Say no to parking lots downtown.

We hate to duplicate points already made at other local urbanist blogs, but look: it is simply not acceptable for one of downtown’s prime corners to be occupied by a parking lot.

At the corner of K Street and Connecticut Avenue a developer tore down a perfectly good (if old) office building and planned to construct a new, more luxurious one. Unfortunately, the company to which they planned to lease most of the office space says they can’t move in until 2013, so the developer wants to use the land for parking during the interim years.

The corner of K and CT is one of downtown’s busiest pedestrian corners, and is right next to two of Metro’s busiest stations. If Washington’s expansive downtown has a single center, this corner lays as strong a claim as any other. Facing Farragut Square and with the visual vista towards Dupont Circle, it’s also one of downtown’s most beautiful spots. It is not the place for a use that gives over land to cars, kills sidewalk vitality, and flat out uglies up the city.

There should be no surface parking lots anywhere in the central city, but proposing one at a corner like K and CT is an affront to good urbanism. We’re sorry, but the answer has to be no. As Ryan Avent says, “you break it, you buy it”. The developer should go ahead and build the office building now, charging a reduced rent to whoever they can find to fill the space. If that’s impractical, they should throw up some temporary retail storefronts and keep the sidewalk alive. Or an outdoor market, or an art display, or something.

The only thing as bad as a parking lot would be a grassy lawn. We don’t need another lawn right across the street from Farragut Square, and we certainly don’t need the inevitable public relations headache when time would come to tear the grass out. Bottom line: To function correctly, cities need stuff. There should be stuff at the city’s main corner.