From a Dream Development, a Harder Reality

Lovettsville Struggles With Town Center

By Derek Kravitz (Contact)

Thursday, August 20, 2009

In the heart of tiny downtown Lovettsville in Loudoun County, residents have long hoped that a new development backed by town approval, ample funding and lofty dreams of being Northern Virginia's next rural destination spot would revitalize an unheralded corner of the map.

When it was proposed in 2002, the Town Center development was billed as a charming throwback to small-town Americana, complete with an old-fashioned town square and bandstand surrounded by upscale homes, shops and restaurants. But then came the housing bust, and plans changed.

The project's financially strapped developer, McLean-based Elm Street Development, says it has tried to salvage what it could of the original vision. But residents say the development is nothing more than a mess of unfinished houses, narrow alleyways, poorly constructed sidewalks and ugly landscaping. About a dozen houses have been built, with nearly 200 lots left to be sold.

"I don't know why the town had to bear the responsibility of a failed project," said Barbara Lam, a retiree from Ellicott City who purchased a three-bedroom house in Town Center two years ago with her husband, Bing, for about $530,000. "The town sold out to accommodate Elm Street's pocketbook."

Gone are the post office location (one has since been built a few blocks away), many of the hopes for shopping and food franchises in the 140,000 square feet of still-undeveloped commercial space, and plans for the town's first grocery store (the closest one is three miles away in Maryland).

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Lovettsville Driveways Too Short

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Poorly designed driveways in Lovettsville are causing vehicles to overlap onto sidewalks at the Town Center planned community. Shown here, the house at the corner of Town Center Drive and Spring Farm Drive has a very short driveway, from garage to sidewalk. Also, the house next door (background center) has a vehicle hanging over the sidewalk. (Richard A. Lipski)

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Poorly designed driveways in Lovettsville are causing vehicles to overlap onto sidewalks at the Town Center planned community. New resident George Melino barbecues beef on the sidewalk. (Richard A. Lipski)

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Poorly designed driveways in Lovettsville are causing vehicles to overlap onto sidewalks at the Town Center planned community. A house on Spring Farm Drive has both vehicles parked in the driveway and sidewalk. (Richard A. Lipski)

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Poorly designed driveways in Lovettsville are causing vehicles to overlap onto sidewalks at the Town Center planned community. Shown here, residents Barbara and Bing Lam in front of their home on Eisentown Drive. (Richard A. Lipski)

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Town Center's developer contends that scaled-back, made-to-suit houses are being built at a rate of at least three per month and that the marketplace helped decide what type of homes — single-family detached starter houses — would fit the neighborhood.

"We had to recognize that the product we were offering wasn't selling," said Rick Entsminger, the manager of the Lovettsville project for Elm Street. "We were having no success." The original, high-end builders were replaced, and the house sizes were reduced.

In a January meeting of the Lovettsville Town Council in which he requested zoning changes to remove required alleyways for each house, Entsminger told officials that Elm Street was "hanging on by its fingernails" and that it needed the town's support to get back to work, according to minutes of the meeting. Entsminger said that although he could "understand some of the disappointment," the financial realities were that few home buyers in this tiny enclave in northern Loudoun County would pay $500,000 or more for a house.

"I'm sympathetic," he said in an interview. "We lost value in our holdings, too. We might have been the biggest loser, but there was no grand conspiracy against the homeowners."

Lovettsville officials who have supported the Town Center project since it was approved had hoped the planned community would ensure that the town's population — which has grown from 850 to roughly 1,400 in the past decade — would continue to boom and bring economic prosperity with it.

Town leaders say the neighborhood can live up to its initial promise. The town's major thoroughfare, Route 287, goes south to Purcellville and north to Brunswick, and new residents who commute to Maryland and West Virginia arrive regularly.

Mayor Elaine D. Walker, who grew up in Lovettsville and has served on the Town Council since 1980 and as mayor since 1990, said that the expectations for Town Center, while high, were realistic, and that the proposal was much better than the alternatives.

Walker said three possible developers before Elm Street all wanted more townhouses, and proposals included a 24-hour gas station, a strip mall and a highway through town. She has said during Town Council meetings that she is proud of what Town Center has become.

But, so far, many Lovettsville residents are skeptical. A handful of houses have side alleyways too narrow for most vehicles and driveways too short, leaving cars hanging over sidewalks. Some homeowners have revolted, filing a lawsuit against the town to get copies of Town Center documents and posting yard signs that say, "THIS IS NOT A RYAN HOME." Dan Malzahn, a spokesman for Ryan Homes in Reston, which built some of the Town Center houses, declined to comment on allegations of problems with them.

"The sad thing is now that the damage is done, these houses will be the 'face' of Lovettsville for decades to come — or at least until they fall down," said Dennis O'Keefe, who bought a house in Town Center three years ago for $664,000. Newly constructed houses nearby are selling at less than half that price.

Town Manager Keith Markel acknowledged that he and other officials have been disappointed but said most residents understand that the result "wasn't the town's fault."

"Some residents felt the town let them down," Markel said. "We explained to them that what happened was the developer's option and that the town never had the say over architectural guidelines."

Still, the most visible problem with the community, which isn't expected to be finished for at least four years, is the parking, or lack thereof. A neighborhood that was supposed to be pedestrian friendly is now expected to have vehicles parked on the street.

"It's bad when you can't even park in your driveway without getting ticketed," said Lam, the Town Center resident.

But Entsminger, of Elm Street Development, said the parking issue is "not a fatal flaw."

"In the end, you might have to pull in closer to your garage door," he said.

Tagged: development, growth, Lovettsville

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