Office park to become neighborhood

The Upper Rock District, which has been called the first plan to convert an existing suburban business park into a mixed-use neighborhood, has won approval from the City of Rockville, Maryland, council (see images above and on page 1). The 20-acre project includes 844 residential units, 106 of which will be moderately priced. Two existing office buildings will be retained, one of which will be converted to residential lofts. The project will include a small volume of retail, including an 8,000 sq. ft. market center designed to offer relatively cheap space for startup businesses, Matthew Hurson of developer JBG Companies told New Urban News. Upper Rock is one of only a handful of new urban projects that connect to existing new urban communities. King Farm, with 3,200 housing units, a huge workplace district, and a town center anchored by a Safeway, borders Upper Rock to the southeast. Hurson believes this proximity shifted the political dynamic in Rockville, a community wary of growth. “The reason council voted for it,” he says, “is because 20 residents of King Farm testified for it — nobody testified against it.” He adds that the King Farm activists, some of whom live in predominantly single-family areas, “weren’t scared of urbanism — they wanted a place that was exciting and had urban amenities.” Designed by Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company, Upper Rock has distinctly modernist lines with sweeping horizontal curves. The initial plan was more traditional, modeled after a Wall Street-like financial district with rectilinear, narrow streets. The current plan, originally an alternate, quickly caught on with residents and city officials. The project has significant environmental elements, including a 1,500-foot-long “green wall” that will shield the view of parking decks to the west and be visible from Interstate 270. Alternative energy technologies may be incorporated into the wall, which will be the subject of an upcoming design mini-charrette, Hurson says. u