New Cleveland Park library is a missed opportunity

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As pointed out earlier, this is all hypothetical discussion. Cleveland Park Library is completed and open. Cleveland Park is in an historic district and has zoning that limits height. There is plenty of land in other parts of the city, including parking lots out New York Ave. that are ripe for housing development and redevelopment.

Textbook NIMBY argument - we should have more housing it should just go elsewhere!

Meanwhile Cleveland Park businesses are struggling and in some cases moving to more dense neighborhoods.

Businesses come and go. A number of new restaurants and other businesses have opened in the Cleveland Park historic commercial district in the last year, so overall the area is pretty healthy economically. Van Ness, with a lot of residential density and day traffic (UDC) immediately adjacent to the metro has more vacant storefronts than Cleveland Park.

[Anonymous]

Basically this thread has turned into a Greater Greater Washington circle jerk. Myopic little twits tweeting from their mothers’ basements as they fantasize about a bargain but vibrant mixed-use condo on 14th St.

[Anonymous]

Does GGW stands for Greater Greater Wankers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does GGW stands for Greater Greater Wankers?

I can't tell if you are playing with yourself but you are definitely talking with yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does GGW stands for Greater Greater Wankers?

I can't tell if you are playing with yourself but you are definitely talking with yourself.

Come on, people. They’re not adding floors of housing to the new Cleveland Park library. It’s finished!

[Anonymous]

The new library is very nice -- light filled with quiet spaces for reading and study. The outdoor garden will be quite pleasant when it is finished.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The new library is very nice -- light filled with quiet spaces for reading and study. The outdoor garden will be quite pleasant when it is finished.

This. If DC had sold the air rights for hipster flats, the library wouldn’t have all the nice natural ceiling light.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And yet, like it or not, Van Ness is an economic engine for the area. The Main Street is doing wonders to improve the retail mix and the "community" feel.

Van Mess?? It's a traffic nightmare, DC can't keep up with the road wear and tear issues, and it's literally the furthest thing from a community feel anywhere along Conn Ave. (And I say this as a transplant to DC who thinks there's nothing that great to write home about even in the other commercial areas up Conn Ave. CCDC has tons of walkable stores and restaurants compared to Van Ness. Even Comet/P&P is better. Van Mess has some lunch spots for the office workers or UDC crowd, but there's not even a good college vibe b/c I don't think anyone actually lives at UDC so it's literally just a daytime lunch crowd at the very most.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And yet, like it or not, Van Ness is an economic engine for the area. The Main Street is doing wonders to improve the retail mix and the "community" feel.

Van Mess?? It's a traffic nightmare, DC can't keep up with the road wear and tear issues, and it's literally the furthest thing from a community feel anywhere along Conn Ave. (And I say this as a transplant to DC who thinks there's nothing that great to write home about even in the other commercial areas up Conn Ave. CCDC has tons of walkable stores and restaurants compared to Van Ness. Even Comet/P&P is better. Van Mess has some lunch spots for the office workers or UDC crowd, but there's not even a good college vibe b/c I don't think anyone actually lives at UDC so it's literally just a daytime lunch crowd at the very most.

You clearly haven't been there in a while based on your description.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And yet, like it or not, Van Ness is an economic engine for the area. The Main Street is doing wonders to improve the retail mix and the "community" feel.

Van Mess?? It's a traffic nightmare, DC can't keep up with the road wear and tear issues, and it's literally the furthest thing from a community feel anywhere along Conn Ave. (And I say this as a transplant to DC who thinks there's nothing that great to write home about even in the other commercial areas up Conn Ave. CCDC has tons of walkable stores and restaurants compared to Van Ness. Even Comet/P&P is better. Van Mess has some lunch spots for the office workers or UDC crowd, but there's not even a good college vibe b/c I don't think anyone actually lives at UDC so it's literally just a daytime lunch crowd at the very most.

You clearly haven't been there in a while based on your description.

I live really close. I’m there all the time but I don’t prefer the vibe there.

[Anonymous]

Padthai, Breadfurst, Soapstone Market, Sfoligna - there are some good mom and pop places with Little Red Fox and Politics and Prose further up the street.

There will be new development eventually at the Burger King and Gym. These will help further shape things, along with the renovations of the Fannie Mae site next to UDC.

It has gotten a lot better than it was 5 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Van Ness is a lot better than when that Pier One was there but it is still pretty short of its full potential or being a truly pleasant place to walk around. The drugstore space has been empty for years so its lot like a clear trend endures

Also, politics and prose and comet are forest hills/Ccdc not van ness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Van Ness is a lot better than when that Pier One was there but it is still pretty short of its full potential or being a truly pleasant place to walk around. The drugstore space has been empty for years so its lot like a clear trend endures

Also, politics and prose and comet are forest hills/Ccdc not van ness.

Van Ness has always been an odd area. Despite the high density in Van Ness East and surrounding buildings and a Metro stop, historically there has been a lot of turnover in businesses and currently there are a number of space vacancies. This was true even when Intelsat employed thousands of employees. Park Van Ness has been a bright spot, and superior from a design and construction quality standpoint to some other major projects built in the general vicinity (like Cathedral Commons).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And yet, like it or not, Van Ness is an economic engine for the area. The Main Street is doing wonders to improve the retail mix and the "community" feel.

Van Mess?? It's a traffic nightmare, DC can't keep up with the road wear and tear issues, and it's literally the furthest thing from a community feel anywhere along Conn Ave. (And I say this as a transplant to DC who thinks there's nothing that great to write home about even in the other commercial areas up Conn Ave. CCDC has tons of walkable stores and restaurants compared to Van Ness. Even Comet/P&P is better. Van Mess has some lunch spots for the office workers or UDC crowd, but there's not even a good college vibe b/c I don't think anyone actually lives at UDC so it's literally just a daytime lunch crowd at the very most.

You clearly haven't been there in a while based on your description.

I live really close. I’m there all the time but I don’t prefer the vibe there.

Interesting observation. In fact, Van Ness is quite different from the look and feel of other commercial districts which were part of the integrated design of Connecticut Avenue from when much of the street was developed by Newlands and others. Connecticut was very much designed as a planned street, with concentrations apartment buildings (some quite grand and set back by lawns), and interspersed neighborhood-serving commercial areas which were designed to be lower scale. Much of the Woodley Park strip, the shops across from the zoo, Cleveland Park, the Politics & Prose area south of Nebraska and then Chevy Chase DC are examples of walkable, human scale retail area with a community feel. In fact, the designers of Bethesda Row on Bethesda Ave., looked to Cleveland Park for design inspiration. The Van Ness area may have been like this originally as well, but was developed into large, impersonal buildings, with wide concrete sidewalks and plazas. The scale and streetscape feel alienating. Park Van Ness, while not exactly low-scale, is definitely more inviting than the area just north of Van Ness St.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And yet, like it or not, Van Ness is an economic engine for the area. The Main Street is doing wonders to improve the retail mix and the "community" feel.

Van Mess?? It's a traffic nightmare, DC can't keep up with the road wear and tear issues, and it's literally the furthest thing from a community feel anywhere along Conn Ave. (And I say this as a transplant to DC who thinks there's nothing that great to write home about even in the other commercial areas up Conn Ave. CCDC has tons of walkable stores and restaurants compared to Van Ness. Even Comet/P&P is better. Van Mess has some lunch spots for the office workers or UDC crowd, but there's not even a good college vibe b/c I don't think anyone actually lives at UDC so it's literally just a daytime lunch crowd at the very most.

You clearly haven't been there in a while based on your description.

I live really close. I’m there all the time but I don’t prefer the vibe there.

Interesting observation. In fact, Van Ness is quite different from the look and feel of other commercial districts which were part of the integrated design of Connecticut Avenue from when much of the street was developed by Newlands and others. Connecticut was very much designed as a planned street, with concentrations apartment buildings (some quite grand and set back by lawns), and interspersed neighborhood-serving commercial areas which were designed to be lower scale. Much of the Woodley Park strip, the shops across from the zoo, Cleveland Park, the Politics & Prose area south of Nebraska and then Chevy Chase DC are examples of walkable, human scale retail area with a community feel. In fact, the designers of Bethesda Row on Bethesda Ave., looked to Cleveland Park for design inspiration. The Van Ness area may have been like this originally as well, but was developed into large, impersonal buildings, with wide concrete sidewalks and plazas. The scale and streetscape feel alienating. Park Van Ness, while not exactly low-scale, is definitely more inviting than the area just north of Van Ness St.

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