Contract - July/August 2011 - (Page 129)

Sustainable building and store design is of limited value in reducing energy use and promoting resilience, however, if automobile dependency isn’t also squarely confronted. Sites located near mass transit will be particularly desirable. Belmar (pictured on page 126) in Lakewood, Colorado, is a successful example of a mall transformation incorporating public transportation. The 100-acre regional mall property was redeveloped by Continuum Partners, a Denver-based real estate development company, and planned by Civitas and Elkus Manfedi Architects. Subdivided by new streets connected to the neighboring street grid, what was once a mega-parcel with a tired mall and surface parking is now a destination. Composed of 22 pedestrian- and bike-friendly blocks, Belmar is three times the built density of the old mall and has multiple bus lines threading through streets lined with mixed-use buildings. A number of higher-density retrofits have been recently constructed on underutilized sites adjacent to the suburban stations of the Washington, D.C. Metrorail system, including the mixed-use redevelopment of a 12½-acre strip center at Rockville Town Square in Montgomery County, Maryland. Soon, Metrorail will be extended to Dulles Airport through Tysons Corner, Virginia, which was once the poster child of edge city agglomerations of office buildings and shopping malls that is now undergoing remarkable transformation into the nation’s largest transit-oriented development. Need to reinvent parking For all this to work, parking must be reinvented. Most suburban retail areas are vastly overparked and one sure path to more economically efficient development is to both minimize and better manage the supply of parking spaces. Design ingenuity can be employed to compensate for the loss of large surface parking lots sized for the busiest shopping days. Way-finding signage and parking apps on digital devices, for example, could be implemented to steer drivers toward available spaces. Bike lanes and racks could also mitigate the need for excess parking—one vehicle parking space can accommodate a rack of 20 bicycles! Suburban retrofits tend to combine limited on-street, shortterm convenience parking with more remote surface lots or structured parking decks. If the walk from parking to the store is designed well, the overall experience is less harsh than walking through a long surface parking lot to a destination. The overriding message of suburban retrofitting to positively affect retail will be to add value. The value is added not through super sizing and novelty, but by providing opportunities for people to meaningfully connect with one another in real space and time. As the baby boomers age in place in suburbia, as the percentage of suburban households with children shrinks, as gateway suburbs for immigrants grow and thrive, as car-dependence becomes less tenable, suburban retail will continue to retrofit. June Williamson, RA, LEED AP, is an associate professor of architecture and urban design at the City College of the City University of New York. With Ellen Dunham-Jones, Williamson is the coauthor of the book Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Solutions for Redesigning Suburbs, Updated Edition (John Wiley & Sons, 2011). What’s old is new again this year at Mayer Fabrics with an exciting launch of unprecedented inspirations for design and color. mayer fabric s .com 80 0.428 .4415 Select No. 148 at ContractDesign.com/readerservice http://www.mayerfabrics.com http://www.mayerfabrics.com http://www.ContractDesign.com/readerservice

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Contract - July/August 2011

Contract - July/August 2011
Contents
Editorial
Industry News
Product Focus: Change it Up
Product Focus: Angling for Attention
Product Focus: (Good) Writing on the Wall
Product Focus: Come Together
Best of NeoCon® 2011
Making a Marc
Becoming Kate
Ray of Light
True Blue
Nature Speaks
A New Home
Bloomie's New Edition
Shring to Fitness
Practice: Smaller, Sustainable Retail
Trends: Retail Retrofit
Designers Select: Fabrics
Sources
Ad Index
Perspectives

Contract - July/August 2011