Parking & Traffic in the Village at Newtown Shopping Center

The Village at Newtown "Shopping" Center is currently in the final phase of a 35 million dollar makeover that Brixmor Property Group - the owner and manager of the Center - hopes will revitalize the Center. The plan is shown above.

Section #1 will be completely redeveloped. The pre-existing buildings - Bank of America and a small office building - have already been demolished and new shops are being built closer to Durham Road. This is the primary location for an estimated additional 58,000 square feet of retail space (there will also be new space added in section #3).

Many tenants in this area - mostly restaurants to date - have already been approved by the Newtown Board of Supervisors (BOS [Definition]).

It's a Mess!

Yes, parking and traffic in the Center has been a mess for some time while construction is going on. Will things improve once construction is complete or will parking and traffic remain problems after all is said and done?

It's not clear if there is a DEFINITIVE answer to that question, but there are signs that all will be well in the Center eventually. At least that seems to be the opinion of Allen Fidler, Chair of the Newtown Planning Commission [Definition] although he acknowledges that not everyone will be happy in the end.

In response to a resident’s comments at the May 8, 2019, BOS meeting, Mr. Fidler recounted the history of this project and explained the ultimate goal of Brixmor. Listen to his comments in this podcast recording:

A "Drive By" Test

Meanwhile, the renovation in the McCaffery's Food Market section of the Center (section #2) is essentially complete. On Tuesday, June 4, 2019, around 1:30 PM, I drove through the area entering where the new Bank of America building and Starbuck's are located. There was no traffic problem and parking was plentiful. View the video:

History of Parking Variances

The Newtown Zoning Hearing Board (ZHB [Definition]) approved the parking plan for the Center on October 16, 2016. In attendance and voting for the plan were: Chairman Timothy Potero, Vice Chairman Michael Iapalucci, Secretary Robert Whartenby and members Shawn Ward and Brandon Wind. According to the minutes of the meeting the then existing variance [Definition] allowed for 5.5 spaces per 1,000 square feet of retail space. At the meeting, the ZHB approved 4.7 spaces per 1,000 square feet of retail space.

Before the renovation there were 1,007 parking spaces in the Center and the new plan calls for 1,065 spaces.

At the ZHB meeting, the architect on the project said he has "spent a lot of time observing the center and noting customers’ behavior. Many customers come in and park, walk directly to the shop they are going to and go back and move the car rather than walk to their next stop, even within the same section. The proposed changes to the pedestrian accesses will encourage shoppers to walk from one destination to another."

This is the "walkability" concept that has often been discussed at recent BOS meetings. At the May 22, 2019, BOS meeting, Mr. Joe Blackburn of Wisler Pearlstine, LLP, representing Brixmor, answered questions from Supervisor John Mack about outdoor restaurant seating and walkability as part of the overall plan for the Village at Newtown "Shopping" Center. View the video snippet of that conversation below.

Will There Be Enough Parking?

It is essential to the business success of Brixmor that it has correctly planned for adequate parking. If there is inadequate parking the businesses will suffer.

Dan Disario, traffic engineer for Brixmor, testified at the 2016 ZHB meeting that there has been a "decrease in peak demand for shopping center parking in recent years and that standard need is 3 spaces per 1,000 square feet [of retail space]. For [the Village at Newtown] shopping center, extensive studies and counts have been conducted during lunch and dinner hours on Fridays and Saturdays in May, September, and November of 2015 and in September of 2016. Over 56 hours of counts have been conducted at fifteen minute intervals. The peak for the entire center, all four sections, was on Saturday, September 21 [2016] at 1:45 PM, when 458 vehicles occupied the 1007 parking spaces for only fifteen minutes. There have been a number of comments about difficulty with parking in lot #4 on weekend evenings. On Friday, September 2 [2016] at 5:54 PM the highest demand was 3.5 vehicles per 1000 square feet."

The goal for this redevelopment is a mix of retail and restaurant uses that complement each other. Shoppers window shop then stop to eat. No tables are available right now at your restaurant? Then sit outside in the amphitheatre (planned for section #1) for a few minutes or explore the other stores in the mall and come back 30 minutes later.

That's the plan.

“An emphasis on fine dining and events is also helping to make malls the hub of the local community – a place to share quality time with friends and family… It is critical that malls be about much more than stores.” - Source: “The Future of the Shopping Mall”; https://www.mckinsey.com/busin... [accessed June 6, 2019]