"Reston, Va., founder still watching its growth" by Tom Jackman | Washington Post April 06, 2014
WASHINGTON — In the beginning, there were 6,750 acres of trees, fields, and cows — and a self-described ‘‘Jewish guy from Manhattan’’ with a legal pad, trying to figure out what to do with this chunk of land that he was about to buy in the Washington suburbs.
I don't even want to type it, in all Fairfax.....
‘‘So I worked out on the yellow pad,’’ Robert Simon said, ‘‘everything I could think of that I’d seen in the world that appealed to me.’’ That included vibrant village plazas with both shopping and housing, concentrations of high-rise apartment buildings, and clusters of residences that allowed more green space for recreation. It was 1961, and all of these ideas were contrary to how suburbs were then being built.
Simon took title to the rolling Fairfax County acreage soon afterward, and by 1964 the first residents were moving into his ‘‘New Town.’’ Fifty years later, the town he christened Reston, Va., has nearly 60,000 residents and about 60,000 daily workers and is soon to welcome its first Metro stop.
Reston is marking its anniversary with parties and a new documentary film, and Simon will celebrate his 100th birthday on April 10. He still lives in Reston.
‘‘I think it’s one of the most important experiments, and implemented experiments, in urban planning,’’ said Uwe Brandes, executive director of the urban and regional planning program at Georgetown University. ‘‘Obviously, people like living there, because it’s one of the most popular places to live. That’s a testament in and of itself.’’
Simon was ahead of his time in designing a suburb with open public spaces that demanded diversity not only in its housing, but also in the economic strata of its residents, Brandes said.
Isn't Fairfax one of the wealthiest counties in the country?
So much for diver$ity.
With its stated goal of being a place where residents could ‘‘live, work, and play’’ and its aim to be walkable and livable at all ages, Reston became the bridge between the old ‘‘garden cities’’ concept of the suburbs and the ‘‘new urbanism,’’ said Chris Zimmerman, a longtime Arlington County board member now working with Smart Growth America.
Now that Metro is on its way, the Silver Line promises another jolt of development for Reston, and Simon estimates the town’s population could soar to 100,000. But he is dubious of the costs of rail lines and says more needs to be done to keep Reston’s train stops from becoming just another place for people to drive to.
Redevelopment is also in the works for Reston’s original centerpiece, the Lake Anne Village Center, including the addition of 800 residential units nearby. That, Simon said, ‘‘is an answer to a prayer’’ because more than anything else, he still wants Reston to one day be a true walkable community.
In the 1960s, Simon wasn’t so much concerned with his place in history as in creating a great place for people to live.
He grew up in Manhattan but after World War II raised his family on Long Island, where he became disillusioned with the amount of time he and his wife spent in the car, driving great distances between shopping and recreation and home.
In New York, Simon ran his family’s real estate business, which owned Carnegie Hall. The venue fell on hard times in the 1950s and the family sold it to the city in 1960, giving Simon the money and opportunity to start something new.
A real estate broker presented him with an option in Fairfax County. All together, he paid $12.8 million for 6,750 acres.
He hired consultants, world -class architects, and social planners. All of them plied him with ideas, and in 1962 Simon wrote his ‘‘Seven Goals’’ for Reston, the first of which was that ‘‘the New Town should provide a wide range of recreational and cultural facilities.’’ He also declared that a range of housing styles and prices be available, to allow people to stay in Reston their entire lives.
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