tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30306615.post8654364489481773626..comments2024-02-28T11:29:36.860-05:00Comments on just up the pike: is there really a "war on suburbia" in montgomery county?Dan Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594208011755406956noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30306615.post-48434399669506012482016-05-05T22:57:19.199-04:002016-05-05T22:57:19.199-04:00Ironic how residents in the western part of the co...Ironic how residents in the western part of the county are fighting urban development while east county residents have to fight for it. <br /><br />I would do a back flip if east county could get mid to high end retail, especially now that the White Oak plan is in doubt. I guess I can always hope for Konterra to come to fruition (or move).Lanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00197250236607774802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30306615.post-42521249379918496492016-05-05T11:55:30.271-04:002016-05-05T11:55:30.271-04:00"A lot of people still don't want urban d..."A lot of people still don't want urban density, which explains why home prices are higher in less dense neighborhoods and why people are willing to pay those prices if they can."<br /><br />Except that's increasingly not true, including here in the DC area. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/27/opinion/sunday/now-coveted-a-walkable-convenient-place.html" rel="nofollow">From Chris Leinberger, former professor at George Washington University</a>: <br /><br /><i>Mariela Alfonzo and I just released <a href="http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2012/05/25-walkable-places-leinberger" rel="nofollow">a Brookings Institution study</a> that measures values of commercial and residential real estate in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, which includes the surrounding suburbs in Virginia and Maryland. Our research shows that real estate values increase as neighborhoods became more walkable, where everyday needs, including working, can be met by walking, transit or biking. There is a fivestep “ladder” of walkability, from least to most walkable. On average, each step up the walkability ladder adds $9 per square foot to annual office rents, $7 per square foot to retail rents, more than $300 per month to apartment rents and nearly $82 per square foot to home values.</i><br /><br />I won't deny anyone their individual preferences, but the facts are that more people (not are, but more) want to live in an urban, walkable place, and the real estate market bears that out.<br /><br />You know Robert, I grew up in an apartment house with dozens of kids who were more than tolerated, warm, friendly building staff, a pool for swimming in, a courtyard for snowball fights, and a big park next door for running around in. And I turned out just fine.Dan Reedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10594208011755406956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30306615.post-37549457281463973152016-05-05T11:43:05.997-04:002016-05-05T11:43:05.997-04:00The move to suburbia didn't begin after WWII. ...The move to suburbia didn't begin after WWII. Suburban development in Montgomery County started with suburbs around the Metropolitan Branch of the B&O, e.g. Woodside, Kensington, etc. It picked up in the 1920s. Here's the text of an ad in Washington's Evening Star newspaper from October 1925 headlined "What Sort of Place Will Your Children Call Home":<br /><br />"Some Day, not so many years from now, your little boys or girls will be telling their little folks about “our old home.” What sort of place will they describe—an apartment house like an office building with a cold marble lobby, where children were “tolerated,” or a row house on a noisy, crowded city street?<br /> <br /> "Or will they have tales to tell of a home out where the blue begins —and the green of Springtime and the gold and red of Autumn? A home, centering around a real hearth-stone where marshmallows were toasted on long Winter evenings and stockings were hung at the Yuletide? <br /> <br /> "Will you buy or build your suburban home now or after it is too late for your children to get the full benefit of its health and joy-giving advantages?”<br /><br /> "Come Out to Wynnewood Park Sunday<br /><br /><br />A lot of people still don't want urban density, which explains why home prices are higher in less dense neighborhoods and why people are willing to pay those prices if they can.Roberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00180733496678026590noreply@blogger.com