PRINT THIS STORY:

CHANGE TEXT SIZE:

MILITARY BASE GIVES MIXED-USE A SHOT

By Dees Stribling

Fort Belvoir Town Center likely has one of the busiest barber shops in America. That’s because the center, built by Arlington, Va.–based Clark Realty, is the first town center development to have been built on a U.S. military base, according to the developer.

And it does contain a barbershop, among the 11 shops arrayed along a single block of a single street. The Washington-area development, which was completed last year, also contains a Classic Country Furniture & Gifts, a COCI Accessories, a GNC, a Starbucks, a Sports Zone and a dry cleaner.

Clark Realty and the project’s designer-architect, Torti Gallas and Partners, adapted the walkable town center retail concept to meet the needs of the 2,100 families who live at Fort Belvoir and the many thousands of workers who visit the base every day.

“It took a considerable amount of persuading to get the Army on board, because they had never done anything like it,” said Mark Bombaugh, an associate principal at Torti Gallas. In the end the project was approved as part of a redevelopment of the base’s residential housing under the auspices of the Military Housing Privatization Initiative. The developers are creating colonial- and Georgian-style housing at Fort Belvoir in 15 village-style clusters surrounded by green space and other amenities.

But Fort Belvoir Town Center is more than just a retail adjunct of the residential project. It is an integral part of a mixed-use plan. It is so integral, in fact, that two dozen apartments sit above the row of shops, which is certainly a first on an Army base. “That idea raised the most eyebrows,” said Neil I. Payton, principal of Torti Gallas. “We were asked, ‘Who’s going to want to live there?’ ” To which his reply was, empty nesters and young married couples, among others. Within two weeks after they became available, almost all the rental units were taken.

The shops, set in an articulated streetscape that would fit in any civilian town center, are a hit too, so much so that Fort Belvoir Town Center has become a model of things to come at other Army bases, including Fort Irwin, in California, where there is a similar project in the works. “The Army understands how much the town center improves the quality of life at the base, and they plan to apply the concept elsewhere,” said Payton.

The planning and real estate community has also recognized Fort Belvoir Town Center. Shortly before it was completed, it won a Congress of New Urbanism Award, and, more recently, ICSC gave the project a Certificate of Merit in its International Design & Development Awards.