pcity

The Nordstrom coming to Springfield is a Nordstrom Rack, which is their outlet version.

Then it should do well compared to the full-fledge Nordstrom.

I don't have stats on this, but outdoor outlets are always packed whenever I visit them during the holidays.

I noticed the popularity of Leesburg Outlets and last year, for the first time, I went to Hagerstown MD Outlets and had a blast. Yes, it was cold but we had a great time shopping in and out of stores and later grabbing something to eat.

That, and (to change the subject a little) going to a liquor store to buy some gifts -- since we weren't in VA at an ABC store!!!!

[South Jersey Styx]

Originally Posted by halfamazing

I don't have a problem with ethnic food joints or rundown cities. My issue is landscape consistency. There has to be a consistency in landscape. Springfield doesn't have it and putting a newly renovated mall smack down in a town where it often gets that flak doesn't make sense without renovating the immediate landscape leading up.

You have a point here. For the longest time, whenever someone mentions "Springfield" it evokes the grungy, leftovers of DC, a temporary place to live, and so forth. Perhaps building something new and fresh will change this image.

I have noticed though, as Town Centers go, both Reston and Tysons Corner have hotels. When we first moved in the area in the early 1990s, we had to go to Reston for a movie theatre, and it was basically hotels, restaurants, and 2 blocks of shops. Fast forward, and Reston now has their condos, parking garages and integrated nearby shopping/strip areas, post office, hospital, homes, etc. -- within walking distance.

Now in MD at National Harbor (across from Springfield?), I read where they are not atttracting customers as they had hoped. Here is an example of outdoor shops, restaurants, etc. on the waterfront. And that plans to build new condos and apartments would hopefully attract more people (as well as a new casino). Personally, I wasn't impressed when I went there -- it was like Reston Town Ctr on the water and nothing really "exciting" about it.

[tgbwc]

We weren't impressed with National Harbor either. We came away from Rockville with a much better impression.

[South Jersey Styx]

Originally Posted by tgbwc

We weren't impressed with National Harbor either. We came away from Rockville with a much better impression.

Yep. I believe Rockville successfully incorporated hotels, restaurants, and shops with residential living.
National Harbor is also not accessible via Metro rail. Someone going there has to drive.

[YellowKing]

Originally Posted by South Jersey Styx

Yep. I believe Rockville successfully incorporated hotels, restaurants, and shops with residential living.
National Harbor is also not accessible via Metro rail. Someone going there has to drive.

Not only has to drive, but also pay DC parking garage prices and eat at horrible overpriced chains. The National Harbor is, so far, a failure. I live right across the river and have begrudgingly gone twice, both times being a huge disappointment. I've been to the outlets there, but that's not really integrated into the same development and is just serves a singular purpose.

Anyone who thinks a casino will transform that place into something lively is going to be disappointed.

[Zack]

Originally Posted by YellowKing

Not only has to drive, but also pay DC parking garage prices and eat at horrible overpriced chains. The National Harbor is, so far, a failure. I live right across the river and have begrudgingly gone twice, both times being a huge disappointment. I've been to the outlets there, but that's not really integrated into the same development and is just serves a singular purpose.

Anyone who thinks a casino will transform that place into something lively is going to be disappointed.

I wouldn't consider National Harbor a failure as it's definitely the best location for conventions in the area and they have some great events particularly at Christmas. Retail and food there aren't great, though I personally like the Art store they have that used to be in Old Town. Given that National Harbor's only a few years old and isn't in the greatest location, I'd give it time to keep growing.

[JD984]

Originally Posted by South Jersey Styx

You have a point here. For the longest time, whenever someone mentions "Springfield" it evokes the grungy, leftovers of DC, a temporary place to live, and so forth. Perhaps building something new and fresh will change this image.

Really? I guess people can associate "Springfield" with different images. I think of it primarily of a pleasant, post-WWII suburb that includes upscale areas in West Springfield, nice stable areas in North Springfield, and more modest and, in some cases, run-down areas in central Springfield near the former Springfield Mall. To me, they are all "Springfield."

It may be that you associate "Springfield" with just the central area. There's been a tendency in this region in recent years for people to append geographic labels to areas to distinguish them from, or associate them with, other areas. When I was growing up, people rarely referred to "North Arlington" and "South Arlington," even though Route 50 was there as the dividing line and people had "N" and "S" mailing addresses. It was just "Arlington," for the most part. Now people regularly use the term "North Arlington" to distinguish it from less affluent "South Arlington." And there's the whole "North Bethesda" (NOT Rockville) and "North Potomac" (NOT Gaithersburg) thing. In the same vein, some people now seem to refer to "West Springfield" more frequently, typically in conjunction with Burke, to distinguish it from other parts of Springfield.

Either way, I don't think the image is as monolithic and negative as you suggest. I don't know why focusing on the "grungy" part of Springfield is any more accurate than suggesting that the distinguishing features of Winchester are its high poverty rate (over 20%, over twice the poverty rate in the Springfield CDP) or its large stock of decaying, early 20th century homes, while ignoring its attractive downtown area and many historic, well-maintained homes and buildings. I don't think a spiffy new Springfield Town Center is necessarily required to change Springfield's overall image any more than one would have to tear down all the run-down houses in Winchester or cut the poverty rate by at least 50% to give it a positive image. The good can co-exist with the not-so-good (and, sometimes, even the "not-so-good" is what allows people to have a roof over their heads).

[yamota]

I used to live in Springfield and in our neighborhood then when we first moved in, the neighborhood had a lot of different people, lots of white families, black families, hispanics, etc. Just before we moved out I noticed there were more middle eastern people moving in. I visited the old house recently and pretty much the whole neighborhood is middle eastern now

[airjay75]

As a relative newcomer to the Springfield area having just moved to the area in 2012 and having bought our house in 2013, I just don't get the negative view that some people have of the Springfield area. Moving here from some of the inner ring suburbs of Philadelphia, believe it or not, our first impression of many of the areas near or close to Springfield was that it felt newer and less congested than where we previously lived. Sure, there are some older strip malls and some older neighborhoods, but compared to what we were used to, it seemed quite nice - more diverse than what we experienced in Pennsylania, but newer. And, combined with the fact that there was a Metro station here, we just thought it seemed like a great location. When we started looking to buy our house, we thought about going to areas along the Orange Line because we wanted to be close to a Metro line, but our money went a good deal further in the Springfield area, so we decided to stay. Not only that, but a lot of the areas around the Orange Line felt more congested to us and actually a little bit older - a little more like the suburbs of Philadelphia. We're probably a little unique for a young married couple with no kids in that we were looking for more of a quiet suburban area, but we have found Springfield to be quite nice in many respects and really don't regret buying where we bought.

And, to me, the Springfield Town Center, to be successful, just needs to pull in people like us. There are plenty of young and middle-aged families with healthy 6-figure incomes in the Springfield area, and none of the other major shopping centers in the area are very conveniently located for us. Yes, we do a lot of our shopping online, but I'm more likely to go to a brick and mortar store if it is close and easy to get to. I shop often at stores near the Springfield mall - Target, Petsmart, Home Depot, JC Penney, DSW, etc. It doesn't feel unsafe or grungy, it feels convenient and close.