Post article about fading and emptying suburban office parks in Montgomery County (Silver Spring: cul-de-sac, houses)

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by Barry Rock

It died already!! Tenants are flocking to Metro and major access to locate. Tyson has had a resurgence of activity, around the Silver Line. People seem to be using it. Its all about Live, Work, Play......and office parks like Rockspring Park are in trouble and Montgomery County is addressing it, finally.

The other thing is, Malls died. People cant seem to get over that.

Suburbia as we know it was a failed experiment driven by the monetary goals of developers and for the white middle and upper-class to flee the inner city where they had to live near slums. The suburban neighborhood was an escape. Yet, all they had to do was revitalize the inner cities. Yet, they abandoned them.

Now, hindsight is 20/20. They realized the sprawling neighborhoods miles from jobs are unsustainable. People desire to be around people and activity, not isolated in enclaves of nothingness.

[Mr Beco]

Originally Posted by adelphi_sky

Suburbia as we know it was a failed experiment driven by the monetary goals of developers and for the white middle and upper-class to flee the inner city where they had to live near slums. The suburban neighborhood was an escape. Yet, all they had to do was revitalize the inner cities. Yet, they abandoned them.

Now, hindsight is 20/20. They realized the sprawling neighborhoods miles from jobs are unsustainable. People desire to be around people and activity, not isolated in enclaves of nothingness.

The factories moved out, thus, jobs.....people move where the jobs are. Which is why DC has boomed in the last few years. Now that the rest of the country has jobs to offer, those millennials are heading back home....

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by Barry Rock

The factories moved out, thus, jobs.....people move where the jobs are. Which is why DC has boomed in the last few years. Now that the rest of the country has jobs to offer, those millennials are heading back home....

No. The factories remained in the city. They offered low wages, thus the need for slums. Slums proliferated in cities during the industrial revolution. The suburbs were only for middle to upper-middle class families or white-collar workers. The pitch was that the air was cleaner, they would have nice big yards instead of living in apartments, and low crime far away from the slums.

The idea was that if you could afford to get away to the suburbs, you were envied. It became a status thing. But the jobs, for the most part, were still in or close to the city.

Only once the industrial revolution lost steam and the service industry took hold, factories in the cities shutdown or were moved overseas for cheaper labor. As gas prices rose and the unemployed moved out to the suburbs for safety and service jobs, the suburbs weren't so attractive anymore.

Then you started seeing reinvestment and gentrification in city centers. The old factories were torn down or converted into condos.

You can see that happening in Richmond and its suburbs, Pittsburgh, etc. Baltimore and Detroit has systemic issues that have prevented their revitalization. But for the most part. People now see value in city living. Especially since crime has for the most part come down. Slums or low-income areas have been shoved off into "projects" or certain parts of the city.

[Mr Beco]

Originally Posted by adelphi_sky

No. The factories remained in the city. They offered low wages, thus the need for slums. Slums proliferated in cities during the industrial revolution. The suburbs were only for middle to upper-middle class families or white-collar workers. The pitch was that the air was cleaner, they would have nice big yards instead of living in apartments, and low crime far away from the slums.

The idea was that if you could afford to get away to the suburbs, you were envied. It became a status thing. But the jobs, for the most part, were still in or close to the city.

Only once the industrial revolution lost steam and the service industry took hold, factories in the cities shutdown or were moved overseas for cheaper labor. As gas prices rose and the unemployed moved out to the suburbs for safety and service jobs, the suburbs weren't so attractive anymore.

Then you started seeing reinvestment and gentrification in city centers. The old factories were torn down or converted into condos.

You can see that happening in Richmond and its suburbs, Pittsburgh, etc. Baltimore and Detroit has systemic issues that have prevented their revitalization. But for the most part. People now see value in city living. Especially since crime has for the most part come down. Slums or low-income areas have been shoved off into "projects" or certain parts of the city.

Between 1945 and 1957, the Big Three auto companies built twenty-five new plants in metropolitan Detroit, all of them outside the city.

Along with the auto plants, many smaller parts suppliers, machine shops, and tool-and-die firms relocated outside the city. Increasingly, such small shops were scattered around the small towns of the upper midwest, particularly in northern Indiana and Ohio. The spread of industrial jobs outside of central cities was not peculiar to the auto industry, to be sure. The mill towns of New England were gutted in the 1920s when textile manufacturers relocated to the low-wage markets of Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia. Trenton, Philadelphia, and Camden witnessed a slow, steady hemorrhage of jobs outward. Garment shops that had once been in New York reappeared in small towns far from the Big Apple. But the impact of the auto industry's restructuring was particularly profound. In 1950, one-sixth of the nation's jobs were somehow related to the automobile industry. As the old adage went, when Detroit sneezed, the rest of the midwest got a cold. Automobile In American Life and Society

after WWII, housing was in short supply, so people move back to rural communities. Demographics shifted and cities were no longer in favor.

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by Barry Rock

Between 1945 and 1957, the Big Three auto companies built twenty-five new plants in metropolitan Detroit, all of them outside the city.

Along with the auto plants, many smaller parts suppliers, machine shops, and tool-and-die firms relocated outside the city. Increasingly, such small shops were scattered around the small towns of the upper midwest, particularly in northern Indiana and Ohio. The spread of industrial jobs outside of central cities was not peculiar to the auto industry, to be sure. The mill towns of New England were gutted in the 1920s when textile manufacturers relocated to the low-wage markets of Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia. Trenton, Philadelphia, and Camden witnessed a slow, steady hemorrhage of jobs outward. Garment shops that had once been in New York reappeared in small towns far from the Big Apple. But the impact of the auto industry's restructuring was particularly profound. In 1950, one-sixth of the nation's jobs were somehow related to the automobile industry. As the old adage went, when Detroit sneezed, the rest of the midwest got a cold. Automobile In American Life and Society

after WWII, housing was in short supply, so people move back to rural communities. Demographics shifted and cities were no longer in favor.

I think we're getting at the same thing. I just got my info from reading a book on suburbia. I agree. Put simply, the cities were unattractive.

[RogueMom]

Originally Posted by AeroGuyDC

I've said it once, i'll say it 100 times more. Montgomery County has seen its peak and is now on the downhill slide. It was only a matter of time that a critical mass was reached where the wealthy can no longer prop up the parasites that now infest the county. As a de facto Sanctuary City, Montgomery County is now relegated to figuring out how it will pay for more school lunches, more English as Second Language classes, fewer homeowners, more renters, and an big increase in poverty up the 270 corridor. When you put up a figurative "Illegal Aliens are Welcome Here! Come one, come all!" sign, what else do you expect to happen?

The people who can afford to live where there's walkable commutes to work will find what they want elsewhere. MoCo doesn't offer that, so it's a natural haven for folks who could care less about walking to work and care more about what kind of social services they will be handed at taxpayer expense.

This is just the tip of the iceberg for MoCo. It's easy to see for all those who are paying attention.

I saw all of this coming about two decades ago, including the empty office parks. I was born in Bethesda, grew up in Wheaton and Rockville. I loved my childhood, but I left almost 18 years ago. If there was an empty spot or green space, they were building something on it. Miles and miles of offices, strip malls, town houses, homes crushed up against each other. It became unrecognizable and suffocating to me. I was glad to go, but I also HAD to go. I could not afford to live where I was born and raised. I find in interesting that people who have entered the country, mostly illegally, are able to do so.

[phoenixmike11]

The old suburban office park is the new American ghost town - The Washington Post

[EdwardA]

Worse in PG County: How Prince George’s County is trying to save one of its largest buildings from government cutbacks - The Washington Post

Office vacancy rates had soared in the county in recent years, part of ballooning vacancy in many parts of the region as the government cut back on hiring and procurement.

But things are worse in Prince George’s. In the Lanham area, 29 percent of all office space is vacant, according to the real estate firm NGKF. The average vacancy for the region is 11.4 percent.

Buildings in isolated suburban locations have suffered, but David Iannucci, a top economic development aide to Baker, said the hopes for the CSC building were greater because of its proximity to the Metro.

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by EdwardA

Worse in PG County: How Prince George’s County is trying to save one of its largest buildings from government cutbacks - The Washington Post

Well yeah seeings as PGC doesn't have nearly the office footprint DC and NoVa has. They have to keep what tenants they have in teh few offices that do exist in the county. It is sad that even with few offices, there is 29% vacancy. BUT, as I have said before, it could be a good thing. PGC doesn't have as far to fall. ANy new office space built will more than likely have a tenant already leased. In addition to the amount of undeveloped land near all the metro stations and rock lower price points per square feet.

With the Purple Line, employees wouldn't have to live here. THey could hop on the Purple Line and be in Bethesda in 15 minutes; a reverse commute actually if offices are built at Greenbelt, College Park, and New Carrollton. It takes away the excuse of having to live in the county; unfortunately for the county though.

[Mr Beco]

Originally Posted by adelphi_sky

Well yeah seeings as PGC doesn't have nearly the office footprint DC and NoVa has. They have to keep what tenants they have in teh few offices that do exist in the county. It is sad that even with few offices, there is 29% vacancy. BUT, as I have said before, it could be a good thing. PGC doesn't have as far to fall. ANy new office space built will more than likely have a tenant already leased. In addition to the amount of undeveloped land near all the metro stations and rock lower price points per square feet.

With the Purple Line, employees wouldn't have to live here. THey could hop on the Purple Line and be in Bethesda in 15 minutes; a reverse commute actually if offices are built at Greenbelt, College Park, and New Carrollton. It takes away the excuse of having to live in the county; unfortunately for the county though.

With somewhat affordable housing, PG should be in a better position to grow. I agree, those metro stops and variety of commercial real estate options (warehouse, office, flex) puts them in a good position.