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I think the planning in Gaithersburg is more about separating from DC and becoming their own self supporting city and metro area. If you look at the Gaithersburg 2030 master plan it shows a complete breakdown of plans. The projected population of the City of Gaithersburg in 2030 is from 80,000-98,000. The projected jobs is over 100,000. That means people will be commuting to Gaithersburg from all over the region. Gaithersburg is filled with mostly apts. The entire city is bus accessible by Ride On. The city will have 8 CCT stops in the city limits. It will be unmatched in Maryland behind Baltimore for mass transit. The entire city has nothing but mixed use developments going up everwhere. The ICC will make Gaithersburg it's own hub. I think reality needs to set in that Gaithersburg is the future for Montgomery County.
Archstone Westchester broke ground in Olde Town Gaithersburg last week. Here is the press release:
"Archstone Starts Construction on Gaithersburg Apartment Community
New development to feature 389 apartments in heart of biotechnology hub
Archstone—a leader in apartment investment, development and operations—today announced that it has begun construction on a 389-unit, transit-oriented apartment community in Gaithersburg, Md. The development will be funded primarily through an $89.9 million FHA insured Section 221(d)4 loan through CWCapital.
“We are excited to be an active developer of high quality infill apartment communities again, and expect significant additional investment activity in 2011,†said Scot Sellers, Archstone’s chief executive officer. “We are pleased to have completed our recent balance sheet restructuring, which positions us well for the future.â€
The Gaithersburg community will provide much needed housing to the area known as the epicenter of the nation’s biotechnology research industry. Located just south of the intersection of North Summit and East Diamond Avenue, in Gaithersburg’s historic downtown, the 6-acre site sits directly across from the Gaithersburg MARC Rail Station, a commuter rail stop that will provide future residents with direct access to downtown Washington, D.C.
“Gaithersburg is located in the center of the Montgomery County Technology Corridor, the heart of biotechnology research in the United States,†said Neil Brown, Archstone’s chief development officer. “The area’s unique combination of a growing technology employment base, strong demographics, exciting growth projects, like the new Science City, and easy access to mass transit, make it an outstanding location for high quality institutional investment. We are excited to begin construction on another landmark project that we believe will create significant long-term value for the City of Gaithersburg, for our future residents and for our shareholders.â€
When complete, the Gaithersburg community will not only feature well-appointed apartment homes, but also a host of resident-centric, quality-of-life amenities, including 15,000 square feet of street-front retail space, a beach-entry lagoon-style pool, a fully-equipped re-oxygenating fitness center, pet grooming salon, a resident greenhouse and an above-ground parking garage.
“We develop all of our communities with attention to every detail,†said Rob Seldin, Archstone’s senior vice president of development for the East Region. “We know that people have a choice in where they call home; therefore, it is always our objective to provide both prospective and existing residents with the most reasons to choose Archstone. Archstone Olde Towne will be developed with a unique combination of features and amenities that will clearly differentiate it from other apartments available in the area, along with a few surprises that we’ll announce as we get closer to the grand opening.â€
The Gaithersburg project is the second major apartment community Archstone has begun developing in the Washington, D.C., area this year. In July, the company broke ground on Archstone NoMa, the newest apartment addition to Washington, D.C.’s white hot NoMa Business Improvement District. The Archstone NoMa apartments in Washington, D.C., are primarily funded through a $152 million FHA insured Section 220 loan, also through CWCapital."
Why isn't MD as progressive with TOD as NOVA , why is there now massive push in Baltimore and along the Penn line?
I don't think it's a Maryland thing, it's a D.C. vs. Baltimore thing. If you look at Maryland, the transit oriented development corridors are in the D.C. suburbs. Baltimore is so small they probably didn't feel the need to expand their suburbs. They don't even have bad traffic even with horrible public transit ridership. The stats probably tell the story more so.
I don't think it's a Maryland thing, it's a D.C. vs. Baltimore thing. If you look at Maryland, the transit oriented development corridors are in the D.C. suburbs. Baltimore is so small they probably didn't feel the need to expand their suburbs. They don't even have bad traffic even with horrible public transit ridership. The stats probably tell the story more so.
Baltimore's about the same population as DC. They had a metro system planned to be very similar to DC's but simply never invested in it so now they have the hodge-podge lines going here and there of different systems that help make Baltimore so much more unlivable.
Re: Gaithersburg, people can rationalize any action. Obviously, given the horrible development patterns throughout the US, this sort of rationalization goes on all the time - a new highways coming through, it's a new jobs center, it's separate, it's our freedom, blah blah blah.
At the end of the day, that article listing it as one of the potential disasters of 2011 planning hits it on the head: these decisions (for new commercial centers, for new highways) are made in vacuums by people who may or may not be very enlightened to serve the egos of people within specific jurisdictions and are not inherently wise when considering the livability of our region. We don't have that luxury anymore in this region. We've spent decades making decisions like that and now have the 2nd worst traffic in the country. This Science City won't help, no matter how pretty or sustainable it looks.
There is no need to push jobs out there or highways that encourage or justify jobs being pushed out there, whether you think it's inevitable or not. If we planned regionally, jurisdictions could share revenues and concentrate jobs where we already have infrastructure and everybody would benefit rather than just Montgomery County. As it is, everybody fights for their little piece of the pie and chaos ensues. Just short-sighted thinking.
Gaithersburg as an urban metropolis? I thought Gaithersburg was suppose to very suburban in nature with townhouses throughout?
Plus, isn't Bethesda and Rockville suppose to be THE spots in MoCo.
Does Gaithersburg really outdue Bethesda or Rockville on some measure that I'm unaware of?
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