The shopping center with TJ Maxx and several other stores are up for sale but not the Giant and Home Depot, which are owned privately. The Washington Business journal is reporting the space as a great opportunity to develop this area for mixed use (see WBJ article here)
The Brentwood Shopping Center, developed by the same developer proposing the Walmart on New York Ave, is an example of poor design. The design of the shopping center failed in areas of access and using the propoerty to its full, mixed use ability especially being so close to a metro stop. Hopefully a new owner can take a clue from the new Metro station development next door and build a mixed use development that doesn’t leave a sea of parking in the middle of the shopping center. What are your thoughts?
rhodeislandavene.com 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/brentwood-shopping-center-is-up-for-sale-but-is-it-a-target-for-developers/2011/06/02/AGI8DfJH_story.html
I was just thinking yesterday, while leaving Home Depot, wouldn’t it be nice to have trees, lots of trees on the wide open parking lot.
What are the boundries of the development that is up for sale?
AJ
I have to say that without adding additional parking (as discussed in the WP article linked by Roy above),
but simply by doubling the amount of viable trees, tall grasses, and bushes
–and by making certain that they are watered frequently enough to flourish–
the new owners of that strip mall could make it feel much, much more pedestrian friendly, and make it dovetail better with the new development.
Parking lots can rather easily be made much more like “park-like” with the simple addition of ample stands of tall grasses and shrubs grown in large containers, lots of smallish trees mixed in with some select big shade trees, and (eventually) by beautifying storefronts by making them look a bit more like old-town downtowns.
That beautifies and greens up an area marked by a paucity of old, well-cared for trees, which cool down the environment substantially if watered and maintained.
All of which would make it a more desirable venue for the next set of rental leases.
It should not cost too much, and would immediately help to transform that lackluster shopping strip….
One of the main problems I encounter when passing through that shopping center, which I do daily, is just how darn pedestrian-unfriendly it is. People fly up and down the aisles, beeping at passing pedestrians in their way. People park (long-term…I’ve observed everything from snoozing to car-washing in the curb lane) along the curb forcing pedestrians out into traffic if they need to cross in front of the Giant or can’t maneuver the stairs to get from Giant to the plaza. The pathway around the almost-complete building in the new development and up the ramp near TJ Maxx is too roundabout, and going up the main street into the Home Depot side of the plaza is an accident waiting to happen (peds have to cross the Metro access road twice and then cross the plaza entrance because there’s no sidewalk on the crosswalk side and no crosswalk on the sidewalk side). Once into the plaza on the Home Depot side, there’s NO SIDEWALK in front of the Home Depot because of all their displays, so peds have to walk out into traffic in order to cross in front of the Home Depot. SERIOUS revamping needed, as people who walk to the store and Metro keep moving into my neighborhood, and will move into the new Metro development. Keeping the plaza car-centric will only serve to promote accidents in the long-run.
I like Sandal’s idea of greening the place up…it could clearly use some of that. And greenery could provide a nice buffer for pedestrian routes through the plaza and be used to slow down traffic. I mean, the ideal would of course to be to dig out the “hill,” install an underground parking deck, and create a pedestrian thoroughfare where the parking lot is now. A girl can dream, right?
I’d like to see some water structures. Like fountains, or even a reflecting pool lined with trees and art from one end of the plaza at Brentwood Road to the other end at Rhode Island Row.
If mixed-use development happens, I’d like to see row houses not apartments. Sort of like the kind EYA specializes in for the Hyattsville mixed-use Arts District. I think EYA would be the most suitable buyer for this area.
I love single-family homes or small multi-family buildings as much as the next person, but I just don’t see them working at this location. As sources have noted, most of the tenants in this building have 10+ year leases, so a total demo and redevelopment is unlikely. So, if we were to get mixed-use, it would most likely be multi-family decked over the plaza (remember that the Giant and Home Depot are not included, only the strip of shops from Giant to TJ Maxx). But at least SOMETHING could be done to make this plaza more urban-centered and mixed-use. Heck, even if they dug out a parking deck and decked retail on top of the parking it would be better.
How about some places to eat? I am sick of the sneaker/cheap-clothing stores that automatically populate certain neighborhoods. The shops there are mostly of no use to me–Sterling, Citibank, Rainbow (sometimes useful), RadioShack (USELESS AND OVERPRICED. Anna’s and TJMaxx are the most relevant for me right now. Giant is a trek if you are coming from the Metro trains/buses. Poorly planned and developed. A huge parking lot, lack of pedestrian-friendly walking areas. It is a hassle to do grocery here, but I HAVE to, esp since that hood Safeway closed years ago. They had enough space there to build several stores, and these are the ones that they could think of? (Or was it just a matter of who could pay the rent?)