In development, changes to a neighborhood are measured in years, sometimes decades, and often require some patience for market conditions to generate the needed investments. This was the conundrum Fairfax County faced as it watched the construction of the Silver Line metro through Tysons far outpace the level of private construction occurring along the corridor. While the growth in Tysons has been impressive, with a handful of high rises already nearing completion, to take dozens of office parks and create continuity is a generational task.
This has been a dilemma faced by many urban revitalization projects over the past decade. As baby boomers and millennials have continued to look inward for housing, the pace of redevelopment has been outpaced by the demand for it.
DC’s waterfront is a prime example of the community’s interest in retail and food options meeting with the difficult reality of a weak financing market. When city planner’s began denoting the impact of the new stadium on the surrounding depressed neighborhood they showed the ultimate concept of a thriving urban community with parks, high rises, and vibrant streets with retail (sounds familiar). Of course if someone showed up opening day of Nationals Stadium they would have seen a lot of construction vehicles, some desolate streets, and a metro stop that seemingly dumped into a parking lot. Today the neighborhood is showing much of the promised concept, and with time the neighborhood will match the plans.
This teaches us that in planning and development, while most focus on 3d, the residents and users really experience the plans in 4d, with time being an integral component. With that in mind, while Tysons in 20 years might have some great neighborhood small retail opportunities, today exiting Greensboro metro station in town leads you to vacant asphalt on the side of a hill.
So Fairfax County reached out to GMU students to figure out interim ways to generate interest and neighborhood amenities while development moves forward at a normal rate. The student’s looked at past revitalization projects like DC’s waterfront for inspiration and the idea of pop-up retail, temporary facilities meant to showcase small retailers and food options. At the Waterfront events like Truckapalooza, held every Friday, create a buzz atmosphere that not only serves residents who live in the early towers that have already been completed, but also residents from elsewhere in the metro region.
The County then approached land owners around the metro stations to see if anyone was interested in moving the concept of temporary development into a reality. Enter NVRetail, developers of the piece of property the Greensboro metro station will exit to along Leesburg Pike. They are proposing a temporary courtyard to receive commuters and residents alike, where small retail shops and food vendors will be able to set up and sell direct.
In my overseas travel I have been lucky enough to see some really great markets. In Provence the pop-up markets can often out do business in established shops. In Taipei the night markets are one part foodie heaven one part bargain hunters delight. In both cases, the market embodies a place for people to hang out, grab some quick food, and get out of the house. The market concept, what neo-urbanists call pop-up retail, is not such a radical idea; it has been around for centuries. It is the application of markets, in the form of pop-up retail, to help tote along a communities revitalization that is unique.