Once a forlorn street with only ramshackle buildings better for disposing of cars than for strolling, despite its location in downtown Silver Spring and proximity to the Metro, Ripley Street is on its way to birthing two residential developments. The first, by Washington Property Company and Lessard Design, will feature 295 rental units (9 live-work replaced what was to be a retail space) inside a 17-story structure, with a "resort-style" pool at 1150 Ripley Street. WPC broke ground in September of 2009 and will now deliver the first units the 1st week of May. Work is expected to continue through August.The second site, by Home Properties, will deliver a Shalom Baranes designed residential tower late next year. Eleven55 Ripley, originally conceived as Midtown Silver Spring, will offer 379 "premier apartments" in a 20-story building and adjacent 5-story building, adding a small pocket park as a public amenity.
Silver Spring real estate development news
16 comments:
The 1150 Ripley project designed by Lessard Group, broke ground in September 2010 (not 2009)
Excellent. 1K new residents and retail instead of a couple rundown 1 story buildings. The transformation is astounding. Now if only F-Pratt didn't botch the crap out of the neighboring transit center...talking about a huge eyesore. Hope the county sues the crap out of them and never gives them a county contract again considering how they're refusing to fix the obvious concrete issues on their own.
With the adjacent third property there will be around 1,000 new units in Ripley and probably 1,600 residents. A huge boost to the low scale diverse Fenton Village across Georgia Avenue. The Mom & Pop shops and restaurants will appreciate the business. Of course those 1,000+ people have to cross Goergia Ave. and the State Highway Dept views Georgia as a major commuter highway and resists making it pedestrian friendly.
slow down the development until more transit options are COMPLETED such as the Purple Line and the Transit Center.
"slow down the development until more transit options are COMPLETED such as the Purple Line and the Transit Center."
Why the transit center? As far as I know, it's not going to add anything, except ease of access/transfers between buses and red line/future purple line. Keep building. The more $1mil+ property tax buildings on the rolls in the CBD the more compelling the argument for the Purple Line and making Ga. Ave. (and Colesville and Wayne) more pedestrian friendly. The people living in these developments are going to commute on foot or via metro probably 95-100% of the time.
I don't foresee 20+ posts hating on this TOD like that RI Ave. development, haha.
Yes, this is the start of a complete transformation of this (soon-to-be formerly) forelorn area. In addition to the WPC and Home Properties high-rises on Ripley Street, Montgomery County is soliciting proposals to redevelop the site directly south of the WPC building. Currently it houses the county-owned Progress Place (social services), but the county is envisioning another high-rise residential/retail building.
Bring it on...more residents living in DTSS = more feet on the ground = more expendible income spent on local businesses = more redevelopment for DTSS.
And no, I'm not sorry if one of the 25 hair salons, wig shops and (my favorite) the corsett store gets pushed out because of rising rents.
That's interesting re: the Progress Place site. I am adamantly against displacing the poor (in this case, its primary function is to feed a few dozen people twice a day, I believe), but the density of the site is currently far to low. I imagine the county is requesting proposals that include a higher than normal number of affordable units or something along those lines to help mitigate the situation a bit?
How Awful!!!
They need to get the Faulkland projects going. I'd also like to see the old Summit Hill area redeveloped.
There appears to be some interesting plans with the Walter Reed site with commercial and some embassy posibilities.
Don't knock the hair and nail salons, and auto repair services, and the corset/lingerie shop - those are locally owned small business who employ local residents and provide residents with desired services. A healthy community needs the large and small scale - just look at all the neighborhoods of NYC and their small businesses. Since the national franchises and chains continue to snub Silver Spring - I will continue to support the Fenton Village small businesses.
These buildings are so ugly...Arlington, Silver Spring, Mass. Ave....they're everywhere and they all look the same. Orange brick makes me nauseated. Can't there be interesting architecture built for the same price?
I was thinking the opposite for the architecture. Shows how far a clearly articlulated base, middle, and attic will do. Unfortunatley the Shalome project looks to be a series or glass shrouded towers with no real articulation for the passerby's. Bring on all the density though, as our area continues to develope much like London, with a nice low scale overall and larger nodes of height/population near the metro stops.
Don't knock the hair and nail salons, and auto repair services, and the corset/lingerie shop - those are locally owned small business who employ local residents and provide residents with desired services. A healthy community needs the large and small scale
I'm not knocking them at all. I'm saying that DTSS has a disproportionally large number of shops like this. I'm all in favor of smaller locally owned retail and service providers, but we need a much more diverse selection.
That's interesting re: the Progress Place site. I am adamantly against displacing the poor (in this case, its primary function is to feed a few dozen people twice a day, I believe), but the density of the site is currently far to low. I imagine the county is requesting proposals that include a higher than normal number of affordable units or something along those lines to help mitigate the situation a bit?
No poor people will be displaced. Progress place and the services will continue in a new location in downtown Silver Spring. I am not sure if the county has announced the final location but there are lots of still underdeveloped areas close-in that have potential.
"Progress place and the services will continue in a new location in downtown Silver Spring. I am not sure if the county has announced the final location but there are lots of still underdeveloped areas close-in that have potential."
Right, I assumed as much (and that the new facility will be nice and shiny thanks to some of the sale proceeds). But it is still displacement, though I think there's little doubt that overall it'll be a net positive for all involved.
BUILD THE MBT
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