Retrofitting Suburbia: Silver Spring, Maryland

I've written a couple of times here about the major effort underway in Virginia to turn the isolated office buildings and malls of Tysons Corner into a walkable downtown. Similar plans are afoot in many suburban communities, including Silver Spring, Maryland.

It was recently announced that the owners of The Blairs, a big apartment complex on the edge of Silver Spring's downtown, want to turn their car-friendly enclave,  now about half parking lots, into a real urban neighborhood.

Above, as the property is now.

And as it would be in the new, $625 million plan.

So far, no sign of major opposition, and Montgomery County is committed in theory to this kind of densification, so this should go ahead.