a beautiful suburban office park? it exists? (Atlanta, Smyrna: neighborhood, dangerous)

[billl]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

i think you need to visit broad street in the springtime. tons of restaurants, musicians playing trumpets on the side of the street, great condos/apartments. it has something that cumberland just doesn't have yet— people who actually live in (not commute to) the community and keep it interesting.

I have, and it is nice. But I had to walk down Marietta and/or Walton to get there. And that's one of the better areas of downtown.

[goofy328]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

i know many of you have probably seen the galleria development from I-285. it looks like a parking deck suburban nightmare:




i can't stress how much of a hellhole this looks like. you've got what looks like a ten story parking deck surrounding five or six high rises. it looks like the absolute opposite of urbanism. who would create such a car-oriented development with no real sense of place?

well, i had to go here yesterday, and guess what i found? the place is not only decent, it's beautiful. i know this sounds crazy, but check it out:








in between the two rows of office buildings, you've got a big boulevard type street with a huge park in between the streets. it's got old growth trees, a waterfall, a carillon that rings the time, and an area with picnic tables filled with people milling around, eating lunch and enjoying the park.

this area has a real sense of place. i was pleasantly surprised.

am i saying it's perfect? no. there is still a ten story parking deck on the back side of the development, most people get here by car and it is still tough to get across akers mill road and the other roads around the development. but guess what? the cobb energy center, the galleria, cumberland mall, and tons of restaurants and services are within a half mile of this park.

my point is, there is a future for places like this— this has the bones of a real place. turning it into a walkable development is just a matter of connecting this to the surrounding areas.

I'm really not sure why that surprises you. There are plenty of suburban developments around America that are quite decent. The fact of the area being suburban does not necessarily imply that it will lack good design. There are some lessons that have been learned from the past.

To answer your question there is definitely a future for places like that. See what is going on in Virginia and Texas and write back and let us know what you think about what is going on. Particularly the Maryland/DC area.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by goofy328

To answer your question there is definitely a future for places like that. See what is going on in Virginia and Texas and write back and let us know what you think about what is going on. Particularly the Maryland/DC area.

This is a good point. Houston's Uptown/Galleria District and Northern Virginia's Tysons Corner area outside of D.C. are two excellent examples of suburban office parks that have evolved into outlying urban districts with increasingly high densities of development.

Both Houston's Uptown District and Northern Virginia's Tysons Center are also notable because both former suburban office park districts plan to continue to densify and urbanize around future passenger rail transit stops.

[goofy328]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

This is a good point. Houston's Uptown/Galleria District and Northern Virginia's Tysons Corner area outside of D.C. are two excellent examples of suburban office parks that have evolved into outlying urban districts with increasingly high densities of development.

Both Houston's Uptown District and Northern Virginia's Tysons Center are also notable because both former suburban office park districts plan to continue to densify and urbanize around future passenger rail transit stops.

Absolutely. The bulk of the development in the DC area has been outside of the city, both in Northern Virginia and Southern Maryland. This is a great example of what happens when the city core has height limits and there are no practical reasons to continue to build up the city, outside of gentrification, which is usually more of an infill/rehabilitation of the existing core. DC already has great infrastructure.

I can only hope that some of the great infrastructure comes to HR. Density is too low around here IMHO, even in what would otherwise be considered to be the city core.

Houston just continues to grow and will inevitably take over Chicago for that number 3 spot. If Houston can return to 20% growth per year it could happen within the next decade. That development will not look or feel like mid 20th century development from the fifties.

[AtlantaIsHot]

Originally Posted by goofy328

Houston just continues to grow and will inevitably take over Chicago for that number 3 spot. If Houston can return to 20% growth per year it could happen within the next decade. That development will not look or feel like mid 20th century development from the fifties.

Houston has never grown 20% in one year.

I wouldn't use the word "inevitable" when talking about projections. They are often wrong. Houston's rapid growth in the past was due in large part to massive annexations. It's annexed about all it can reasonably provide services for. I doubt it will annex much more as it has not in years. Houston's growth rate has varied greatly. Going from 2% in one decade to 20% in another and then back to 7%. You just can never tell what the future holds. L.A. was "inevitably" going to overtake NYC based on it's extremely rapid growth for most of the 20th century. It didn't. I fact, L.A. slowed and NYC accelerated. Chicago's population is growing again and as gentrification takes hold could accelerate. I'm not saying it could NEVER happen. It sure could. But it could also NOT happen.

[goofy328]

Originally Posted by AtlantaIsHot

Houston has never grown 20% in one year.

I wouldn't use the word "inevitable" when talking about projections. They are often wrong. Houston's rapid growth in the past was due in large part to massive annexations. It's annexed about all it can reasonably provide services for. I doubt it will annex much more as it has not in years. Houston's growth rate has varied greatly. Going from 2% in one decade to 20% in another and then back to 7%. You just can never tell what the future holds. L.A. was "inevitably" going to overtake NYC based on it's extremely rapid growth for most of the 20th century. It didn't. I fact, L.A. slowed and NYC accelerated. Chicago's population is growing again and as gentrification takes hold could accelerate. I'm not saying it could NEVER happen. It sure could. But it could also NOT happen.

I remember those projections about LA. Ten million by the seventies.

[GeorgiaLakeSearch]

Originally Posted by goofy328

To answer your question there is definitely a future for places like that. See what is going on in Virginia and Texas and write back and let us know what you think about what is going on. Particularly the Maryland/DC area.

VA and MD taxes are much lower than DC. VA's are even lower than MD.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

am i saying it's perfect? no. there is still a ten story parking deck on the back side of the development, most people get here by car ...

For what's it worth there are plenty of ginormous parking decks visible from intown freeways as well., e.g, this one at Emory midtown hospital, and the 7,000 plus deck at Atlantic station.

Most people in Atlanta still drive, both to suburban office parks and intown developments as well.

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by billl

There is also a connector trail (which is really just a glorified double-wide sidewalk) between Cumberland Mall and the Silver Comet.

Where is there a trail from Cumberland Mall to the Silver Comet?

[lorilove]

The Cumberland Connector is an extension of The Silver Comet Trail, starting from the Silver Comet Connector at South Cobb Drive, heading east along Cumberland Parkway, then north on Atlanta Road.

There is a trailhead at the new Oakdale Park that was recently built on Atlanta Road with parking and bathroom facilities.

From there the trail continues north on Atlanta Road, cuts across Spring Hill Road to Paces Ferry Road, crosses over Paces Ferry Road at Spring Hill Parkway and the trail continues on until Mount Wilkinson Parkway, where the trail traverses I-285 on its own trail bridge, then heads along Cumberland Parkway to Cumberland Boulevard and continues on Cumberland Boulevard until stopping just shy of Cobb Parkway.

In total the Cumberland Connector is a little over five miles.