Fitting a supermarket into a town center

Recent developments in the Washington, DC, area demonstrate a variety of techniques for placing a large grocery store in a mixed-use urban environment. Of all the big box store types, supermarkets are the most common, are used most frequently by shoppers, and are most likely to anchor medium-sized commercial developments. Getting them to work in new urbanist (NU) town centers is critical. Four NU projects near the nation’s capital include recently built 30,000 to 54,000 sq.ft. grocery stores. Three techniques are used: the A and B street formula; upgraded architecture with liner stores; and the big box within a mixed-use building. A and B streets This concept works well in new towns designed from scratch, such as King Farm (planned by Torti Gallas & Partners/CHK) and Kentlands (planned by Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company). By using the A and B street formula, an entirely conventional supermarket can be integrated into a town center without seriously compromising the pedestrian experience. The key is that the planner has total control over the street and block configuration. King Farm, a 3,200-unit traditional neighborhood development (TND) in Rockville, Maryland, has a 54,000 sq.ft. Safeway anchoring its mixed-use town center. The supermarket and its large parking lot occupy the middle of a block. Three sides of the block have urban buildings on the perimeter. These are known as A streets, because their streetscapes are attractive to pedestrians. The fourth edge of the block (the B-street side) is open to the Safeway parking lot. A similar approach is taken in Kentlands, a 1,700-unit TND in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The grocery store block is ringed by streetfront commercial on three sides, and the fourth side is open to a big parking lot serving the 35,000 sq. ft. Fresh Fields store (scheduled to open in September) and two other fairly large floorplate businesses. In the case of both King Farm and Kentlands, the supermarket serves as the anchor for smaller stores. Although extensive on-street parking is available, many patrons park in front of the supermarket and walk through passageways to the other establishments on the surrounding A streets. From the front, both supermarkets look like conventional suburban stores. Their location inside a pedestrian-friendly block makes the difference. Architecture and liners In designing the (NU) redevelopment of the downtown in Silver Spring, Maryland, RTKL had to work with an established block and street pattern. Parking requirements and constraints imposed by tenants required that the 30,000 sq. ft. Fresh Fields supermarket be placed next to a sidewalk on an important street (parking is behind the store and the main entrance is located on a narrow street connecting the parking lot to the street). The building’s placement called for more sensitive design than the typical big box facade. A two-story building was designed, with offices on the second floor (Fresh Fields has expressed interest in moving its corporate headquarters here, but if they back out, the building can accommodate a different tenant). A “veneer” of ground floor retail stores enlivens about 50 percent of the building’s primary street frontage, according to Jim Leonard of RTKL. The remainder of the frontage is occupied by Fresh Fields’s cafe, and a lobby that serves as the entrance to the second floor. Much of the first floor has windows. The cornice line of the facade steps upward with a gradient to break up the mass of the building. Different materials (masonry and simulated stucco), in addition to a variety of corner treatments give the impression of several small buildings instead of one large one. Inside, a two-story atrium brings natural light into the center of the supermarket (a trademark of the upscale Fresh Fields). Mixed-use building Like Silver Spring, Pentagon Row in Arlington, Virginia, is an infill site — albeit one in the midst of high-density suburbia. Pentagon Row, nearing completion, includes 500 apartments and 300,000 square feet of retail on just 18 acres. Given the density, three floors of apartments had to be placed above a portion of the 45,000 sq. ft. Harris Teeter supermarket. The supermarket opens onto a parking lot which is nearly hidden from the street. A sign will direct customers to the parking lot, but otherwise the casual passerby may take little notice of the supermarket. Leonard explains that high visibility is not important for the success of such a store. “What Fresh Fields and Harris Teeter understand is that people will find you — it’s destination retail,” says Leonard of RTKL, which designed Pentagon Row. “All you need is the sign on the street.” On the street side of the supermarket, the first floor is lined with retail shops. Above are apartments. The transition between the retail first floor and apartments involves a transfer of weight to fewer columns (because of the layout of the supermarket). “The principle is not unlike a hotel tower coming down on its podium,” Leonard explains. The construction costs for such a building are higher than for a single-use structure, he says.