There is interest and discussion by many people regarding the future of the Lake Anne Village Center which is in visible decline. The Lake Anne Plaza has always been a critical focal point of Reston, for both social and historical reasons. I am a professional community planner who has specialized in revitalization of entertainment-oriented commercial areas in communities throughout the country. The Fairfax County’s webpage (www.fcrevit.org/lakeanne) identifies my previous studies regarding Lake Anne. I have had a personal interest in the Lake Anne Village for several decades and have a number of definitive thoughts regarding the process of revitalization for the Village Center.
My family has urged me to share these thoughts as my contribution to the future of Lake Anne, my community. Since these thoughts do not easily lend themselves to the space limitations of focus groups or sound bites, I will present them in two separate essays. The first essay will profile the existing situation and the constraints, with sample photographs from Part II, showing successful reinvestment elsewhere. The second essay begins with a discussion of the function of the Lake Anne Village and its historical contributions to the fabric of this community, followed by a statement that the scale and the size of the Plaza are ideal for its present function. The additions necessary to produce proper balance and critical mass must be developed around the perimeter of the Plaza. A conceptual description of how perimeter development could function is included, with photographs from revitalization elsewhere in the country. Four areas to fulfill the supporting functions are discussed.
These essays are not intended to replace or minimize the value of the focus group input and forthcoming charette but may in fact serve as a framework for further discussion.
Part I
I. Control and Responsibility
In order to achieve successful revitalization, it is essential that a single entity or combine have control and responsibility for management, repair, and improvements of the Plaza, public parking, and related walkway segment of the Lake Anne Village. This single entity has to have significant economic interest to assume the responsibility of control and management.
Control and responsibilities now rest with LARCA. The burden of this quasi-public space is, therefore, assumed totally by the members of the condominium. The Reston Association has made contributions in the past, and the County made a significant contribution when the physical structure of the Plaza was upgraded about ten years ago.
1. Visibility
Visibility improvements to identify the existence of the Village Center from the adjoining thoroughfares, particularly Route 606 and North Shore Drive.
Visual aide objects that assist motorists with identifying center locating and retail opportunities.
2. Accessibility
Significant increase in the amount of off-street parking available, easily accessible
Improve and make accessible (ADA compliant) pedestrian circulation to and within the Plaza crossing North Shore and Route 606
Provisions must be made for off-street loading and delivery that does not impede internal circulation
Effective mass transit will be needed to more directly interface with the anticipated metro expansion; control mechanism will be needed to prevent commuters from occupying spaces needed for visitors
II. Development Plan
The elements of a development plan are described in the study from 1995 (see Note 1)
A comprehensive development plan that deals with the physical, social, and economic elements of the Lake Anne Village in the context of Reston is needed
Vitality and sustainability require enough commercial uses to serve the existing residents; there needs to be more residents to support the businesses. Retail uses require a sufficient critical mass of 100,000 square feet of interrelated and mutually-supportive businesses and/or a major draw such as a supermarket or other major activity such as something offering entertainment and recreation. Currently, the Plaza has space for 40,000 square feet of retail space.
Expansion of the commercial uses to include stores that meet the day-to-day needs of current and future residents or office workers
Create a method of managing the mix and operational characteristics of all commercial uses operated at the Village Center to establish synergy and cooperative marketing
Expand office uses to further generate potential customers for Plaza commercial uses and restaurants
A process and structure to ensure equitable responsibility for maintenance, improvement, and management of the Plaza, the docks, the connecting paths, and the common parking
Expand the residential population to provide a sufficient market for the increased retail services
Significant pressure will be placed on any or all new residential developments to make significant provisions for worker housing. The mix between subsidized and unsubsidized will require delicate balancing. The residents will be necessary to provide a source of employees for the Village businesses
Conversely, methods and opportunities that celebrate the cultural diversity of people who visit, do business, or live in the Lake Anne Village area would be valuable contributions the community
A mechanism to ensure adequate maintenance, architectural control, and upkeep of all major real estate investments in the Village Center to prevent one bad apple from corrupting the basket
Reduction of condo fees to be more comparable with commercial CAM (common area maintenance) fees for commercial and residential areas
Procedures to sensitively discourage the congregation of individuals who are perceived by potential visitors to be threatening
Views and vistas: ideally all new development units would have a view of the lake available. No building should be built that limits or constrains existing vistas. Visible roof surfaces would be free of debris and treated with decorative surfaces or natural materials (green roofs).
III. Background and Function
The Lake Anne Village is the starting point for new town of Reston, Virginia. The Plaza served as the showroom where the ideas and commitment to innovation and quality were presented. More importantly, the Plaza and the initial businesses were places where the institutions and organizations that make Reston a functional community were born. Card tables in front of the grocery store recruited people for teams, community theater, and political objectives, as did the checkout lines in the stores. Space was even made available for even the “common ground,” where social interaction was not only supported but often precipitated.
Reston and Lake Anne Village has served as a model for large-scale development throughout the country. Townhouses above retail and mixed use, pedestrian-oriented villages, eventually a Town Center (which is de rigeaur nowadays for all new real estate developments), all have become real estate marketing terms which had their real meaning in the Lake Anne Village of Reston.
Just as Lake Anne has served as a model for innovative development, now that it has aged, it can again serve as a model for innovative revitalization of large-scale, planned communities with privately-owned spaces in common use.
Lake Anne is like a puzzle. In order to make it work more efficiently, someone needs to have control of a number of the pieces because reinvestment in each piece will generate value to the other pieces. It is unlikely that any single piece has enough economic potential on its own to justify the type of reinvestment that will be needed.
The Plaza itself and adjoining buildings shall remain intact, albeit incidental improvement should occur. All new development will be on the perimeter and should not encroach visually the basic original Plaza and surround.
IV. Development Areas
The potential location for new development could be described as components of four quadrants of development that would each have a mix of activities to collectively establish the critical mass of activity within the Lake Anne Village. The quadrants would act like the pedestals to support the central jewel.
The pieces of the puzzle include: Lake Anne Office Building, Washington Plaza Baptist Church, Lutheran Church, a significant portion of LARCA. The parts of LARCA needed are: at a minimum, the Plaza itself, common parking, and enough of residential and all of the non-residential uses to ensure the ability to control the condominium association.
The principal assets of Lake Anne Village Center are the lake itself, and the plaza with the surrounding architecture and design innovations. Neither of these two assets is visible from the access roads or from the parking lot where the activity which brings the greatest number of visitors is located.
These ideas were described in a proposal to the Merchants titled “quick fix”: entry way will be identified with a sail boat hull and a farm wagon. The sale will have Lake Anne Village’s name on it. Scripts for story boards will be developed, describing the historic innovations. The story boards will be positioned to lead visitors from the farm market into the Plaza.
Part II
Some thoughts on Lake Anne’s future:
The scale and size of the Lake Anne Plaza, patterned after Portofino, have proven ideal for its functions. All new development should occur on the perimeter within a walking radius of the Plaza itself. The new development areas should be considered spines that extend from the core Plaza like the pedestals supporting a jewel in a setting. Any or all of these spaces could accommodate the following types of uses and activities: meetings and celebrations, Sweet Sixteen receptions, and spontaneous gatherings. Each one would have a focal point or its own plaza and a mix of residential uses such as lofts, efficiencies, and condominiums, bed & breakfasts, extended stay suites, each contributing to a population to claim ownership of the common spaces. New housing complexes would likely have 400 units each. Areas that have the potential to fulfill the supporting functions include:
1. The economic report spoke of several specific areas. One of these is the Washington Plaza Baptist Church. For the sake of clarity, this area is referred to as Lake Anne Village West. This complex together with adjoining open space and Lake Anne office building should be reconfigured to accommodate a mixture of uses. The Baptist Church owns a parcel of land between the sanctuary and Lake Anne office building. This area together with the parking that currently serves Lake Anne office building could be reconfigured to accommodate a mixture of housing, structured parking, office and retail.
The new complex could include space and facilities to accommodate the needs of the Baptist Church and Laurel Learning Center. The complex should include multifamily housing, possibly additional office uses, and retail activity along the connecting walkway. This walkway would have a common elevator that would provide handicapped accessibility to this whole section of the Village Center and the Plaza itself.
In conjunction with the reconfigurations described above, new pedestrian and vehicular entry ways and circulation patterns can be established. The Lake Anne Village Center was modeled after Portofino, Italy, which has housing on the hillsides surrounding the piazza. A structure similar to the Habitat built in Montreal, Canada, would in effect establish a hillside around the Lake Anne Plaza.
|
