Town centers open around the US

Across the US, major new urban town centers are rising out of the ground. Prior to 2004, only a handful of retail-oriented projects with a regional draw had been built consistent with the principles of New Urbanism — projects like Mizner Park, CityPlace, Reston Town Center, Southlake Town Square, and Mashpee Commons. This year close to 10 are underway, most of them in suburban locations, from Florida to California and from Ohio to Colorado. Three projects, Crocker Park in suburban Cleveland, Victoria Gardens in the Inland Empire area of Southern California, and Belmar in suburban Denver, exemplify the trend. All three recently opened (two in the fall, one last spring), each with significant anchors and national tenants and each with a focus on commercial uses rather than residential in the first phase. Charles Bohl, author of Place Making: Developing Town Centers, Main Streets, and Urban Villages, sees projects such as Belmar, Victoria Gardens and Crocker Park as making strides with regard to mixing uses in a walkable environment. “New suburban town centers represent the next stage of disaggregating shopping mall components and merging lifestyle centers with mixed-use town centers,” says Bohl, who is director of the Knight Program

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