Thanks for this thread. Nobody would argue the R-B corridor's urbanism is as great as 19th Century cities', but I can't think of any better model for urbanizing suburbs in America. And as we get better at understanding good urban design, so do the projects in R-B get better as well.
A few specific notes on your comments:
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Humans!!! Ballston's pedestrian activity is still somewhat sporadic. Mostly people going to the mall or transferring at a bus stop. Not a lot of “third space” activity... See..A lovely “urban” style park, but not a lot of urban activity.. no people hanging out, no musicians, no vendors, etc.
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There's an arts & crafts market in the square every weekend during the warm months, and almost always multiple sidewalk vendors on Stuart Street (the one with the bus stops) and in the square with the Metro station entrance. The rest of Ballston I agree is lacking, both because too much of the retail is bottled up in the mall and because the sidewalk retail that does exist is not designed well, but Stuart Street is pretty solid most of the time.
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The urban zone really only extends about a quarter mile from the Metro stations then it’s back to streetcar suburbia (tightly packed SFHs and low-rise Garden Apartments). It’s moderately dense due to the large number of garden style apartments, and much better than ex-urban cul-de-sacs, but still basically suburban... McMansionization is alive and well along the corridor. Personally, I would like to see the SFHs replaced by townhouses or multi-unit SHFs, but the zoning only allows for million dollar SFHs as replacements.
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This is intentional and is actually really important. A clear division between the developable land and the protected single-family neighborhoods was
absolutely essential to getting community buy-in for the high-density redevelopment. Without that agreement, NIMBYism wouldn've torpedoed the whole thing. This was a necessary trade-off to get the high-rises built.
Also key to point out these neighborhoods are on a grid. They're streetcar suburban, just like Tenleytown or Brookland DC, or Chicago's massive bungalow belt.
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Virginia Square. In all honestly, this just feels like an auxiliary stop for Ballston.
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Agreed. I've always thought of it that way.
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Pseudo-industrial lofts…complete with appropriated NYC names: the Mercer and the Wooster, respectively. Personally, I think they look pretty good. I just hate the side yards. I guess a bow to the reality that this is not in fact a cool old warehouse district.
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The story behind those buildings is really interesting. Because of unusual state laws in Virginia, the best way for Arlington to zone the R-B corridor to allow relatively low density stuff "by right," but give huge bonuses granting much more density in exchange for developers agreeing to pay for sidewalk improvements, transit, etc. Because you get so much more density, nearly every developer wants to the do the bonus. The industrial looking buildings you see with the large setbacks are some of the only ones that were built "by right." Thus the setbacks and otherwise poor urbanism, which under "normal" circumstances would be negotiated out by the county.