Your Happy Space

Earlier this year, I read about a redevelopment project in the Bethesda MD area where a few city blocks were transformed into a nice, lively activity center that includes a residential tower, retail stores, restaurants and a plaza for social gatherings and outdoor festivals/concerts.  This is the new trend, today, for many suburban areas - tearing down old, underutilized buildings, parking lots and transforming them into flashy, new, vibrant communities anchored with new apartments/condos, grocery stores, etc.  This captioned community is called the North Bethesda Marketplace.  It's situated on a couple of city blocks, anchored by a very tall residential apartment building and a grocery store.  Parking?  Well, all of the parking is inside of a multi-level parking deck (you gotta' pay to use it) with some on-street parallel parking.  I wanted to experience this center and see what was all there.  I thought it was a great use of the given space available - everything is all situated on about 2 city blocks.  There are nicely landscaped sidewalks, with much street activity and the opportunity for social engagement in an open-air plaza that is surrounded by retail, dining and a nice fitness center.  A few blocks to the west is another new redevelopment project called Pike and Rose.  I will feature that dynamic new community in a later post.