Big Train Plaza

Mixed-use urban renewal project. Fall 2025. Self-directed. Revit LT, Sketchup Studio, Enscape, Illustrator, Photoshop.

Rapidly expanding suburban development in the Washington, DC area over the past half-century has left many sites underdeveloped amid new residential construction, creating both a patchwork of centerless housing developments and a network of underdeveloped suburban infill sites ripe for transformation into community anchors that can tie together those unconnected residential areas into coherent, vibrant, walkable districts.

From the train station to Wisteria Dr, Walter Johnson is a quiet street flanked by historic sites, parking lots, commercial buildings and vacant lots.

Walter Johnson Road is a two-lane street running half a mile from the MARC commuter rail station in Germantown, MD to a small park near the Germantown Town Center. Named after Walter “Big Train” Johnson, Baseball Hall of Famer and historic Germantown resident, it used to be Germantown’s main street but has been bypassed by Route 118, a six-lane highway running one block to the north. The street is flanked by historic buildings, commuter parking, small commercial properties and several vacant lots. Once central to Germantown, it has been bypassed by the area’s explosive development in the past fifty years.

North of the project site, Walter Johnson Rd is underdeveloped, a missed opportunity to create a vibrant neighborhood main street.

The MARC Rail Communities master plan rezoned the Walter Johnson corridor in 2019 to encourage mixed-use commercial and residential development continuous with similar development in the Germantown Town Center area with the intention of creating “a compact, connected and walkable neighborhood with a mix of land uses.”

Walter Johnson Road awaits development that will knit together six existing neighborhoods containing over 2500 dwelling units to create a walkable district connected with Germantown’s commercial Town Center and the MARC commuter rail station.

In support of this objective, this project envisions the redevelopment of a vacant parcel at the corner of Walter Johnson Road and Wisteria Drive into a mixed-use development that will catalyze the revival of Walter Johnson Road, turning the underutilized byway into a modern neighborhood main street that recenters and knits together disconnected residential areas near the Germantown MARC station and creates a sustainable, walkable neighborhood where none now exists.

The project site is a 6.5 acre previously graded vacant lot at the corner of Wisteria Dr and Walter Johnson Rd.

Big Train Plaza is anchored by a large public space that serves the project’s residents and neighboring communities as a center for community-oriented events such as farmers markets, craft fairs and holiday celebrations.

To catalyze Walter Johnson’s redevelopment, Big Train Plaza must be a destination independent of its underdeveloped surroundings but capable of providing community amenities for other parcels. Through a mix of residential, restaurant and retail program centered around a large public plaza and an expanded pedestrian streetscape for community events and festivals, Big Train Plaza will provide the people, attractions, and community space needed to support its own residents, attract visitors, and catalyze redevelopment along the rest of Walter Johnson Road.