Old McLean Wonders If It Wants to Be New

The tired strip mall at the heart of McLean, for decades a convenient place to stop for hardware, dry cleaning and pizza, is facing a major overhaul.

This, in itself, might not seem to merit a place in the annals of American redevelopment. After all, which Washington suburb, even in down economic times, doesn't have planners or property owners conjuring up ambitious ways to turn aging swaths of asphalt into walkable hubs filled with shops and housing that can be marketed as, in today's development parlance, a new downtown or town center?

But the bid to remake the center of one of Northern Virginia's most prestigious addresses has raised questions that go beyond the typical tussles that come with change.

Among them: What's better for the community -- a new "Main Street" developed by a McLean resident who heads a multibillion-dollar construction company that built the Reston Town Center and Nationals Park, or the creaky, weathered stores that have built loyal followings over decades? Is McLean, where the Little League field remains a prime gathering spot, ready to become more like Bethesda? And how do you please everyone in a place where so many people are used to getting what they want? Adding to the unease, the developer has not made his plans public or offered shop owners any assurances that they will have a home in the new McLean.

"McLean is -- people say it's a state of mind," said Maya Huber, who has served as a volunteer planner in the Fairfax County community around the crossroads of Old Dominion Drive and Dolley Madison Boulevard over three decades. She said people have had to learn to tolerate the strip center in the middle of town.

"We realize it's very decrepit, and we suffer when the parking lots are broken up and there's no shade to park your car. . . . The downtown is -- convenient is the way I'd put it. It might not be beautiful, but it's convenient," said Huber, who headed a task force that overhauled plans for McLean in 1975.

She helped push for a new main street a decade ago and is buoyed by recent moves that could finally make it happen. "It would be nice to have a better-looking, more pedestrian-friendly downtown where you don't feel like you're going to get run over if you cross the street," Huber said.

But Paul Garmirian sees the agitation to remake McLean as misguided. Sitting in his cigar shop downtown, Garmirian, the son of a prominent builder in Lebanon, said fellow residents "have a pie-in-the-sky wish list" that includes "cobblestones or the London look."

"To try to revamp it into something it's not, to me smells artificial," Garmirian said. Displayed nearby was a 22-karat-gold S.T. Dupont lighter selling for $1,750. Out front was a lustrous red Porsche Carrera with "PG CIGAR" plates.

"Cities and towns traditionally grow from the inside. They become what they are. They don't sit down and say, 'Let's become charming,' " he said.

A series of community meetings this spring sought to tap into what people want. "Not another cookie-cutter 'downtown' with all the usual chain stores," one resident said. "Many more casual, family-friendly restaurants," another said.

How about a riff on Boston's Faneuil Hall or Washington's Eastern Market, with a year-round covered farmers market, cafes and booths for local craftsmen? Or a movie theater? But no multiplexes.