Millennials Move to Mass Transit -- WaPo

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Millennials Move to Mass Transit -- WaPo

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Suburbs such as Montgomery County rethink transit to court millennials

Transportation

By Katherine Shaver and Bill Turque March 29

After moving to Washington from Akron, Ohio, six years ago, Katie Reed and her husband, Brian, happily ditched their two cars to live in Chinatown, where they enjoy walking to restaurants and shops.
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Transit-centric millennials like Reed, who were born between 1980 and the early 2000s, are causing angst in traditionally car-dominant suburbs such as Montgomery County. Suburbs nationwide have long lured companies — and the high-skilled workers they seek to attract — with good schools, relatively low crime and spacious corporate campuses surrounded by vast parking lots near major highways. ... A realization is growing among those communities’ business and civic leaders that the traditional suburban brand needs an overhaul.

Concerns about Montgomery’s appeal to millennials gained new urgency last month, when Marriott International chief executive Arne M. Sorenson revealed that the hotel giant plans to leave its Bethesda office park when its lease expires in 2022. One of the company’s goals, Sorenson said, is to accommodate younger workers who want to be closer to Metro.

Marriott’s announcement is the latest sign that mass transit, once viewed as a prescription for traffic congestion, is now considered a must-have economic development tool to attract millennials — the country’s largest living generation — along with their employers, and the taxes that both contribute to local governments. Adding to the demand is the country’s second-largest demographic group: empty-nest baby boomers seeking to downsize in the suburbs and drive less as they grow older.