Forty years ago, when Arlington, Virginia-based Charles E. Smith Commercial Realty began developing Crystal City -- its massive mixed-use multiple highrise project across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. -- the words Šnew urbanism' hadn't been uttered yet. When the developer created Crystal City, it did what any developer would have done at the time and created exactly what the area needed, a place to live and work.

The advent of new urbanism in the area in the 1990s was brought about by nearby projects like Reston Town Center and The Village at Shirlington which contain office, multifamily, retail and entertainment components. In order to keep Crystal City competitive with these newer developments and to continue to attract residents and office tenants to the area, Charles E. Smith needed to add another element of new urbanism to keep Crystal City competitive -- the word Šplay'.

A Perfect Start

While retail has always been part of the mix at Crystal City, it was mainly service retail that was designed with apartment dwellers and office tenants in mind. Crystal City -- one of the largest mixed-use developments in the United States -- has evolved since its creation into what is now a diverse urban center with a full mixture of offices, apartments, condominiums, hotels, restaurants, shops, parks, recreation and services.

2001 will bring historic change to the development as Charles E. Smith plans to redevelop the entire project to add a significant portion of street-level retail to the project complementing the underground interior retail that has existed since the project's creation.

Located along Route 1 in Arlington, Virginia, Crystal City could be considered a dream development: 10 million square feet of office space with 60,000 to 75,000 workers daily; over 5,500 fully-occupied apartments and condominiums; 5,000 plus hotel rooms; exceptional transportation convenience with both Metro and Virginia Railway Express stops; excellent access to Interstates 95 and 395 as well as Reagan National Airport, the George Washington Parkway and the 14th Street Bridge into Washington, D.C.; and something most urban areas don't have enough of -- parking, with over 12,000 commercial parking spaces, most in garages. Within a 3-mile radius live over 150,000 people with a median age of 35 and an average household income of $63,668.

"So basically what we have is a perfectly located, fully-occupied, fully-functioning, mixed-use environment with superb demographics," says Frank Poli, vice president of development for Charles E. Smith Commercial Realty.

But Charles E. Smith is ahead of its game and, with consultants like Michael Buckley, director of the real estate development program at Columbia University and an expert in mixed-use development, can't overlook the value of enhancement, specifically with street retail.

"America has rediscovered the sort of closed-in village centers that existed back in the 1800s when retail was located at the ground floor with offices above it," says Buckley. "We've come back to that format in a way because people now understand the value of the pedestrian experience."

Along with Crystal City, street retail is being adopted by many communities, according to Buckley. "The street retail phenomenon, which is now at the forefront of retail development in the United States, has been endorsed by the financial sectors, including pension funds and the REITs that own and control most of the real estate in the United States today."

With total costs expected to be in the $30 million to $40 million range, the proposed new retail at Crystal City will take shape at 23rd Street and Crystal Drive. It will include approximately 150,000 square feet of new street-level, pedestrian-oriented retail with wide sidewalks for strolling and caf? seating, located in close proximity to the large green space open parks that already exist within Crystal City.

"Our desire is to enhance the overall attractiveness of Crystal City as a place to live, work and play," says Poli. "So our initial focus is on the retail side -- to enhance the existing 400,000 square feet of interior retail with the new retail so that both the new and existing space will work more as one, making Crystal City a place where people want to be not only during the day, but also in the evening."

Atlanta-based architectural firm Cooper Carry -- with extensive experience in creating successful urban places like Mizner Park in Boca Raton, Florida, and the rejuvenation of Woodmont Avenue in Bethesda -- will lead the transformation, which will start later this year or early next year, and end sometime in 2003. "Cooper Carry was able to demonstrate its ability to understand the unique conditions of Crystal City, and to merge those considerations with their previous experience to bring the right blend of retail street activity, scale and the sense of place that would make Crystal City a place where people would want to spend time," says Poli.

A Plan For Action

Charles E. Smith surveyed its residents and customers to see just what type of evening activity they were looking for, and found that the most popular requests were for full-service dining options. "In the past, we've focused on our daytime population with a lot of quick-service restaurants, but not as much full-service," says Henry Fonvielle, senior vice president of retail services. "So that's a predominant focus of our redevelopment." Some of the retailers under construction and/or open now include Starbucks, Chipotle, Chili's, Charlie Chiang's and Quizno's. Also in the works are possible expansions of Safeway, Whole Foods/Fresh Fields and Circuit City.

The company will be looking for other destination retailers as big as 25,000 to 40,000 square feet to add to the tenant mix for an ultimate combination of restaurants and small boutiques. Formerly referred to as "The Underground," the combined retail will take on a new name, "The Crystal City Shops," which more appropriately reflects the new space. "The Underground name was started back in the 70s, although the shops are at grade level and not physically underground," says Fonvielle. "We felt it was important to move away from that marketing and slowly phase in a new, more fitting name."

Planning for the redevelopment also included focus groups and evaluation of other successful mixed-use developments, such as Reston Town Center and Bethesda Row. "Both of these are examples of a good tenant mix of restaurants and boutiques that have become destinations in their own right," says Fonvielle. "They provide a very nice atmosphere, and they offer an amenity to the people who are already there, while attracting visitors outside of their core group."

Crystal City is further enhancing its customer experience by focusing on traffic patterns. Planners are pursuing a two-way traffic circulation system (to replace the current one-way system) with Arlington County that will provide better access to and from Crystal City as well as within the community. In addition, the Metro system is exploring the feasibility of opening a second entrance at the east end of the station in addition to the west end entrance. The new entrance would open up to the retail currently proposed for Crystal Drive.

Transportation improvements are key to the new, more pedestrian-friendly look, according to Buckley. "The new retail, streetscape and the two-waying of streets will provide an easier circulation pattern and one that is more pedestrian oriented," says Buckley. "While that sounds simple, to do it architecturally -- and do it right -- you need the right scale of reference for the people walking the streets and working in the buildings who would rather get out and enjoy a street experience than have an interior one."

Reinventing the Wheel

Those people Buckley is referring to are the source of perhaps the only major challenge that Charles E. Smith is faced with in transforming the Crystal City experience into an appealing urban center. "The only issue we have is that we're dealing with an existing mixed-use development, and so it makes it infinitely more complex to come back and build these types of structures in an existing, fully-occupied environment," says Fonvielle.

On the other hand, the fully-occupied environment is the key to Crystal City's ultimate success. "We really already have a tremendous demand here in Crystal City, so now it's important to redirect the energy that we already possess," says Poli. "Crystal City has been an evolutionary process over the past 40 years, and it's incredible how quickly it's grown and how dense it has become. At this point, we're kind of analyzing what we're lacking. Then we can go after it to provide the kind of atmosphere we want to create -- a sense of place."

The strong chance to create that atmosphere is why Buckley joined the development team. He describes Crystal City as an "average architectural expression," but notes that with the redevelopment, there is perhaps a chance to develop some prize-winning architecture. "Crystal City is now in a position to go under some selective changes aside from the most potent opportunity, the public realm," he says. "If we design the shop fronts to have the right level of vitality, particularly in the evening, and we design the streetscape in a friendly way that makes it easy for cars to spot the shops and to decant their passengers into shoppers, we'll have achieved our objectives. Some developments don't have a chance to achieve such a level of turnaround."


©2001 France Publications, Inc. Duplication or reproduction of this article not permitted without authorization from France Publications, Inc. For information on reprints of this article contact Barbara Sherer at (630) 554-6054.