'Metroburbs': Downtown Areas Without a City

In Holmdel, New Jersey, home of the historic Bell Labs building, developer Ralph Zucker is creating a 'metroburb' called Bell Works. The development is defined as a self-contained, indoor Main Street with retail, dining, and tech office space.

When he first brought the plan for the metroburb to a Holmdel town hall, the response Zucker received was, “Hell no.” Zucker told Fast Company that an open house in 2009 changed a lot of minds. He projected shops and offices onto the walls; the simulation of the space’s potential was so compelling, he said, that one woman smacked her head on a wall, thinking a projected hotel lobby was real. In 2013, he received final approval from Holmdel for the purchase, and to have the building rezoned as mixed-use. 

What is to be done with the now-defunct office parks that once drew employees out to the suburbs across America? A 2016 report found that around 22 percent of office inventory in five suburban markets is empty and struggling to attract new tenants; that’s up to 1 billion square feet of unused space. In a time when the country is struggling with both housing volume and affordability ... we need to be thinking more proactively about how best to use these massive, abandoned lots.

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