Reston Town Center gets praised as a walkable, vibrant hub, but critics say it's essentially a corporate plaza with chain restaurants and a Peloton store. Do Restonians really have a downtown, or are they just cosplaying city living?
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Add your commentSpent 15 years in Reston and moved to DC proper four years ago. I'll be honest: I used to get defensive whenever someone called RTC a fake downtown. Then I moved to an actual city. The comparison isn't even close, and I say that with love. There's no grit, no history, no weird independent businesses that have been there for 40 years barely hanging on, no sense that the place evolved organically over time. It was designed to LOOK like a downtown. That's different from being one. Still a nice place though.
Born and raised in Reston — lived here since before the Town Center even existed. You want to know what was here before? A parking lot and a dream. The fact that we now have a place where people actually WALK, sit outside, grab coffee, and run into neighbors is genuinely remarkable for NoVA. Is it perfect? No. Is it a 'real' downtown like Georgetown or Old Town Alexandria? Also no. But calling it a glorified mall is lazy takes from people who've never actually spent a Saturday afternoon there in July.
I used to meet my late husband for lunch at the old Il Fornaio on Market Street every Friday for like eleven years. That restaurant is gone now, replaced by something louder and more Instagram-able, and I guess that kind of says everything about what the Town Center has become. It used to feel like OUR place. Now it feels like it was designed for a stock photo.
lol the peloton store comment sent me. but also... they're not wrong?? like i moved here from chicago two years ago and i keep telling my coworkers 'oh yeah reston has a downtown vibe' and then i take them there and they look at me like i have two heads. it's fine. it's pleasant. it is absolutely not a downtown.
My kids learned to ice skate at the pavilion. We do the holiday thing every December. I've voted in two elections at the community spaces nearby. I don't care what some urbanist blogger thinks about whether it 'counts.' It's where we go. It's ours.
Hard disagree with the premise. Reston Town Center was literally DESIGNED by urban planners as a mixed-use walkable core when most of Northern Virginia was building strip malls and drive-throughs. It predates the whole 'urbanist' trend by decades. The fact that it has chains doesn't disqualify it — downtown Bethesda has chains, downtown Annapolis has chains. That argument doesn't hold up.
Actually the Town Center is technically privately owned land, which means they can legally remove you for almost any reason, which legally makes it NOT a public downtown in any meaningful sense. The Supreme Court ruled on this exact situation in Pruneyard v. Robins back in 1978. So the critics are 100% constitutionally correct here, case closed.
ok but can someone explain to me why this is even a debate worth having. reston town center has a pavilion, restaurants, an ice rink, office buildings, apartments above retail, and the silver line metro now. what exactly is missing that would make people stop dunking on it. a DMV? a pawn shop? genuine question for the 'it's not a real downtown' crowd — what would SATISFY you
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