Leesburg's downtown debate heats up
By Anne Keisman
For most of Loudoun County’s 250 years, the intersection of King and Market streets in downtown Leesburg represented the center of the county's commercial, governmental and social life.
But the county’s transformation, during the last 30 years, from farmland to subdivisions has altered the town's identity.
Residents' dollars have been redirected from the downtown to shopping malls and town centers. Soon a $500 million town center, Village at Leesburg, will open on Route 7, just west of River Creek Parkway, with more than 1 million square feet of commercial space.
And this year, the county government announced it has outgrown its five-story building in downtown Leesburg and may leave the town entirely.
With the town gearing up for its May 2008 elections, the downtown's future has jumped into the political center stage.
A core group of downtown commercial property owners, members of the newly formed Downtown Improvement Association, will propose a major redevelopment plan for the historic district, using both private and public funding to support it. The DIA will present the plan in early spring -- just before elections.
“Leesburg's downtown ought to be the jewel of Loudoun,” said Peter Burnett, co-founder of DIA and a 30-year downtown property owner.
Through meetings with downtown landowners whose property is either undeveloped or poised for redevelopment, Burnett has tabulated there is 350,000 to 400,000 square feet of new retail and office space available there.
Two of the largest parcels include the Loudoun Times-Mirror's property at 9 E. Market St., which is currently for sale, and two lots just north of the Washington and Old Dominion Trail on King Street.
Additional office space means more employees to support local stores and restaurants, Burnett said.
Working with developers, architects and engineers, the DIA will also propose other changes, including more parking and traffic calming. Preserving Leesburg's historic character, he said, is a priority for the group.
The town government has been supportive of the DIA, facilitating the group’s formation earlier this year in the wake of several downtown stores going out of business, including Leesburg Bookstore and Serendipity on the Vine.
Mayor Kristen Umstattd said she would welcome new development in the downtown, if it was context-sensitive.
“I think the town in general would benefit from more office space,” she said. Increasing the supply might bring rents down, she said, adding that business owners have told her that high rents have led to store closings.
Her concern with redevelopment, the mayor said, is that taxpayers will end up footing the bill for parking garages and other infrastructure.
“I have a bottom line -- don't raise taxes and get the roads built,” she said, adding her priorities are completing Battlefield Parkway and funding construction of an overpass at Sycolin Road and the Leesburg Bypass.
Burnett said his plan will not require a tax increase on town residents, but it will require some of the $365 million already allocated for town capital projects over the next five years.
DIA is incorporated as a 501(c)4, which allows members to lobby the government and, though Burnett said the group doesn’t plan to financially back particular candidates, it intends to take an active role in the 2008 elections.
“If there are candidates that think the downtown is just fine the way it is, we won't support them,” he said.
Town council member Ken Reid said his highest priority for economic development is reducing the red tape at the town government level for commercial development.
“I want [the town] focused on streamlining the process, moving projects, changing the way we deal with developers,” he said, adding later, “The best thing the government can do is get out of the way.”
Ara Bagdasarian, chairman of the town's Economic Development Commission, said new development should include performing arts venues and restaurants, making the downtown more of a destination for area residents.
“The key point is -- are we going to be a museum and not have any new redevelopment, or do we want this to be a thriving cultural center for the county?”