Parking Madness 2019 Round 1: DC Pike vs. Indianapolis

10:03 AM EDT on April 1, 2019

We've got a barn-burner for you today, but first, let's look back at where we are in our first round matchups:

We've closed the polls on some earlier matchups, with Houston narrowly defeating Boston, Pittsburgh also squeaking by Portland, and Providence absolutely destroying Austin (we suppose that happens when an entire city is completely reimagined rather than just a developer building a nice building on a former parking crater).

But those earlier battles were just prologue for today's matchup featuring a neighborhood in our nation's capital against a piece of the heartland. Here goes:

DC-Pike

This entry comes from Friend of Streetsblog Maren Hill, who told us about the development of Pike & Rose, a new mixed-use neighborhood on the Rockville Pike in the DC suburb of Montgomery County:

The area was formerly a strip mall but has been redeveloped with pedestrian scale streets, public parks and artwork, and squares with street furniture and events. The area now includes condos and apartments, bars, restaurants, and retail (both chain and local), and offices, The building architecture is all unique so it doesn't look like some creepy model city project, it looks like an attractive walkable neighborhood. Pike & Rose is on Metro, and has nearby existing and planned bike infrastructure.

Hill added that the neighborhood is "a great example of the suburbs doing transit oriented mixed-use redevelopment not infill development to transform their parking craters." The photos below tell the story:

Indianapolis

This one comes to us from reader Austin Gibble, who called his Indianapolis submission a "most improved parking crater" and provided aerial and streetview imagery from 2014 and 2018.

"The additions include a transit center, a 28-story residential tower with a grocery store, apartments attached to the side of what was a single-use parking garage, and other mixed-use developments," Gibble said.

So who will move on? Vote below:

Gersh Kuntzman @

Educated at the Sorbonne and the Yale School of Drama, Gersh Kuntzman is obviously not the person being described here. We're talking about tabloid legend Gersh Kuntzman, who has been with New York newspapers since 1989, including stints at the New York Daily News, the Post, the Brooklyn Paper and even a cup of coffee with the Times. He's also the writer and producer of "Murder at the Food Coop," which was a hit at the NYC Fringe Festival in 2016, and “SUV: The Musical” in 2007. Email Gersh at gersh@streetsblog.org