Town and gown are clashing over proposed development in Takoma Park

Montgomery County's rapidly-growing community college, Montgomery College, wants to expand its northern Takoma Park campus. A number of Takoma Park residents don't like the idea, and are pushing for the college to expand in nearby Silver Spring instead.

Montgomery College sits partially in Takoma Park (inside the red line) and partially in Silver Spring.

Image from Google Maps.

With three campuses in Takoma Park, Rockville and Germantown, Montgomery College serves more than 60,000 students a year, a number that's growing quickly. Its first campus was built in northern Takoma Park in 1950, and in 2004 it expanded by adding new buildings in Silver Spring.

The college's board of trustees recently approved a new Facilities Master Plan for 2013-2023. The Master Plan is full of proposals and ideas for the Takoma Park campus, such as a new math and science center building, a new health and fitness center, and a new library. According to the plan, Montgomery College's Takoma Park campus has more capacity constraints and "obsolete or dysfunctional existing structures" than Rockville and Germantown.

The plan notes that enrollment has increased 18% over the past five years and is projected to increase another 27% by 2023. All of those additional students will need space for classes and laboratories. In order to achieve greater square footage without acquiring any new land, the plan calls for taller, wider buildings to replace the current ones, which are mostly smaller, two-story structures built to blend into the residential character of northern Takoma Park.

All of that has the college wanting to expand the Takoma Park campus, to the tune of over 56,000 square feet.

	Renovation	New Construction	Demolition	New Growth
Takoma Park/Silver Spring	9,295	170,532	(113,983)	56,549

In the image below, the six buildings colored in yellow are those planned to be demolished and rebuilt, while the orange building is planned for renovation. It's worth noting that the college's daycare center (located on the right side and noted by the letters "DC") will be closed with no plans to reopen, meaning students with kids and some local parents will need to find a new childcare option.

Maps from the Montgomery College Facilities Master Plan.

Neighbors are opposed, but the college says it can address concerns

At a Takoma Park City Council meeting on January 20, 2016, Montgomery College Takoma Park campus provost and vice president Brad Stewart described the draft master plan to both residents and the council.

According to Historic Takoma, a non-profit organization founded to preserve the heritage of Takoma Park, MD and the Takoma Park neighborhood of DC, the college agreed in writing in 2002 to consult with neighbors and the City Council on any proposed plans that could impact the neighborhood. While Mr. Mr. Stewart claims that two neighborhood discussions about the plan occurred (one in Takoma Park and one in Rockville), neighbors of the college claim that nobody told them.

Members of the City Council sided with the college's neighbors and chided Mr. Stewart about what they said was a lack of coordination on the college's part. Neighbors also complained that the larger, wider buildings contemplated in the master plan would be more appropriately located on the western side of its campus, which borders an urban, commercially zoned area on Georgia Avenue in Silver Spring.

Mr. Stewart tried his best to allay concerns, noting that that Master Plan is not the final document with regard to actual design and construction. He assured the City Council that additional outreach will be done the school hires architects and starts considering building designs.

Regarding the building heights, Mr. Stewart responded that the college's architects heard neighborhood concerns and created setbacks on the top floors of buildings facing neighboring homes.

You can watch residents raise their concerns at the City Council meeting here, beginning around 13:20, with Mr. Stewart's presentation to the City Council starting around 2:02:00.

Residents and the college have clashed before

As noted above, during the January 20th City Council meeting a few local residents alleged that the college failed to conduct adequate consultation with the local community. But deeply embedded in the Master Plan is a section discussing the college's relations with its Takoma Park neighbors that brings into question whether opposing residents' demands about community involvement are reasonable.

Here's the critical part: "New development proposals on the Takoma Park side of Campus are nonetheless still opposed by a vocal minority of neighbors, who insist that the College shift all development to the Silver Spring side of Campus, or acquire new properties along Fenton Street and locate College programs there."

Jokingly referred to as "The People's Republic of Takoma Park," the neighborhood has a rich history as a community that is unafraid to challenge moneyed and other powerful interests. A recent blog post by Granola Park explains that in the 1970s the college sought to condemn and demolish 22 adjacent Takoma Park homes for new school buildings, but neighbors fought and won against the college.

Silver Spring development could be in Montgomery College's future

Interestingly, and perhaps as a result of repeated neighborhood opposition, the Master Plan does gesture towards future development on the Silver Spring side of the campus. The following map shows possible expansion sites:

Three of the four lots above are rather sterile space. The two on the east side of the railroad tracks are a combination of storage buildings, auto body shops and local rental car companies. One lot on the west side of the railroad tracks is a parking lot owned by the college's foundation and the remaining one abuts Jesup Blair Park where the college built a walkway to cross the railroad tracks and connect the campus.

Future expansion into Silver Spring would activate this space and make it more pedestrian oriented, which is great since the college is only six blocks from the Silver Spring Metro station and abuts the planned Met Branch Trail. But all of this would require the college to acquire these lots and then redevelop them, which is more costly and would take longer than to simply redevelop the buildings they currently own.

Do Historic Designations Hinder Takoma's Future?

During the course of some recent dialogue on my prior post about losing Trohv, an interesting question arose:  Should a house located in the Takoma Park, DC or Takoma Park, MD historic district retain its historic status if the owner(s) modified it in such a way as to hide or remove the historic qualities that made it historic in the first place?

Luckily, there are a few examples lining the commercial Takoma Park, DC corridor:

Here's the trio of businesses La Mano Coffee Bar, Takoma Station Barber and Spicy Delight hiding two historic homes:

The next historic house has been converted into the Hilltop Hostel (on the right) and retains its original character, but next to it are another trio of businesses/organizations hiding two historic houses - Seekers Church, Electric Maid Community Exchange and Friedrich's Modern Cleaners (dry cleaning and laundry):

And finally there are two historic houses behind the Torchinsky Hebrew Funeral Home (noted by the red circles because the Google street view didn't show the houses):

All of these houses are located in the Takoma Park, DC historic district, yet most of them are hidden from public view (save the Hilltop Hostel) by the storefronts that were added at some point or another - I'm guessing before the official designation by DC in 1980.  

There's no question that Takoma Park's historic districts are both beautiful and desirable, but does anyone really believe that the houses noted above represent their historic nostalgia behind the storefronts that now hide them?  The first question to ask is what makes a house or neighborhood historic?  Urban Land Institute Senior Resident Fellow Ed McMahon explains that "historic buildings tell us who we are and where we came from."

Also, in a recent academic paper on the topic of the effects of historic districts on local housing markets in New York City, the authors state the purpose of preservation policies is to "preserve the aesthetic beauty or amenity level of a neighborhood and minimize the risks that new investment will undermine the distinctive character of an area."  

Don't get me wrong, I believe the diverse stock of historic homes in both DC and MD make Takoma Park the envy of many other neighborhoods around the metro DC area.  But it's unclear to me that the small inventory and high prices of houses in Takoma Park is due to their historic designations or the fact that many of them are so close to the Takoma Metro station, although I'm leaning towards the latter fact.  Yet looking at these pictures doesn't give me the impression of Takoma Park, DC being a historic neighborhood because the beautiful Victorian-era houses are hidden from view behind non-historic storefronts on Takoma Park's most visible main street of commerce.

Meanwhile, DC has a housing affordability crisis and all of these homes/businesses are a short walking distance from the nearby Takoma Metro station.  All of this land could be redeveloped into one or more mixed-use buildings that would increase the supply of local housing, including some units being reserved for people that can't afford the rent.  But don't take my word for it - some scholars believe that  historic preservation requirements can limit the supply of new housing and hinder developers’ responses to increases in demand.

In sum, to answer the question posed at the beginning of this post, I believe that all of these houses (and their land) - save the Hilltop Hostel - should no longer be designated as historic unless the storefronts are removed and the houses are returned to their original appearance, which means that a developer should be able to purchase any or all of these houses and develop them without the noose that a historic designation brings with it.  

Maybe then we could lure Trader Joe's to open a store in Takoma as part of a large mixed-use development so close to Metro.

What do you think?

We lost Trohv, but gained an opportunity!

Main Street Takoma recently announced that Takoma's beloved upscale furniture and good store Trohv is closing due to lack of business.  It's a sad day when any company is forced to close down for lack of business, but especially so when it's a local one or quasi local like Trohv (they also have a shop in Baltimore).  According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), about half of all new businesses survive five years or more and about one-third survive 10 years of more, so survival is not a given by any means.

But ever the optimist we see the loss of Trohv as an opportunity for Takoma.  As we noted in a prior post, the population around the Takoma Metro station is about to grow by another 604-1812 people.  As shown in the map below, the building that housed Trohv is well suited for demolition and/or development - it's a single story building with a parking lot that is one-block from the Takoma Metro station.  

Map of block on Carroll St with outline of lots for Trohv and Torchinsky Hebrew funeral home

No offense to the dead here, but a smart developer would also attempt to buy the neighboring lot which is the Torchinsky Hebrew funeral home.  We're not sure how much business Ms. Torchinsky has these days, but what she most certainly has is a prime location and a sizable plot of land.  Anyone who frequents this block of Carroll Street can see the potential for housing and other mixed-uses so close to a Metro station. Hopefully the DC Office of Planning sees this too and is working to increase the supply of housing in an otherwise unaffordable city.

What would you like to see built in this part of Takoma?

The Battle for the Future of Takoma

Recently a Takoma neighborhood email distro list exploded when it was announced by our local business chamber that Starbucks is considering whether to open a store near the Takoma metro station.  Some people decried that Takoma should not follow Silver Spring and Bethesda by inviting national stores to compete against its small, but fiercely independent stores that already sell coffee, such as La Mano coffee bar, Busboys and Poets, and Capital City Cheesecake.  The whole ordeal got me wondering why some people rejoice or recoil when a national (or more likely international) business like Starbucks decides to open a store in their neighborhood.  It’s certainly true that adding a Starbucks in Takoma will put some pressure on other locally-owned coffee/food shops, but I think the concerns are overblown and also fail to recognize the changes that are coming in Takoma as I will discuss below.  

As many locals know, the DC border runs clear through Takoma separating the two jurisdictions.  People living in DC tend to say they live in Takoma, while Marylanders actually reside in the City of Takoma Park, but for purposes of this post I will simply refer to both areas as Takoma as many locals already do.  I am rather new to living in Takoma and I am no historian, but I have read with great interest how the Takoma community fought, wailed and gnashed its teeth when Subway, CVS and an ACE hardware store moved into the area.  I regularly walk to the CVS and ACE to pick up things rather than getting into my car just to save 5-10% at a larger suburban store.  And while I do not eat at Subway, it must be doing enough business to stay afloat in Takoma or how could they afford to pay the rent.

Map of DC/MD border running through Takoma

Takoma is, like many areas of DC, gentrifying with new residents.  Over the past few years numerous new businesses have sprung up around the main street that runs through Takoma (Carroll Street in DC and Carroll Avenue in MD), including the aforementioned stores and others like Republic (which is part of the local Black’s restaurant group), Roscoe’s pizzeria, Kin Da restaurant, Tabletop goods, etc.  I’m sure that I forgot others, but hopefully you get the point.  Along with all those businesses Takoma has become more expensive than it used to be.  For example, one-bedroom apartments at the swanky new Takoma Central start at $1,730 a month, which is on par with apartments in downtown Bethesda and Silver Spring.  Housing prices in Takoma have also catapulted as of late, with median list prices of $495,000 in DC and $625,000 in MD (in the historic district which spans most of the DC border).  

Developers have clearly taken notice of Takoma’s desirability and multiple buildings near the Takoma metro station are in various stages of development.  The aforementioned Takoma Central brought 150 units, while two new buildings on Maple and Willow streets are currently being constructed and will bring 102 units.  Other developments happening include apartments on Spring Place, NW, which will bring 142 units and the very controversial EYA project next to the Takoma metro station, which will bring 210 units.  In other words, Takoma is booming and will house another 604-1812 people (based upon a mix of 1-3 bedroom units) all nearby the metro station, which will surely increase demand for local shops, restaurants and services.  

Many of those new residents of Takoma will want to grab a coffee/tea on their way to work or want to meetup with a friend for coffee/tea after work.  While the current selection of Takoma stores to grab coffee/tea is great, Starbucks clearly noticed all of the ongoing/planned development and thinks there is room for them too.  Whether you love or hate Starbucks, you can’t argue with their logic and I think the current independent stores will continue to thrive in Takoma either way.  What do you think?  Will the Starbucks effect do more harm than good in Takoma?