Shirlington, Virginia, is an example of planned smart growth development for lower-density suburban communities that lack the resources or scale to support rail transit. While Arlington is known for its transit-oriented development, Shirlington is a smart growth story that can be replicated anywhere lacking rail transit.
The transformation of Shirlington is proof that suburban communities can build efficient, walkable, mixed-use centers. Shirlington can help inform important planning issues that many communities are working to address, particularly increasing density and transit accessibility among existing low-density neighborhoods. This case offers important lessons on how public investment can leverage substantial private sector investment through partnership. Finally, Shirlington illustrates how Arlington has used citizen engagement to help shape development and build support for densities that often get struck down by political opposition before they are even understood.
ABOUT ARLINGTON
Arlington County, Virginia is a geographically small but dense urban community, with a population of 222,800 and more than 222,300 jobs. Located just across the Potomac River and to the west of Washington, D.C., the County was originally established in 1847, but wasn’t named Arlington until 1920. Officially, Arlington is a county, but it operates as a unified local government, providing all of the services typically provided by both a county and a city.
Arlington is internationally recognized for its smart growth efforts, having won awards for planning efforts in the 1960s and 1970s when Arlington was facing population decline and commercial disinvestment. To stop the decline, Arlington created a dramatic new land-use plan for a series of “urban villages” along the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor of the newly constructed Washington Metrorail system. Arlington’s urban villages have come to define smart growth in much of the Washington area and beyond, using a formula of high density, mixed-use development within one-quarter mile of high-quality rail service. Shirlington, however, was one of several commercial areas in Arlington not served by Metrorail.
Thus, the challenge: How does a car-oriented community such as Shirlington create smart growth?
ABOUT SHIRLINGTON
The subject area is a community known as Shirlington; a car-oriented, former shopping center in Arlington County, Virginia. Shirlington draws its name from the Shirley Memorial Highway (Interstate 395, the Virginia expressway into Washington, D.C.) that forms its eastern boundary combined with “Arlington.” From a planning perspective, Shirlington is a 27-acre site that has received upwards of $225 million in public and private investment.
Shirlington began as a suburban shopping center, moving through three separate efforts to stimulate sustainable redevelopment. Tracing the evolution of Shirlington through the various planning and regulatory stages is important because it demonstrates how suburban redevelopment efforts take time and may be frustrated by a lack of success. The plans over time show an increase in permitted density, as well as increasing diversity of uses on the site, both of which contributed to Shirlington’s ultimate success.
The history of Shirlington can be understood in the following four phases:
- 1940 – 1976: Suburban Shopping Center, from Thriving to Declining
- 1976 – 1982: Redevelopment Lost
- 1982 – 2000: Redevelopment Started and Stalled
- 2000 – Today: The Right Plan at the Right Time
This video uses aerial imagery to illustrate changes to the Shirlington area over time:
1940 – 1976: Suburban Shopping Center, from Thriving to Decline
The former swampland was originally developed by Joe Cherner, a local car dealer who had seen a downturn in sales because of World War II. His original goal for the site was to turn it into an airport, which required 200,000 cubic yards of fill to bring the site up to its current elevation. Ultimately, plans for the airport were never approved. In 1942, construction began on the shopping center, which later opened in 1944.
The shopping center, which had a number of stores and a movie theater, was a success. It was located in close proximity to Fairlington, a development of 3,500 homes built by the Defense Homes Agency, and Park Fairfax, another early-1940s residential development. These two neighborhoods – a mix of single-family homes, townhouses and apartments that extend into the City of Alexandria – provided sufficient traffic for this low-density, strip-style shopping center.
Shirlington thrived in the 1950s and was referred to as a new downtown for the rapidly expanding Washington suburbs. In 1959, Lansburgh’s, a large department store, opened in Shirlington, providing a strong retail anchor for the shopping center. Shirlington began to decline when the neighboring City of Alexandria’s Landmark Shopping Mall opened in 1965. Lansburgh’s closed in 1973 and was replaced by Best Department Store, which closed itself in 1998. As retailers left the shopping center or went out of business, stores frequently remained vacant.
Above – Washington Post Business section, announcing the opening of Lansburgh's (middle of page)
1976 – 1982: Redevelopment Lost
By 1976, Shirlington was suffering decline like many parts of the region and was not targeted for rail service. As new urban villages were developed along Metrorail corridors, Arlington saw the need to revitalize Shirlington. Taking a lesson from land-use strategies implemented along rail corridors, new zoning designations with density incentives were approved. The site was rezoned from C-2 (low-density general commercial zoning) to C-O-1.5, which permits office and commercial uses, including restaurants, retail, theaters, hotels with meeting rooms and community facilities at a floor-to-area (FAR) ratio of 1.5.
By this time, Shirlington was under mostly single ownership and contained multiple parcels that would be developed over time. In order to facilitate the gradual development, a tool called a Phased Development Site Plan (PDSP) was adopted. A PDSP establishes land uses, densities, building heights, parking requirements, utilities, community facilities and other elements of multiple projects within a defined geographical area. While the individual buildings are all subject to final site plan approval by the County Board, prior agreement on many of the elements of a PDSP makes final approval a faster process. The benefit of the PDSP is that it provides more certainty for both the neighborhood and the developer so that market opportunities can be seized when they arise.
In 1976, local architect Arthur Cotton Moore proposed a PDSP that featured an array of mixed-use structures with a variety of building heights resembling the Lake Anne development in Reston, Virginia. Of the proposed 2 million square feet of density, the plan designated 85 percent as residential, 10 percent retail and 5 percent office space. The 1976 plan eventually expired without being implemented.
1982 – 2000: Redevelopment Started and Stalled
In 1982, the County adopted a new PDSP, which was more successful than the 1976 plan, but eventually floundered as well. The Village at Shirlington PDSP laid the foundation for the first major redevelopment of the old shopping center and continues to guide Shirlington’s development today. The 1982 plan divided the site into five different parcels and proposed a total of 1 million sq. ft. of office and retail development. Out of the proposed development, 51 percent of retail, 68 percent of office space and 82 percent of residential units were constructed.
A central change resulting from the 1982 plan was the creation of a main street for Shirlington: Campbell Avenue (previously South 28th Street). While this created more of a “core” for the community than the original strip mall, there still wasn’t enough residential density to support the area’s businesses, and the site saw significant retail turnover. Shirlington looked inviting and had a nice, walkable scale, but there simply wasn’t enough going on to make it economically sustainable.
2000 to Today: The Right Plan at the Right Time
By this time, Federal Realty Investment Trust acquired the Village of Shirlington, becoming its fourth owner since the 1982 PDSP. The Rockville, Maryland-based company saw Shirlington as an underused asset and began looking at possible scenarios for redevelopment. The 2000 PDSP, a major amendment to the 1982 plan, took four years to complete, including extensive public review and the creation of a citizen advisory group composed of residents from the surrounding neighborhoods.
In 2000, an amendment was proposed to reduce retail by 35 percent, and increase residential units by 40 percent and office development by 2 percent. This created a strategy for better integrating Shirlington into the surrounding community by building on characteristics that make Shirlington a unique and special place – active, street-front retail, an appropriate mix of office, residential and hotel development, various sources of entertainment, a civic presence in the form of the library and a pedestrian-friendly atmosphere.
The PDSP amendments sought to bring Shirlington more density with improved amenities so that its potential could be achieved and sustained. This resulted in the following changes to proposed development densities:
- Increased the total land area of the site to 27.23 acres, including the County's contribution of 2.4 acres from its Trade Center site;
- Increased proposed office density to a total of 580,626 sq. ft. of office space;
- Decreased retail to a proposed total density of 279,959 sq. ft.;
- Increased proposed hotel density to 449 hotel rooms;
- Increased proposed residential density to 804 rental and condominium units;
- Increased the total number of parking spaces to 3,245.
AMENITIES AND OUTCOMES
The 2000 PDSP recognized that density may be necessary for sustainable development, but that it would not be sufficient on its own. The following amenities and outcomes were both planned and implemented, underscoring the successfulness of the 2000 plan.
Design Guidelines
Released in 2000, the Shirlington Design Book contains the recommendations for public spaces and circulation on guided streetscape development. In conjunction with the 2000 PDSP, these guidelines were developed to create a streetscape that’s walkable and inviting to pedestrians, and to give Shirlington it’s own unique sense of place.
The Design Book emphasizes the importance of attention to streetscape amentities, including graphics and signage, garbage receptacles, bicycle racks, landscaping, lighting, paving and more. However, while the value of amenities such as trash receptacles may seem obvious at first glance, the scarcity of such items in the public realm is testimony to the fact that streetscape amenities are not always valued by developers and municipalities. It also emphasizes both the pedestrian orientation of Shirlington’s center and on transitioning from surface parking to structured parking.
Donation of Public Land and Extension of Main Street
One of the earliest examples of the County’s participation in public-private partnership was its decision to supply land of its own to the development. Arlington contributed 2.4 acres of its Trade Center site, which houses the County’s vehicle equipment repair and headquarters for all field operations.
This was the most important factor in extending the main street, Campbell Avenue, making it possible for the theater, library and plaza complex to be completed, and forced Arlington to rethink how it planned for such non-urban uses in a jurisdiction that has become entirely urban.
During the day, Campbell Avenue is a friendly, relaxing street. Young professionals, families and retirees mix easily, shopping, dining or just enjoying an afternoon walk. In the evenings, theater-goers and young people fill the street, enjoying dinner or gathering with friends.
Public Library
At the time the plan was created, the public library was isolated from the rest of Shirlington. Housed in an old building and lacking the technology of our more modern libraries, the decision was made to relocate the branch in order to create a civic presence on Campbell Avenue and generate additional foot traffic.
The relocated Shirlington Branch Library offers more than three times the space of Shirlington’s previous location. The library contains over 50,000 books, CDs and DVDs, 100+ newspaper and magazine subscriptions, and dozens of computers for public use. Due to its physical connection with the Signature Theater, the Library houses the County’s only dedicated theater collection and has partnered to host a variety of theater-related programs.
Regional Theater
Signature Theatre, a regional company with considerable renown, was originally located in an industrial area with few amenities and very little opportunity to gain additional economic activity from Signature’s patrons. Bringing the theater to it’s current location was key to cementing its reputation as an arts and entertainment district and has enabled Signature to reach new and larger audiences.
Arlington provided the “land” as an additional floor above the public library and built the shell space for the theater under a long-term, low-interest lease arrangement. In addition, Signature built its own 48,000 sq. ft. space, which includes two black-box theaters and a large lobby.
The theater has grown to reach 100,000+ people annually, receiving praise from local and national press. In 2009, Signature received the 2009 Regional Theatre Tony Award in recognition of artistic excellence.
Public Plaza and Public Art
The quarter-acre plaza was envisioned as a civic gathering space to provide an opportunity to terminate the street in a significant way with a public place, providing opportunities for events and social interaction. To enhance the plaza, the developer committed $75,000 for public art in the form of a water feature and a light display.
The water feature, titled Down Stream, was designed by local artist Martha Jackson-Jarvis, and sits in front of the library building on the eastern boundary of the plaza. The two-part fountain culminates in a semi-circular pool, with rich color and aquatic shapes throughout the design.
The LED light feature, titled Flow, was designed by Erwin Redl. Four LED bands of varying height run up the side of the library and theater complex. The feature emphasizes the building’s height and draws people down Campbell Avenue and into the plaza.
Bus Transfer Station
Opened in 2008, the Shirlington Bus Transfer Station is served by five regional bus routes and two local bus routes, providing numerous transit options for people coming in and out of Shirlington. The transfer station connects Shirlington to the regional transit system, including Metrorail and Reagan National Airport, providing a wide variety of transportation options for residents and visitors.
Even before the construction of the transfer station, Shirlington was one of the busiest bus hubs in Arlington, with 1,000 daily passenger boardings. Since the opening of the station, ridership has more than doubled to 2,000+ boardings per day.
Additional Public Parking
The 2000 PDSP called for a total of 4,539 parking spaces on site. In order to achieve this number while maintaining its walkable feel, Shirlington had to make the transition from surface parking to structured parking. This space total was achieved by a partnership with Arlington, which enabled the developer to use a portion of publicly-owned land adjacent to Shirlington for parking structures.
While Shirlington remains largely car-oriented with five structured parking garages, the emphasis is on shared parking so that visitors only have to park once in order to enjoy all of Shirlington’s amenities.
Grocery Store
Ever since the demolition of the Grand Union in the 1980s, Shirlington lacked a grocery store. By the mid-2000s, few grocery chains were willing to adapt their large, suburban stores to the smaller, two-story space that was available.
Through intense negotiations, the developer reached an agreement with Harris Teeter, a North Carolina-based grocery chain that already had smaller stores in operation. A 23,000 sq. ft. store was built on the lower floors of what is now the Delancey apartment building. The Harris Teeter has become critical to Shirlington’s success as a residential center.
Implementation and Conclusions About Outcomes
Once the PDSP amendments were approved, redevelopment moved quickly. Between 2000 and 2010, the Shirlington PDSP was completely implemented. Fortunately, the plan was amended prior to a development boom, enabling Shirlington to take advantage of one of the region’s hottest real estate periods. Had the plans not been in place, Shirlington would have missed a significant opportunity in the economic cycle to revitalize the area.
Today, Shirlington is a thriving, mixed-use urban village in its own right, but at a different scale than smart-growth communities existing within rail transit corridors. The addition of housing units, a hotel and office space has helped ensure a wide variety of activity, supporting the local restaurants and retailers. The theater, library and plaza complex draw people from the surrounding areas, as do a number of events that take place on Campbell Avenue throughout the year.
LESSONS LEARNED
Shirlington’s success provides lessons for other lower-density, car-oriented communities looking to apply smart growth priniciples and create an appropriate density in a mixed-use core.
Shirlington’s history offers numerous lessons under the following three subsets:
- Planning
- Partnering
- Engaging
Planning
First iterations of plans are not always successful. First and foremost, Shirlington’s redevelopment and ongoing success show the importance of continuing to work toward a plan that was unsuccessful in earlier iterations. The lesson is not merely to plan, but to plan, evaluate, adjust and repeat. By amending and building on this original plan, the County and developer were able to enhance the area’s existing assets and create a clear vision for the site moving forward.
Patience in planning is a major lesson; the redevelopment process isn’t something that can simply be accomplished overnight. Case in point: it took an entire generation to transform Shirlington from a decaying shopping center into the vibrant urban village it is today.
Success requires creativity, in addition to increased density. When it comes to density, creativity can sound scary in the abstract. The excluded density provided the civic space considered essential to Shirlington and illustrates the importance of a civic presence. The library, theater and plaza complex was key to being an anchor, drawing residents from surrounding neighborhoods.
Support a mix of uses sustainable in the local market. It took time to find a sustainable mix of land uses in Shirlington. The 1976 PDSP contained too much residential density, while the 1982 PDSP plan proposed a retail density that could not be supported given the residential capacity at the time. As a result, the site relied too heavily on the lunchtime office crowd and weekend visitors, triggering significant retail turnover. By reducing retail space, increasing office space and residential units, and adding a civic space, the area finally found a sustainable balance of land uses.
Partnering
Strong and innovative public-private partnerships facilitate development. Both Arlington County and Federal Realty were highly motivated to turn Shirlington into a community asset. As a result, they worked closely and collaboratively throughout the process to find creative solutions to any problems that arose. The County and developer were willing to take risks and make concessions in order to facilitate the development process.
The partnership involved land swaps, creative financing and extensive collaboration among the County, developers and the community. The success was well-timed, with both Arlington and Federal Realty having funds they were willing to commit to the project in advance. Both parties were eager to redevelop the site quickly and efficiently, and willing to insist on elements they saw as essential to the site’s ultimate success.
Tie investment to specific attributes and outcomes, giving investors some degree of certainty. In order to leverage private funds, Arlington worked to structure deals and incentivize development, in addition to making County funds available from the outset. The incentive plan devised by Arlington included a mix of uses and increased density of one type, and reduction in density of another. This plan encouraged rapid site development responsive to market conditions.
Arlington’s investment in the partnership was made ahead of private investment, focused on building infrastructure necessary to support additional development, which was key to leveraging private funds. In addition, the County came up with detailed guidelines for streetscapes and buildings to give investors a clear idea of the end result.
Engaging
Engaging residents is the key to creating successful, contextual plans that build on the community’s assets. Shirlington illustrates the importance of both engaging the community and building on the community’s existing assets – key components of smart growth. Arlington has an extensive history of working with the community on new plans, something referred to as “the Arlington Way.” County departments work with community members and groups before a proposal is brought to the Planning Commission, which makes recommendations on the proposal to the County Board. Arlington has found that this not only helps build consensus around a project, but also helps to give the community a clear idea of what to expect when the project is completed.
The communities neighboring Shirlington provided input throughout the planning process at more than 50 meetings leading up to the adoption of the plan. By engaging its constituents, the County was able to create a plan for the site that addressed community concerns, including increased density and traffic volumes, and built on the site’s existing assets; elements that draw people to Shirlington and are valued by community members.
Proactively address community concerns. Among the concerns raised from meetings with the community were the typical density fears about traffic. To address these concerns, the PDSP required that the developer install new traffic signals at key intersections and contribute $200,000 to the be used for traffic calming measures in surrounding neighborhoods. In addition to this contribution, the developer was required to construct new medians and make other improvements to the streetscape, consistent with the Shirlington Design Book. These additions made the community feel better about the project, and ultimately strengthened the development as a whole.
CONCLUSION
Shirlington is a successful example of a vibrant, mixed-use core for a lower-density, car-oriented community. None of the parties involved would suggest that this was easy; there were frequest tensions and conflicts along the way.
Shirlington shows that decaying suburban retail centers can be transformed without the introduction of transit or fundamentally altering the character of surrounding neighborhoods. To do so requires engaging the people who live in these communities, finding a developer with a willingness to work with the community in a public process and a local government willing to partner with all of the parties involved.
For more detailed information, read the full Shirlington report (PDF).
Credits:
Arlington County Government, Arlington County Library Center for Local History