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A Downtown of Their Own

By Stephen C. Fehr
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 25, 1996; Page D01

Faith Kusterer wants eclectic mom and pop shops in her ideal downtown. Brian Grant would like a Starbucks and a bookstore such as Borders. Andy Jaska's downtown would be friendly to pedestrians, with wide sidewalks, trees and benches.

They live in a planned community in upper Montgomery County called Kentlands, where all week the residents are joining architects, developers and public officials in a rare exercise: the design of their own downtown.

As they began sketching their view of a suburban downtown over the weekend -- the final plan will be unveiled Friday night -- the residents gave a glimpse of what many Americans don't like about suburbs today and how different those places could be in the next century.

"We're looking for an entirely different vision," said Richard Arkin, chairman of the Board of Trustees in Kentlands, which is about 25 miles northwest of downtown Washington, in Gaithersburg.

When completed next year, the five-year-old community will have about 1,500 residences and 5,000 people spread over 400 acres. The housing encompasses a wide range of income levels, including condominiums costing in the low $100,000s, town houses starting in the mid-$100,000s and detached houses priced at $219,000 to more than $300,000.

Kentlands has won awards for its neotraditional 19th-century design, which is supposed to combine elements of a small town in its neighborhoods while providing some big-city amenities in a retail area called midtown. The midtown plan largely is the focus of the eight-day design session.

Physically, the residents' back-to-the-future downtown would include the best features of Georgetown, Old Town Alexandria and Annapolis: lots of brick, wood and stone materials in the three- to four-story buildings, with vertical rectangular windows and pitched roofs.

Buildings would be close together, and the storefronts would face the street. Cars would be permitted to drive and park on the street, but most of the parking would be hidden behind the buildings.

The emphasis is on intimacy and pedestrians instead of automobiles, "a downtown capable of being loved," said Andres Duany, the chief architect of Kentlands.

Said Jaska, who has lived in Kentlands for the last three years: "I don't want it to be too impersonal and big. In a mall, you have to buy and get out. There are no places to sit down. This should be like the city dock in Annapolis or the old village well where the women went and talked."

Many residents were loud and clear about the retailers they'd like to see in their downtown. They don't like the strip shopping center or big retailers surrounded by acres of parking. Kentlands' downtown should not be visually littered with fast-food restaurants, either, many residents said.

"They don't add to the feeling of connection and ambiance," said Barney Gorin, a four-year Kentlands resident.

Gorin ticked off his wish list: a restaurant like La Colline, but no Kentucky Fried Chicken. A men's store like Britches but not an Everything's a Dollar store.

The residents' views bump up against retailing reality, however, which argues for a mix of national and local restaurants, services and shops. To attract some of the stores that residents desire, retailers would need to be assured of a critical mass of people before they would invest there. National chains attract those crowds better than mom and pop stores, according to retail specialists attending the design meetings.

In Reston, the Town Center -- which has some of the same features Kentlands residents want -- was envisioned as a regional shopping and entertainment center. But the crowds didn't show up as planned to support all of the stores there, so a shopping center with some big retailers, such as a Best Buy electronics store, was added to help boost sales activity.

"You have to be careful, because sometimes you get what you ask for," warned Art Fuccillo, of Lerner Enterprises, developer of the new Spectrum shopping center in Reston.

One encouraging retailing trend is what some call the de-malling of America, in which national chains, including the Gap, have been sprouting up on the main streets of suburban downtowns because many consumers want to be outside rather than in a mall.

"I think you can have the best ofboth worlds," Arkin said. "There's room in Kentlands to do some interesting big box and national restaurants that would segue into a funky arts and craftsy Main Street."

Kentlands resident Michael Berney, balancing his 3-year-old son, Max, on his shoulder, summed up the challenge facing the new downtown.

"The question is," he said, "can a place that really combines the best aspects of a community be commercially viable?"