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Hailed as a rival to Tysons Corner in scale and quality, all things Konterra has begun! News outlets alerting that Phase One of the project will be complete in 2018. A new website has been created (still under construction). For now, here is the fact sheet:
Konterra is an impressive mixed-use town center
destination located on both the east and west sides
of I-95, just four miles north of the Capitol Beltway
(I-495) in the vibrant D.C./Baltimore corridor
KONTERRA TOWN CENTER EAST
1.5 million SF of fashion oriented retail
3.8 million SF of Class A office, including free-
standing locations with I-95 visibility and
alternatives for office over retail
4,500 new multifamily rentals and condos
600 hotel rooms, including a conference-
caliber hotel facility
Phase One:
Konterra Town Center East;
1.5 million SF open-air retail center
with office and residential uses above;
opening 2018
Drove by this week and saw two pieces of parked equip, and a portajohn, where there had been none previously. Not sure if they were new or just moved from another part of the site. This is what passes for news at the mo.
Hailed as a rival to Tysons Corner in scale and quality, all things Konterra has begun! News outlets alerting that Phase One of the project will be complete in 2018. A new website has been created (still under construction). For now, here is the fact sheet:
It will be interesting to see how it competes with Tyson now that they have metro access.
This is true, but in terms of walkability, Konterra has Tysons beat shown by the grid street system in the Konterra rendering. Tysons has to retrofit itself into a walkable transit district which is challenging because of how the area was originally laid out. There are a few things they could do.
For starters, they could turn those 8-lane roads into BLVDS with street parking and fully protected bike lanes. Put a grassy tree-lined median in the middle or perhaps dedicated RBT lanes. I don't agree with the sky-walks and raised plazas. Makes it look 19070-ish.
I was there for training a few years ago for one week. Going from the office building to lunch at the Galleria reminded me of the video game F-r-o-g-g-e-r (Is this a bad word?).
Tysons was built as a destination. Much like National Harbor. You went there to work, shop, and eat. But not live. So, the pedestrian numbers weren't high. Now that they are trying to create a neighborhood from that rigid auto-centric mold, it will take a while.
Konterra has the advantage of starting from scratch. The street-grid system screams walkability and pedestrian-friendly and takes cues from smart-growth concepts. The only drawback is as you said, transit.
I think this is where BRT could be of some use. You're right at the ICC and I-95. Very easy for BRT to go down I-95 to the Greenbelt Metro or along the ICC to the I-270 corridor.
It will be interesting to see how it competes with Tyson now that they have metro access.
They can't compete with tysons or anybody else. It's location is poor.
This is already failing. Pushing back the dates because they can't draw businesses. There is no major office partners, no major retail partners either. New date for major Laurel development Konterra Town Center East is 2018 -- Gazette.Net
They have basically said they are slowing down development because they do not want empty space.
It's too far removed from transit to succeed in comparison to competing projects in the DMV which have the benefit of transit access or close access to the urban core (White Flint, Walter Reed Redevelopment, etc).
It cannot compete with the transit connected places, the entire plan would have succeeded if they put it next to a metro station. Tysons corner started development in a time when being car centric place like this was possible, and then later got transit. This on the other hand seems 30 years out of date, if not more. It happened years ago when the suburban office boom happened. These days suburban office buildings are struggling unless they have decent transit access. It is why it is over 40% vacancy in the outlying suburbs of Virginia, and less than 3% in Silver Spring.
Konterra may be starting from scratch, but the truth is it would be far better located if it was a development close to a metro station. It doesn't matter if it uses a grid design, it's competing against a large number of cities with far better transit access, in an urban area where that actually matters a great deal. PG county is not Fairfax, not by a long shot. If it wanted to do this right, it would put this type of development by a metro station like Montgomery county does. Compare Konterra to White Flint, it will be White Flint that ends up succeeding in the long run. Konterra is just too far removed.
Unlike say the FDA project which is also removed from transit (though not nearly as far), it lacks any meaningful or important business anchor that would draw in office usage. This is more like somebody wants to build an edge city to build an edge city, but doing it in the worst way possible without much thought about what usually makes these successful.
I should note about those moving to walkable communities, especially rentals and condos, access to transit is usually a requirement. It's goes beyond that. This is really just poor planning based on old assumptions which are very out dated.
Personally, I am cheering for this to fail. It needs to be a lesson to PG that if they want to do a project like this it needs to be near a metro station. That's the problem, PG does not have any project like this near a metro station where it could actually succeed. Instead they put it far removed from the metro when businesses are looking for office space with transit access. :facepalm:
This is likely the reason why PG will remain the laggard in the region. Montgomery county is likely to remain competitive though, as much of their future planning remains focused on TOD around metros. The FDA building is the exception.
They can't compete with tysons or anybody else. It's location is poor.
This is already failing. Pushing back the dates because they can't draw businesses. There is no major office partners, no major retail partners either. New date for major Laurel development Konterra Town Center East is 2018 -- Gazette.Net
They have basically said they are slowing down development because they do not want empty space.
It's too far removed from transit to succeed in comparison to competing projects in the DMV which have the benefit of transit access or close access to the urban core (White Flint, Walter Reed Redevelopment, etc).
It cannot compete with the transit connected places, the entire plan would have succeeded if they put it next to a metro station. Tysons corner started development in a time when being car centric place like this was possible, and then later got transit. This on the other hand seems 30 years out of date, if not more. It happened years ago when the suburban office boom happened. These days suburban office buildings are struggling unless they have decent transit access. It is why it is over 40% vacancy in the outlying suburbs of Virginia, and less than 3% in Silver Spring.
Konterra may be starting from scratch, but the truth is it would be far better located if it was a development close to a metro station. It doesn't matter if it uses a grid design, it's competing against a large number of cities with far better transit access, in an urban area where that actually matters a great deal. PG county is not Fairfax, not by a long shot. If it wanted to do this right, it would put this type of development by a metro station like Montgomery county does. Compare Konterra to White Flint, it will be White Flint that ends up succeeding in the long run. Konterra is just too far removed.
Unlike say the FDA project which is also removed from transit (though not nearly as far), it lacks any meaningful or important business anchor that would draw in office usage. This is more like somebody wants to build an edge city to build an edge city, but doing it in the worst way possible without much thought about what usually makes these successful.
I should note about those moving to walkable communities, especially rentals and condos, access to transit is usually a requirement. It's goes beyond that. This is really just poor planning based on old assumptions which are very out dated.
Personally, I am cheering for this to fail. It needs to be a lesson to PG that if they want to do a project like this it needs to be near a metro station. That's the problem, PG does not have any project like this near a metro station where it could actually succeed. Instead they put it far removed from the metro when businesses are looking for office space with transit access. :facepalm:
This is likely the reason why PG will remain the laggard in the region. Montgomery county is likely to remain competitive though, as much of their future planning remains focused on TOD around metros. The FDA building is the exception.
I agree with you. But it's not PG that is developing it. The landowners are. And no county, even in NoVa, would tell a landowner that they couldn't develop on their land if it met all the legal requirements.
Remember, Herdon, Reston, Sterling, Dulles, and Ashburn were all built during the transit smart-growth hype. They used the Dulles Toll RD as their catalyst. Konterra has the ICC and I-95.
But I do agree that times have changed since even the days of Reston and Herndon. It will be interesting to see what happens. I do believe that transit will eventually make it to Konterra either by BRT or some extension of the Green Line.
We also have to realize that this is really a 30-50 year project. And by then, I'm sure there will be some form of transit.
I agree with you. But it's not PG that is developing it. The landowners are. And no county, even in NoVa, would tell a landowner that they couldn't develop on their land if it met all the legal requirements.
Remember, Herdon, Reston, Sterling, Dulles, and Ashburn were all built during the transit smart-growth hype. They used the Dulles Toll RD as their catalyst. Konterra has the ICC and I-95.
But I do agree that times have changed since even the days of Reston and Herndon. It will be interesting to see what happens. I do believe that transit will eventually make it to Konterra either by BRT or some extension of the Green Line.
We also have to realize that this is really a 30-50 year project. And by then, I'm sure there will be some form of transit.
If this lacks a substaintial business anchor, ie a corporate headquarters for a Fortune 500 company, it will die pretty quickly. The big reason Tysons grew very large is the area had a massive amount of corporate headquarters. Also why it came at the start of the smart growth thing, the idea was not completely bought everywhere until the last 10 years. Much of what happened in Virginia was coming from business demand. Like it or not...PG lacks completely the beneficial demographics. It is the least educated area in DC. Every other county has 50% or more in terms of college graduates, PG...29%.
With that being said, northern Virginia has a major office vacancy issue right now. Tysons may be the one place where the offices do maintain themselves, and this is going to be because the metro might have saved it in the long run.
Also do not depend on metro extending the green line, in fact I just do not see it happening at all. Maryland lacks the will to do transit the same way as Virginia right now.
This project may have been right for the 1980s or 1990s, but it is completely out of date now.
I should note, 30-50 years does not cut it. If you cannot find success in the first five the project will be dead. Again, this entire project is misplaced, especially for the type of housing that is coming in.
It should be noted replicating edge cities is not easy, and most edge cities in DC happened because of transit. Bethesda, Silver Spring, Rockville, Arlington, Alexandria, etc are all TOD communities.
I am sorry...PG is not getting it's own Tysons. Konterra will fail.
If this lacks a substaintial business anchor, ie a corporate headquarters for a Fortune 500 company, it will die pretty quickly. The big reason Tysons grew very large is the area had a massive amount of corporate headquarters. Also why it came at the start of the smart growth thing, the idea was not completely bought everywhere until the last 10 years. Much of what happened in Virginia was coming from business demand. Like it or not...PG lacks completely the beneficial demographics. It is the least educated area in DC. Every other county has 50% or more in terms of college graduates, PG...29%.
With that being said, northern Virginia has a major office vacancy issue right now. Tysons may be the one place where the offices do maintain themselves, and this is going to be because the metro might have saved it in the long run.
Also do not depend on metro extending the green line, in fact I just do not see it happening at all. Maryland lacks the will to do transit the same way as Virginia right now.
This project may have been right for the 1980s or 1990s, but it is completely out of date now.
I should note, 30-50 years does not cut it. If you cannot find success in the first five the project will be dead. Again, this entire project is misplaced, especially for the type of housing that is coming in.
It should be noted replicating edge cities is not easy, and most edge cities in DC happened because of transit. Bethesda, Silver Spring, Rockville, Arlington, Alexandria, etc are all TOD communities.
I am sorry...PG is not getting it's own Tysons. Konterra will fail.
A project of that size typically takes about 10 to 15 years to be deemed a success or failure. It took areas like U Street, Navy Yard and the Southwest Waterfront 20 years to get to where they are now and they are IN the city. Even Downtown Silver Spring took a while to turn around. I agree that TOD would have expedited its success but I wouldn't call it a failure yet.
A project of that size typically takes about 10 to 15 years to be deemed a success or failure. It took areas like U Street, Navy Yard and the Southwest Waterfront 20 years to get to where they are now and they are IN the city. Even Downtown Silver Spring took a while to turn around. I agree that TOD would have expedited its success but I wouldn't call it a failure yet.
They said the same thing about National Harbor. "Oh there is no transit. Traffic will drive people away. No one can get to it. It will turn into BLVD at the CAP. It will fail." Hmmmmm. It's been 7 years now? And National Harbor is doing fairly well without transit. It hasn't even reached the 10-15 year window when it will be deemed a success or failure.
If this lacks a substaintial business anchor, ie a corporate headquarters for a Fortune 500 company, it will die pretty quickly. The big reason Tysons grew very large is the area had a massive amount of corporate headquarters. Also why it came at the start of the smart growth thing, the idea was not completely bought everywhere until the last 10 years. Much of what happened in Virginia was coming from business demand. Like it or not...PG lacks completely the beneficial demographics. It is the least educated area in DC. Every other county has 50% or more in terms of college graduates, PG...29%.
With that being said, northern Virginia has a major office vacancy issue right now. Tysons may be the one place where the offices do maintain themselves, and this is going to be because the metro might have saved it in the long run.
Also do not depend on metro extending the green line, in fact I just do not see it happening at all. Maryland lacks the will to do transit the same way as Virginia right now.
This project may have been right for the 1980s or 1990s, but it is completely out of date now.
I should note, 30-50 years does not cut it. If you cannot find success in the first five the project will be dead. Again, this entire project is misplaced, especially for the type of housing that is coming in.
It should be noted replicating edge cities is not easy, and most edge cities in DC happened because of transit. Bethesda, Silver Spring, Rockville, Arlington, Alexandria, etc are all TOD communities.
I am sorry...PG is not getting it's own Tysons. Konterra will fail.
Explain National Harbor.
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It's been 7 years now? And National Harbor is doing fairly well without transit. It hasn't even reached the 10-15 year window when it will be deemed a success or failure.
