REPORT ON CENTRAL PLACE by Landis Jones, Alternate to the Rosslyn Renaissance Urban Design Committee

A fairly inviting conundrum presents itself to the residents of North Arlington. In spite of lengthy considerations of earlier proposals by the same company for the site, the County may delay approval of a two-building proposal while its various units and departments examine details of the proposal. The developer , perhaps for reasons of limited term options on some of the assembled parcels as well as its continued costs of design and other parts of its proposal, wants the county to "fast track" the approval process to obtain approval by the end of this calendar year. We can weigh in from either or both perspectives.

J.B.G. Company presented its most recent proposal for "Central Place" last Wednesday to the Rosslyn Renaissance Urban Design Committee and and to the County's Site Review Committee last night. The County has asked that one developer acquire and develop Central Place,the entire block across from the opening to the Rosslyn Metro between Moore and Lynn streets. JBG has been involved in doing this for several years and has succeeded in assembling the land, at least on a temporary basis. This latest iteration of their development proposal includes two tall buildings nearing the FAA height limit set on Rosslyn, one commercial and the other residential with a common plaza at mid-block directly opposite the Metro station. This configuration is what many members of the Design Committee preferred throughout the long discussions with JBG.

The major community benefits provided in the design are the plaza and an observation deck at the top of the commercial building, which is the building at the south end of the street. The observation deck will have about a 270 degree scope, which will include Georgetown, monumental Washington, and Arlington Cemetery as well as the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor. In the first year, the developer would foot the bill for the deck, a spacious two-level enclosed space accessed by an elevator from the plaza. The plaza would be approximately 140 by 120 feet, would include a small pond and a double row of trees. It could be used by the farmers market and by the Rosslyn Bid's other activites such as noonday concerts. Three new elevators could be placed at the East end with elevators stopping on the plaza as well as on Lynn (Metro and or the County would have to build the elevators in the reserved spots. The commercial building would be stories and feet. The residential building would be stories and feet. The buildings would be glass and metal sheethed. They will have lots of curves and angles, not just boxy blobs. Two stories of retail space would be found at most of the base of each building. As a whole, the JBG plan meets most of the critiques of their earlier proposals, particularly the creation of a real center place for Rosslyn at the center of the Metro block.

Summary copies of the proposal can be viewed at the Rosslyn Renaissance office. The County's site review group has the full detailed floor plans. Because of the current housing market slump, the commercial building and the plaza are in the first phase and the residential building in the second; although both could proceed at the same time.

The conundrum for us as citizens is the usual one, a bold proposal about which there are many legitimate questions as it affects us and the heart of the Rosslyn community and the need for a developer to move quickly. This was the situation when Bethesda developers presented the first iterations of what has become the Turnberry. Developer responses to community and county government comments provided an improved plan but the delays put the development into the brunt of 9/11 preventing any development for several years. The Turnberry project now in its early stages is a very much higher-end development (for better or worse) than the original proposal, but the delay and the attendant blight of adjoining properties awaiting the outcome of the Turnberry raised residents' concerns about whether any positive development would occur at the Best Western site.

MY personal opinion is that the JBG proposal fits well the County's request for location and design. It has been vetted by the Urban Design Committee for several years and meets most of our concerns. What benefits will it provide to us? First, it is a new front door to Rosslyn for arrivals on the Metro. It will provide a usable central plaza, which we argued for for two years. It will provide 30 to 40 feet high (two story) commercial space around its base, providing us and the daily commuters better eating sites and a better sense of community. Many of the buildings existing in Rosslyn have blacked out windows on spaces originally intended for retail but too short and uninviting for anything but noon lunch counters and mom and pop sundry stores. The main concerns that I have are the traffic flows on Lynn, Moore, and Ft. Myer and the coordination with the imminent proposal for the Moday property just north of the Metro between Lynn and Ft. Myer and abutting the power company's monolith. A better traffic pattern might include two-way traffic on Lynn and Ft. Myer and one-way on Moor, a better access to the Metro from Ft. Myer, a spreading out of the bus access spots, and much improved pedestrian crossing of Ft. Myer (with retention of the sky walk over Ft. Myer and Nash. A way needs to be found to do away with the WAMTA bus turn around between Moor and Lynn. A public arcade rumored to be in the Moday proserties proposal might give a much better tie between the uninviting speedway and tunnel of Ft. Myer and the lively inviting space which may be created on Moor. It is unfortunate that there will be five levels of above-ground parking – a parking podium in the two buildings proposed by JBJ. This is predicated on the high rock level in that part of Rosslyn and the delicacy of building over the Metro tunnel and the mandate to provide parking for new buildings by county design and our car dominated society. The Turnberry plans put all of the parking underground and an intention to blast out the rock. I'll take a couple of months of blasting under my nose rather than a dead parking podium. Manhattan is one big block of granite, and I don't recall any parking podiums. Amen.