I have to admit—I strongly dislike the clutter of Short Pump, Virginia. A small-scale replication of Washington D.C. (or really any large metropolitan area in the U.S.) that boasts bumper-to-bumper traffic, over priced stores and in general ostentatious living.That’s just my opinion though. For me, I don’t care much for high-end clothing. I don’t really think organic food tastes any better than food from any other store. I don’t like the “city life.” I like having a yard and I like having my space. Perhaps those were the reasons for my general disdain for new age development. But one thing I do dig is the modern mixed-use developments or lifestyle centers like West Broad Village (WBV). The only qualm is that it is done the right way—and in the case of WBV I don’t think it was.
If you’re local to the central Virginia region you’ll know what happened to Short Pump. It turned basically from a farm to a affluent urban hub in the span of 20 years. The last bit of farm land (about 130 acres) was sold a couple years back and West Broad Village was created—smack in the middle of an already over-developed area. Short Pump was already a sprawled development with no “true” center of town. But there is in WBV. Now, that will work when you’re inside the “Village” but once you get out you’ll be thrown back into the urban blender.
On the flip side I had the chance to actually stay in one of these lifestyle centers in Mt. Pleasant, SC and thought it was very nice and accommodating. I really felt as though I were in a small town. This development was located in a highly developed urban area…though a bit more rural than Short Pump (you could actually see trees) and wasn't surrounded with similar stores/shops to what was in the center itself!
Whether Short Pump follows a similar fate (to that of Mt. Pleasant) or not remains to be seen. My guess is that WBV acts basically like an outdoor mall (which there is an outdoor mall less than a mile away) and brings an insane amount of traffic to an already insanely crowded area--and never lives up to hype but just creates more of a problem.
If you’re local to the central Virginia region you’ll know what happened to Short Pump. It turned basically from a farm to a affluent urban hub in the span of 20 years. The last bit of farm land (about 130 acres) was sold a couple years back and West Broad Village was created—smack in the middle of an already over-developed area. Short Pump was already a sprawled development with no “true” center of town. But there is in WBV. Now, that will work when you’re inside the “Village” but once you get out you’ll be thrown back into the urban blender.
On the flip side I had the chance to actually stay in one of these lifestyle centers in Mt. Pleasant, SC and thought it was very nice and accommodating. I really felt as though I were in a small town. This development was located in a highly developed urban area…though a bit more rural than Short Pump (you could actually see trees) and wasn't surrounded with similar stores/shops to what was in the center itself!
Whether Short Pump follows a similar fate (to that of Mt. Pleasant) or not remains to be seen. My guess is that WBV acts basically like an outdoor mall (which there is an outdoor mall less than a mile away) and brings an insane amount of traffic to an already insanely crowded area--and never lives up to hype but just creates more of a problem.
The good news is that with more traffic/volume issues perhaps they will then consider a public transportation system for the Short Pump area (which could be a primer for something for Richmond to do…please bring baseball and the trolleys back Mayor Jones). Similar to West Virginia’s PRT system, you could park on the outside of the “city” and ride around where you pleased.
As much as I like the idea of mixed-use lifestyle centers, in the next year, public transportation is the only way you’ll find me going there again.
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