TOD creates public space in suburban DC

Chevy Chase Lake is a mixed-use, transit-oriented development (TOD) completed this year on a suburb-to-suburb light rail line under construction just outside Washington, DC. Replacing a strip shopping center, its first two completed phases comprise three buildings totaling 530 units, 110,000 square feet of retail, a one-acre neighborhood square, and three levels of underground parking, according to the design firm David M Schwarz Architects.

The Purple Line will be complete by 2027, and the line parallels the Capital Crescent Trail—an easy bike ride to the Bethesda Metro Station, about a mile away. The Purple Line will connect compact, mixed-use suburbs like Bethesda, Silver Spring, College Park, and New Carrollton.

David M Schwarz Architects recently won a Design Excellence: Mixed-Use Merit award from the Urban Guild for Chevy Chase Lake. The development is the latest example of some very good TOD built in the DC region—starting about 30 years ago.

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