With an Eye Toward Development

Watching high school students wrestle with some of the same questions as they do fascinates some developers. In an Advanced Placement government class at Washington-Lee, Jay Parker, whose firm designed the mixed-use Market Common complex in Clarendon, commiserated with students about the difficulty of incorporating adequate parking into their plans and later raved about the students' insights.

"When they started talking about 'absorption rates,' I was just swept away," he said, referring to the rate at which properties can be leased or sold. "I've worked with planning commissions that have less background than they do."

The developers also marvel at how much the students' plans are shaped by their own environment. At inner-suburban schools such as Washington-Lee and Bethesda-Chevy Chase, students are more likely to create mixed-use developments modeled on urbanized areas in their midst, such as Ballston. At farther-out Robinson, near George Mason University, students are more likely to include a big-box store such as Target, prioritize auto access and segregate housing from commercial development.

For all their interest in the project, however, most students interviewed said they had little interest in getting into the development business. Washington-Lee senior Emily Huston joked that she wouldn't be able to make necessary compromises on plans "because I develop really strong opinions, and I'd just want it my way."

But the students said they appreciated learning more about how development happens, particularly since they are surrounded by so much of it. "We have so much firsthand experience with [development], and now we get to apply what we've seen," said Chris Borer, a senior in an AP government class at Robinson.

And the students had no illusions about potential benefits to developers. "They know we'll be customers in the future, and they'll be appealing to us," said one of Borer's team partners, Chris Hill. "They're focusing on us now because they'll need us later."

When it came time for their final presentations last week, the students played the parts of developers convincingly -- many dressed up for the occasion, and they responded deftly to tough questions from the "councilors."

Challenged by Andrew Rosenberger of Madison Homes about the unusually high profit margins sought by his group, Hill said with a straight face that his team was taking extra profits so that it could cover any cost overruns that might arise later. "We don't want that money coming from the city," he said. "We want it to come from us."

It was a brazen answer, but it worked: The council picked his team's plan, which, in this case, meant not millions in profit but $25 bookstore gift certificates for each member of the team.