MICD Holds Alumni Technical Assistance Program in Alexandria, Virginia

JUNE 2009 — ALEXANDRIA —The Honorable William D. ‘Bill’ Euille, Mayor of the City of Alexandria, Virginia, hosted the Mayors’ Institute on City Design Alumni Technical Assistance Program to study and recommend strategies for the Potomac Yard – Landbay F – redevelopment site. Following his attendance at MICD 41 (Chicago - May 2008), Mayor Euille applied to MICD to receive additional assistance for this complex site that has been studied in great detail for 20+ years. With the help and counsel of City of Alexandria staff and local stakeholders, the MICD’s expert urban design resource team reviewed existing plans for Landbay F and presented suggestions for future phasing and development to the Mayor and the citizens of Alexandria.

Potomac Yard is located adjacent to U.S. Route 1, a major highway, and close to one and a half miles northeast of Old Town Alexandria. Currently the site accommodates several big box retail stores, a movie theater and associated parking space. Despite its attractive location – close to the Potomac River and leafy residential neighborhoods – the setting suffers from a lack of connectivity and is perceived as a car-friendly, remote retail cluster. Without a Metrorail stop nearby and U.S. Route 1 isolating and proving a barrier to access the site from existing neighborhoods, accessing the site by public transit or foot are neither convenient nor safe options.

The Mayors’ Institute on City Design invited three urban design experts to Alexandria: Hilary Bertsch, AIA: Associate Principal at Ehrenkrantz, Eckstut & Kuhn Architects (New York, NY); James F. Charlier, AICP: President of Charlier Associates, Inc. (Boulder, CO); and Chris Leinberger, Visiting Fellow at Brookings Institute (Washington, DC). The City of Alexandria staff and local stakeholders assisted the MICD resource team during the two-day work session, namely: Joe Antunovich, Principal of Antunovich Associates (Chicago, IL); David Fromm, Del Ray Civic Association; Marguerite Lang, Rosemont Citizens’ Association; Joe Lindgren, Potomac Yard Planning Advisory Group; Dan McCaffery, President of McCaffery Interests (Chicago, IL); Jennifer Mitchell, Potomac Yard Planning Advisory Group; Eric Wagner, Chair of Potomac Yard Planning Advisory Group and Member of City of Alexandria Planning Commission; Maria Wasowski, Potomac Yard Planning Advisory Group; and Melissa Watson, Lynhaven Civic Association, in addition to the invaluable contributions of other city staff and local partners.

MICD resource team members and local participants visited Potomac Yard and surrounding neighborhoods and commercial areas to better understand the site’s character and potential. They listened to the concerns and expectations of city staff, local residents and developers, and engaged in discussions about what the now underused area could and should become. These findings were taken into consideration, and on the second work day, the MICD resource team created a series of development guidelines for Potomac Yard’s development, particularly that of Landbay F, addressing suitable uses and density, transportation, urban design, and possible financing.

Recommendations include:

Create a medium- to high-density mixed use center that relates and responds to surrounding development (Crystal City, existing neighborhoods, the park system)
Design appropriately scaled blocks and buildings that relate to pedestrians and achieve density
Improve connectivity by incorporating multimodal transportation in the site’s development; a Metrorail stop, streetcars, bike lanes, sidewalks and pedestrian crossings, etc.
Financing through phased development
Create a sense of place that is unique to that of Del Ray or Old Town, the City’s other vibrant commercial and residential centers
Establish public spaces that are managed by business improvement districts that maintain and program those spaces
Acknowledge the natural open spaces adjacent to the site (Four Mile Run, Potomac River, etc.).

The program is made possible by a generous $250,000 gift from the Edward W. Rose III Family Fund of the Dallas Foundation, directed to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) by Mrs. Deedie Potter Rose, a former member of the National Council on the Arts (NCA).

MICD is a partnership program of the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Architectural Foundation, and the United States Conference of Mayors. To date, the program has assisted over 750 mayors in transforming their communities through good urban design. Additional funding has been provided through a generous gift from the Edward W. Rose III Family Fund of the Dallas Foundation and the Bank of America.

For more information on The Mayors’ Institute on City Design Alumni Technical Assistance program, visit www.micd.org.

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