I lived in an apartment building that was connected to a shopping center in Maryland for a few months. I mostly moved there because I was able to get a short term lease and it was close to my job and I knew I was going to leave the region later that year. I will admit that it lacked a “neighborhood” feeling and I don’t think I would have stayed long term, but it worked well for the time I was there. The best part was that I could walk to a giant grocery store. I could see this type of setup being attractive to students who want to be near (but not on) campus and still want to have easy access to groceries and other retail.
A very similar thing is happening in Savannah around Oglethorpe Mall. They took down the old Sears buildings and put up apartment buildings. Interested to see if it helps revitalize the mall as well.
My son spent a semester in Binghamton, so I've seen this through the windshield, but never explored it. What strikes me about this and many other examples of suburban repair is that it isn't reflective of the YIMBY/Strong Towns dream of incremental development. I know you called it incremental, and I think I agree with that in the sense you meant, which is that its a partial fix. But its owned by American Campus Communities, which is a nationwide provider of student housing. And that's no surprise. It takes a lot of capital to redevelop at even this relatively modest scale, and a lot of control to do things like offer free shuttles to campus, fitness centers, etc.
There's a part of me that wishes it were otherwise, but I think that correcting a mistake requires the ability to match the scale of the mistake.
"an approach to the built environment in which gradual change is possible as conditions evolve, and in which the scale of change is low enough that small firms and even regular people can participate in building the place in which they live."
Incredibly well said- love this vision of growth. It's persistent without being overwhelming, creative and without being jarring
Where I live (Oak Park, IL) we are going through a debate about changing zoning- and I think at the core this is why I'm such a proponent in getting rid of our strict SFH zoning code- we have no opportunities to do anything but build more elaborate million dollar homes, we need the legal and administrative space to think differently
I lived in an apartment building that was connected to a shopping center in Maryland for a few months. I mostly moved there because I was able to get a short term lease and it was close to my job and I knew I was going to leave the region later that year. I will admit that it lacked a “neighborhood” feeling and I don’t think I would have stayed long term, but it worked well for the time I was there. The best part was that I could walk to a giant grocery store. I could see this type of setup being attractive to students who want to be near (but not on) campus and still want to have easy access to groceries and other retail.
A very similar thing is happening in Savannah around Oglethorpe Mall. They took down the old Sears buildings and put up apartment buildings. Interested to see if it helps revitalize the mall as well.
My son spent a semester in Binghamton, so I've seen this through the windshield, but never explored it. What strikes me about this and many other examples of suburban repair is that it isn't reflective of the YIMBY/Strong Towns dream of incremental development. I know you called it incremental, and I think I agree with that in the sense you meant, which is that its a partial fix. But its owned by American Campus Communities, which is a nationwide provider of student housing. And that's no surprise. It takes a lot of capital to redevelop at even this relatively modest scale, and a lot of control to do things like offer free shuttles to campus, fitness centers, etc.
There's a part of me that wishes it were otherwise, but I think that correcting a mistake requires the ability to match the scale of the mistake.
"an approach to the built environment in which gradual change is possible as conditions evolve, and in which the scale of change is low enough that small firms and even regular people can participate in building the place in which they live."
Incredibly well said- love this vision of growth. It's persistent without being overwhelming, creative and without being jarring
Where I live (Oak Park, IL) we are going through a debate about changing zoning- and I think at the core this is why I'm such a proponent in getting rid of our strict SFH zoning code- we have no opportunities to do anything but build more elaborate million dollar homes, we need the legal and administrative space to think differently
This is still terrible development while being an enormous improvement. Improvement is good.