A few years ago the idea of a pedestrian friendly big box store was almost unthinkable, but the idea is catching on, with several examples locally and around the country.

Locally the Columbia Heights Target is an obvious example, but not the only one. We also have the Tenleytown Best Buy, and of course, the proposed downtown Wal-Mart. In the suburbs, Gaithersburg’s new urbanist “Washingtonian Center” was an urban big box trail-blazer. Designed and built in the late 1990s, it features what may have been the country’s first pedestrian oriented Target, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Kohl’s.

Below there are pictures of several other examples from around the country, including a Home Depot in Chicago that puts DC’s to shame.

Home Depot, Halsted Street, Chicago. Photo by dmitrybarsky.	Home Depot, Halsted Street, Chicago. Photo by Payton Chung.
Target, Nicollet Street, Minneapolis. Photo by DesertDevil.	Target, Broadway, Chicago. Photo by Chicago Tribune.
Best Buy, Lockwood Place, Baltimore. Photo by Joe Architect.	Best Buy, Clark Street, Chicago. Photo by VivaLFuego.
Proposed Target, East Liberty, Pittsburgh. Photo by City of Pittsburgh.	Proposed Target, 4th and Mission Streets, San Francisco. Photo by SF Redevelopment Agency.

 Cross-posted at Greater Greater Washington.
 
 
 

The Tysons Corner subway under construction. Photo by Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project. Click to enlarge.

Two tantalizing transit tidbits. Hooray for alliteration. Anyway:

1. Last week ANC 3B of Glover Park discussed the prospect of a streetcar on Wisconsin Avenue. The ANC is considering (or considered?) a resolution asking DDOT to include a Wisconsin Avenue route in its extensive planned streetcar network. A Facebook group called Wisconsin Avenue Streetcar Coalition has since sprung into existence.
   
   
2. The latest email version of the Dulles Metrorail project construction update newsletter included the photo at right showing the actual (!) subway tunnel under construction below Route 123 where it meets International Drive. Although most of the line through Tysons Corner will be elevated, there will be a short subway segment between the Tysons Central 123 station and the Tysons Central 7 station. Strangely, as of this writing the online version of said newsletter doesn’t include the photo.