Downtown Silver Spring in Silver Spring, Maryland, is a 22-acre mixed-use suburban downtown revitalization project. "Silver Spring’s core was at one time a non-descript area of parking lots, aging retail, office buildings, and boarded-up storefronts. It is now a thriving, mixed-use town center within an arts and entertainment district," writes John Marcolin, a Montgomery County planner.
Developed from Maryland’s Smart Growth policies, the “first ring” suburban project is the result of a public-private partnership. It involved the creation of retail, entertainment, office, and public spaces and multi-family housing units, as well as four vibrant, revitalized main streets that are safe and pedestrian-friendly.
The Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence 2005 selection committee stated:
"Downtown Silver Spring project worked with the architecture of the Discovery Center and its public park, the commons, and the Veterans Plaza on axis with the transit center."
Totaling $1.3 billion in investment, the revitalization has resulted in more than one million square feet of retail space including movie theaters and restaurants in a restored historic Art Deco building. The American Film Institute and the world headquarters for Discovery Communications are housed in newly developed office spaces. Located adjacent to a Metro stop, the project provides a transit-oriented model of redevelopment in a suburb serving a diverse population.
Similar Projects
CityCenter #thisisCNU
Washington, District Of Columbia
The New York Times described the plan for CityCenter, Washington, DC’s newest downtown icon, as a “modern day Rockefeller Center.” While comparisons to the iconic 1930s development may sound like hyperbole, CityCenter is an impressiv
30 Years of Scripps College Campus Stewardship
Claremont, California
Scripps College was first designed in 1927—a jewel of a California Mission– style institution in a small-town setting.
Baldwin Park #thisisCNU
Orlando, Florida
In the mid-1990s, the City of Orlando faced the closure of the 1,100-acre Naval Training Center, two miles from downtown. The easiest reuse option for the land would have included big box stores, an office park, and/or suburban housing pods.