South Silver Spring emerges as ‘funky, urban’ place to live

With new housing, shops and eateries, area shakes its industrial past

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Click here to enlarge this photo David S. Spence⁄The Gazette Visitors at a recent grand opening of the Silver Spring Artists Market, located in the new Art Alley at Blair Mill Road in south Silver Spring, browse work created by local artists. The Arts Alley with the addition of some new shops and restaurants have helped transform the neighborhood from an area best avoided to a fun — and funky — place to live, work and shop.

Many live in new apartments and condominiums along East West Highway and the surrounding neighborhood. Developers have revamped and modified abandoned office buildings, turning them into shining, high-rise housing units — and more are on the way — creating a residential community out of what had been a largely industrial area with many vacant buildings.

Businesses, restaurants and an art gallery have set up shop, and officials and residents say when south Silver Spring’s transformation is complete, it will be an even more desirable place to live, work and shop.

The area has a vibe that is appealing, said Elizabeth Davison, director of the county’s Department of Housing and Community Affairs, which has overseen some of the changes.

‘‘It’s kind of a funky, urban kind of area,” she said. ‘‘It’s a little different, just the way Silver Spring is not Bethesda or Wheaton. It’s got its own feel.”

Andy Streagle, 25, has lived at the Blair East complex for four months, since moving in with his fiancee, who had previously lived in another Blair community, Blair Plaza. They like the neighborhood.

‘‘It’s well taken care of and the apartments are a good size,” he said.

The rent, Streagle said, is a little expensive, but compared to other apartments in Silver Spring, he’ll take it.

Streagle said he and his fiancee can walk to the grocery and several restaurants in the Blair Shopping Center. They’ve also walked down toward Mayorga Coffee Factory, at the other end of East West Highway, though he said they haven’t yet stopped to have a drink.

‘‘And we go up to downtown Silver Spring,” he added. ‘‘We go eat, we go to the movies.”

South Silver Spring is a good location for Streagle and his fiancee because it’s near where she goes to law school, he said. They’ve considered eventually purchasing a condo further down East West Highway near the former Canada Dry building instead of moving out of the area. ‘‘Hopefully then we’ll be able to afford it,” he said with a laugh.

Streagle, who grew up in Ellicott City, recalled what Silver Spring was like before its revitalization.

‘‘From what I can remember, there wasn’t much here,” he said. ‘‘I remember when it wasn’t good.”

Now, he said, it’s a place he enjoys and a place he’d like to stay.

At a recent Planning Board hearing, Louisa Davis, who lives in south Silver Spring’s Eastern Village Cohousing complex, told planning commissioners she moved there in January because it was a good place to live in an area that had a lot of offer.

The complex has private dwelling units and several common spaces, and it put Davis in an environment-friendly community with close-knit neighbors who balance private homeownership with community living, and allowed her easy access to public transportation so she wouldn’t have to have a car.

The neighborhood has always held appeal, and even more now that there are more amenities, said Elnora Harvey, a Blair Towers resident who has lived in Silver Spring for about 16 years.

Harvey said she particularly likes the shopping center on East West Highway. ‘‘It’s just like I really don’t have to leave,” she said.

‘‘I love it,” she said of the neighborhood. ‘‘It’s easily accessible to Metro. I don’t have to have a car. Any place I want to go, I can use the Metro rail, Metro bus or Ride On bus.”

However, she’d like to see more stores, like clothing shops, since the area already has restaurants.

‘‘You still have to go out of downtown Silver Spring to buy some of the things you need,” she said.

The neighborhood is also attractive because of its diversity and because of the social consciousness of the residents, Harvey added. ‘‘You can be involved in the community and you can make things happen.”

‘‘I think it’s pretty cool now and it’s going to be even cooler,” said Martin Mayorga, owner of Mayorga Coffee Factory. Mayorga opened his business in south Silver Spring in 2003. ‘‘Some things are cool for cool’s sake — you know, urban and edgy. I think [south Silver Spring’s] just real. It’s a very real mix of people.”

Mayorga said he believes the neighborhood won’t be able to be replicated elsewhere, particularly because of the local businesses coming to the area.

‘‘Local businesses are important and that’s something south Silver Spring has remembered,” he said.

The colorful Arts Alley at Blair Mill Road is open, providing pedestrians with a way to cut through south Silver Spring’s long city blocks and giving restaurants a place to put outdoor seating. Similar pedestrian pathways are planned.

Montgomery College⁄Takoma Park-Silver Spring has expanded into the neighborhood, putting an arts center and health sciences center on King Street and Georgia Avenue.

The Silver Spring Innovation Center, with its distinctive triangular architecture, provides a place for small technology-based businesses to get their start.

Chevy Chase-based JBG Cos. is revamping the former Canada Dry bottling plant, preserving its facade and building residential units and retail behind and around it.

Significant progress has been made in the neighborhood, Davison said, but it’s been a long time coming. Most buildings in the neighborhood were vacant for years before developers transformed them from office buildings or industrial buildings into housing, a practice also prevalent in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Developers also have purchased large parcels of vacant land.

Davison said she believes development was spurred by the adaptive reuse of the Gramax building, a former office building that stood vacant and decayed for about 15 years.

Many developers had said the cost to refurbish the building was prohibitive — the ceiling heights were several feet lower than today’s standards, the facade was deteriorating and there was not a parking garage underneath the building, or sufficient lot space next to it.

However, RST bought The Gramax in 2002 with help from the county, using federal low-income tax credits. Once the Gramax was built, other companies began purchasing other parcels, Davison said.

‘‘We were kind of at the right place at the right time. We saw potential for development there,” said Scott Copeland, a principal at RST, adding that he doesn’t like to look at the purchase of the building as taking a gamble.

RST turned the Gramax into 180 apartments and also added retail and art exhibition space to support the state-approved Arts and Entertainment District. They were able to create something ‘‘special and different,” Copeland said.

‘‘I think those units are a little bit unusual because of the retrofit of the building,” Davison said, noting that the walls are angled and there are a variety of floor plans. The building, she said, contributes to the fun, artistic environment officials would like south Silver Spring to have.

‘‘It’s really a great place to live,” Copeland said of the neighborhood. ‘‘We feel like it’s a real vibrant community.”