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The Rosalyn-Ballston corridor in Arlington is the best TOD and some of the best in any suburb in the nation.
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Originally Posted by Borntoolate85
For PG, the US 1 corridor between the Beltway and Hyattsville is starting to redevelop pretty nicely in recent years, although it still has a ways to go before reaching its potential. You've got a couple MARC stations as well. Its still rather stroad-y, but in a denser matter compared to most stroads. The National Harbor of course doesn't have Metro except for buses, unless if that new Blue Line project gets completed way out in the future.
I believe south of Bethesda is incorporated and thus there’s zero chance of downtown Bethesda expanding much further south
Thought about posting there, but this transcends DC into two other states (each of which have their sub-forums for the DMV area).
I kind of figured Arlington would run away with this but I'm also curious about development in the Maryland and other NOVA burbs.
If you want my ranking, using strictly a TOD POV:
1. Rosslyn-Ballston Corridor, Arlington - no question, it is textbook definition of TOD.
2. Bethesda (mainly DT Bethesda) - too bad it is not larger.
3. Alexandria mainly Old Town - what moved this down is the fact that Metro King St station is more on the edge of the area.
4. DTSS - as a node you can't denied that it is very convenient. Purple Line will only make it better.
5. Reston Town Center - The development itself is good, but Reston Metro Station on Silver Line is somewhat away.
6. Pentagon City / Crystal City, Arlington - It is somewhat sprawly, but not as bad as Tysons.
7. Rockville (Town Center area)
8. Tysons - area overall can be rated much higher (The Tysons malls are also by far the best in DMV), but has ways to go to be more foot traffic friendly.
9. PG Co overall...the whole county can be sum up with two words, "wasted potential".
If you want my ranking, using strictly a TOD POV:
1. Rosslyn-Ballston Corridor, Arlington - no question, it is textbook definition of TOD.
2. Bethesda (mainly DT Bethesda) - too bad it is not larger.
3. Alexandria mainly Old Town - what moved this down is the fact that Metro King St station is more on the edge of the area.
4. DTSS - as a node you can't denied that it is very convenient. Purple Line will only make it better.
5. Reston Town Center - The development itself is good, but Reston Metro Station on Silver Line is somewhat away.
6. Pentagon City / Crystal City, Arlington - It is somewhat sprawly, but not as bad as Tysons.
7. Rockville (Town Center area)
8. Tysons - area overall can be rated much higher (The Tysons malls are also by far the best in DMV), but has ways to go to be more foot traffic friendly.
9. PG Co overall...the whole county can be sum up with two words, "wasted potential".
Does College Park, MD bring anything to the table other than just having the UMD campus?
What's the word on Takoma Park? I read in the previous suburbs thread that it was somewhat interesting but I wouldn't know just by looking at it on Google streetview.
Takoma Park has more character than many DC suburbs with its leafy rolling topography and established housing. However, when it comes to development it's an old school lefty hive of NIMBYism where development and growth are basically illegal. There is some TOD over the border on the DC side near the metro station.
Takoma Park has more character than many DC suburbs with its leafy rolling topography and established housing. However, when it comes to development it's an old school lefty hive of NIMBYism where development and growth are basically illegal. There is some TOD over the border on the DC side near the metro station.
Sidestep into politics, but current MoCo executive Elrich basically show what your typical TP resident looks like - NIMBY while being so-call "progressive" on housing. And they wonder why MoCo is increasingly becoming a county with only ultra rich and ultra poor with nothing in between.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BlessUrSelf
very true
To be somewhat fair, PG County is starting to plan some TODs:
PG is a sleeper with loads of space to develop around its metro stations plus around the purple line and MARC. The Rout 1 corridor is also developing nicely
Arlington if you are just talking about TODs. They literally have two clusters (Rosslyn-Ballston corridor and Pentagon City/Crystal City) which just can't be beat.
Old Town Alexandria is nice, nearby Eisenhower Valley is being built up also. Alexandria also has monstrosity in Mark Center area.
Bethesda is nice also but small - the presence of NIH/WRNMMC north of central Bethesda means there won't be too much high density development moving that way. They are redeveloping the White Flint (North Bethesda) area now but it will be another 10 years or so before it is completely finish.
DTSS is ehh...just too mix bag. It does have the amenities of urban nodes, though, just not that "nice".
For Tysons - it is still too sprawly and too many stroads in the area. I just can't group that with the like of Reston, either. The latter is not a bad TOD, albeit again not big.
PG County...ehh if anything the whole county is really bad with TOD/urban nodes. Even Largo TC (or Downtown Largo as they rebrand is) is more car centric and feels more like a Columbia MD-esque development. Both ends of the Green Line is literally a station with a giant parking lot anyway.
This is a fair assessment. Rosslyn-Ballston is biggest and more urban. It functions more as a spur of the urban core than a typical TOD area. National Landing is centrally located, but pretty mediocre. You have the bland Crystal City office buildings and the awkward Mall centric Pentagon City with wide roads and bad urban design. The area is just over the bridge and near the water, but functionally cut off by the Pentagon, the airport and the scenic, but anti-urban GW parkway. The area will likely improve in the future as the older 60s era office buildings are redeveloped. There are plans to create a new pedestrian bridge from CC to DC as part of the Long Bridge replacement. That should vastly improve the walking/biking connection to the District and the river.
Bethesda feels like an upscale suburban downtown. It has a nice mix of retail, residential and office space in a compact downtown than transitions quickly into surrounding affluent single-family homes. It's not far from the District line, but it feels removed from the urban given it borders the streetcar suburbia of Upper NW.
Silver Spring is very similar to Bethesda in terms of the urban island surrounded by suburbia. It's more diverse/less affluent than Bethesda. That's a positive to many. But, it has a fairly weak commercial market and sees less investment. The connection to the city is a little more seamless than Bethesda being right on the urban line and sharing Georgia Ave. However, again its a outlying SFH area.
I don't know that Old Town Alexandria really qualifies as TOD as much as a historic city a bit removed from the urban core. But, Alexandria has been infilling around Eisenhower Ave, Braddock Road and the soon to be Potomoc Yard station. The multiple areas make it feel less like an urban island than SS/Bethesda. However, its a little more removed and nowhere really has the peak urban intensity you find in SS/Bethesda/Arlington.
As has been noted PG County has been hurt by the fact the green line doesn't run along the route 1 corridor. Mt Ranier, Hyattsville, Riverdale, College Park are ok and could be a far better cluster. Nat Harbor is a nice tourist attraction, but is basically an island among spraw
Beyond that, Rockville and Reston feel like outer suburban downtowns. NorthBethesda and Tysons are sprawlly works in progress. Fall Church and College Park are ok growing areas, but a bit removed and not as metro accessible as they could be. Then you have places like the Mosaic District and Downtown Crown which are basically outdoor malls with some apartments tacked on. Better than strip malls, but not really urban centers.
This is a fair assessment. Rosslyn-Ballston is biggest and more urban. It functions more as a spur of the urban core than a typical TOD area. National Landing is centrally located, but pretty mediocre. You have the bland Crystal City office buildings and the awkward Mall centric Pentagon City with wide roads and bad urban design. The area is just over the bridge and near the water, but functionally cut off by the Pentagon, the airport and the scenic, but anti-urban GW parkway. The area will likely improve in the future as the older 60s era office buildings are redeveloped. There are plans to create a new pedestrian bridge from CC to DC as part of the Long Bridge replacement. That should vastly improve the walking/biking connection to the District and the river.
Bethesda feels like an upscale suburban downtown. It has a nice mix of retail, residential and office space in a compact downtown than transitions quickly into surrounding affluent single-family homes. It's not far from the District line, but it feels removed from the urban given it borders the streetcar suburbia of Upper NW.
Silver Spring is very similar to Bethesda in terms of the urban island surrounded by suburbia. It's more diverse/less affluent than Bethesda. That's a positive to many. But, it has a fairly weak commercial market and sees less investment. The connection to the city is a little more seamless than Bethesda being right on the urban line and sharing Georgia Ave. However, again its a outlying SFH area.
I don't know that Old Town Alexandria really qualifies as TOD as much as a historic city a bit removed from the urban core. But, Alexandria has been infilling around Eisenhower Ave, Braddock Road and the soon to be Potomoc Yard station. The multiple areas make it feel less like an urban island than SS/Bethesda. However, its a little more removed and nowhere really has the peak urban intensity you find in SS/Bethesda/Arlington.
As has been noted PG County has been hurt by the fact the green line doesn't run along the route 1 corridor. Mt Ranier, Hyattsville, Riverdale, College Park are ok and could be a far better cluster. Nat Harbor is a nice tourist attraction, but is basically an island among spraw
Beyond that, Rockville and Reston feel like outer suburban downtowns. NorthBethesda and Tysons are sprawlly works in progress. Fall Church and College Park are ok growing areas, but a bit removed and not as metro accessible as they could be. Then you have places like the Mosaic District and Downtown Crown which are basically outdoor malls with some apartments tacked on. Better than strip malls, but not really urban centers.
For the like of Mosaic District or DT Crown/Kentlands - yeah, those are the super archetypical DMV mixed-use developments. Even Pike & Rose is similar - in fact the Dunn Loring/Merrifield Station is probably closer to Mosaic District than North Bethesda Station to Pike & Rose. And of course there's National Harbor - which would benefit from a metro station, but alas, the only public transit right now there is two buses that runs at 30 mins headway, including one (NH2) that has to go through busy Woodrow Wilson Bridge.
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