PHOTOS: A Grand Tour Of D.C.-Area Suburban 'Town Center' Developments

CHANTILLY, Va. -- Sitting on a metal bench outside a Ross Dress for Less during Saturday's chilly weather, there were no smiling, shiny, young and savvy people carrying pastel-colored shopping bags at Greenbriar Town Center. That was the image promoted on the website for the shopping complex off busy Route 50 in western Fairfax County, roughly 22 miles west of downtown Washington.

Instead, there was an sea of cars in a compact parking lot. If you ever happen to visit this place, Greenbriar Town Center, despite its name, doesn't feel much like a town. It's not really a center, either. It's essentially a suburban strip mall.

As indoor shopping malls have fallen out of fashion, suburban "town center" developments have risen to prominence. A decade ago, these types of outdoor, walkable developments have been called "lifestyle centers" in retail industry speak.

But "lifestyle center" isn't a term that seems accessible for casual conversation. ("Hey, let's meet down at the lifestyle center, eh?") "Town center" is much better.

So what exactly is a lifestyle-centric "town center" development?

While Fairfax Corner, just off Interstate 66, is not officially branded as a "town center" -- perhaps because it's just a mile from Fairfax Towne Center -- it has the classic hallmarks of a lifestyle center, meant to spark feelings of what Main Street USA used to be. From its online marketing materials:

Fairfax Corner is an exciting "destination" in the truest and best sense of the word, with everything integrated into a cohesive ensemble of walkable streets, public places and architecturally striking buildings. Planned on the basis of traditional "main streets", Fairfax Corner provides shoppers, employees and residents the fun and energy of being a part of an urban-feeling project.

Artificial? Yes. But do any of these "town center" spots actually feel like real town centers or have an "urban" feeling? It depends where you go.

This weekend, The Huffington Post went on a grand tour of D.C.-area developments with official "town center" branding -- or "towne centre" or "towne center." We couldn't hit every "town center," but we visited a wide variety of these suburban developments.

Click through our slideshow, you'll find that "town center" realities vary considerably. Some feel like they're like, well, real town centers. Others feel like they're just strip malls.

RELATED VIDEO: Flash Mob At Dulles Town Center

Comments

[rgUrban Retail]

11:11 AM on 02/16/2012

A worthy topic but poorly written and illustrated. Town centers can offer an alternative to suburban sprawl, but are not for everyone. Many of thier retailers are unsutainable due to retail breaking plans, management and poor city policy.

Others prosper, such as Easton Town Center, in Columbus, Ohio and the Grove in Los Angles. My favorite is also the first, The Market Square at Lake Forest, Illinois, circa 1917. See my new book: Principles for Urban Retail Planning & Development, published by Wiley. The book covers all of the theory as well as nuts and bolts for programing, planning and developing town centers,with numerous case studies of both historic city centers and new towns.

[detroitblkmale30]

11:27 AM on 02/14/2012

They forgot Bowie Town Center and the new Annapolis town center development(a very nice one too)

[Life With HC]

09:38 PM on 02/13/2012

I don't think Dulles Town Center ever sells itself as a community. It is, however, a great to get everything you need in one place *accepting you have to drive from one cluster of stores to another.

I wonder why the DC snobs didnt' include Tysons Corner Mall, even if it isn't a town center, it beats a lot of downtown DC.

[Earthling1125]

08:20 PM on 02/13/2012

Every single one of these so-called "town centers" gives me the creeps. I can't, for the life of me, understand the attraction.

[Life With HC]

09:32 PM on 02/13/2012

Some, such as Reston Town Center have these benefits:
1.) they are safe - no gang bangers or grafitti
2.) plenty of free clean parking
3.) a couple of dozen (all combined) bars, coffee shops, and restaurants
4.) decent shopping
5.) You don't have to drive into crowded and overpriced D.C. to have an array of places to have dinner and drinks

[jkpcguru]

06:59 PM on 02/13/2012

People know a fake town center from a real one. I live in Annapolis, Maryland.. Home of the United States Naval Academy. USNA is a piece of federal government property adjacent to Historic Downtown Annapolis. Historic Downtown Annapolis is your real town center.. Mostly small businesses. GAP had a store here many years ago. Now their at our inside mall.

We also have Annapolis Town Center... That's your fake town center with all the big name stores. You will never get me to walk around Annapolis Town Center. I love walking around Downtown Annapolis.

[CommunistMold]

07:04 PM on 02/14/2012

Tell us how you really feel Annapols boy! jk

[Nelson Jacobsen]

06:40 PM on 02/13/2012

Most of these http://towncenters.net you can visit now online. These sites are offered free to these communities from the Help Earth Foundation with underwriters helping to cover the cost. #4wins

[hagagaga]

04:44 PM on 02/13/2012

That was the worst picture of the Reston Town Center that could possibly have been picked.

Couldn't you have used a picture of the fountain that is its defining feature?

[csfgdead]

04:11 PM on 02/13/2012

Wow, this has got to be the most pointless article I have ever read on HuffPo. Take a bunch of random shopping centers and grade them on random criteria. There is so much going on in DC and this is what someone came up with?

[BlackbirdHighway]

03:36 PM on 02/13/2012

Can't believe the King Farm Village Center was left out. It is actually quite good, with decent walkable areas, nice shops, residential components.

[justupthepike]

02:53 PM on 02/13/2012

There's a big difference between developments that were actually designed and built to be a "town center," with a mix of uses and public transit (like Rockville) and those where there was no intention to create an urban place but just chose "town center" as a name (like Greenbriar or Dulles). The former is actually a growing development trend with lots of solid examples in the DC area (most of which are absent from this list), and the second is a naming convention.

While it would be cool to actually seek out the difference between these two and look at what makes a place a real "town center" - or even to compare actual attempts at creating new urban places in the suburbs - instead this just feels like another lazy "I left DC for a day to make fun of the suburbs!" post that DC-area blogs do way too much. You can do better.

[mjcc1987]

05:39 PM on 02/13/2012

I tend to agree. Having been to these "centers" most don't feel like a community and essentially exist to shop or eat ONLY with lots of parking. Community centers and houses of worship could lend a sense of permanency. If you want to get a feel, try walking around when the stores are closed. A ghost town which tells me its inauthentic and will not be self sustaining.

[Life With HC]

09:36 PM on 02/13/2012

Hang out at Reston Town Center past midnight and you will find the locals who live in those high rises are still at the movies and the watering holes. Early in the morning, you will see them walking the same streets with their dogs (I guess cats don't run and poop) and the coffee shops are crowded.

[GeorgeP922]

02:38 PM on 02/13/2012

Please DC folks, do some posts on baltimore city and county.

[Jeff Dailey]

11:18 AM on 02/13/2012

you forgot the Village at Shirlington