European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 20, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Virginia alternative to suburban sprawl new town of the 60s, of the 80s a photo canoeing to go shopping at Lake Anne Plaza along one of four Man made lakes at sprawling was on a. By Robert m. Andrews associated Pressw Hen the implausible town of Revlon was carved out of the Virginia wilderness two decades ago there was no Gold strike to Beckon settlers no fortuitous Junction of Rivers or railroads no priest shaking his Cross in the soil there was simply a Virginia family farm up for Sale. Page 16 the stars and stripes and a wealthy new York businessman in search of a place to build his dream of an Urban Community in a Rural setting and despite the naysayers doubts and dismaying financial Odds the new town that Robert e Simon envisioned and then erected in the Countryside 20 Miles West of Washington . Managed not Only to survive but is flourishing today in ways that Simon perhaps dared not Hope Revlon heralded an audacious but Short lived movement in the late 1960s among Urban planners and sunday july 20,1986 Federal housing experts who foresaw new. Planned communities As the Best alternative to the blight of suburban sprawl As it turned out. Ruslon is one of Only a handful of those costly High risk ventures across the United slates to succeed a so Nelly private Enterprise. Reston is one of fewer still to Mako it without a Penny of government assistance now this new town of the 19go is becoming a boo town of the 1980r, hundreds of High tech corporate employees Are moving into new office buildings that have sprung up along Revlon s once vacant business thoroughfares in recent months promising to transform the residential Community into an East coast rival of California s Silicon Valley. Moreover construction will Start Early next year on Reston s Long awaited a $500 million pro act that will include a pedestrian Square flanked by High Rise offices and apartments boutiques restaurants a cultural Center and iwo towering luxury hotels Revlon is finally coming of age says Peter Mccunn Dloss. A spokesman for a subsidiary of Mobil corp which is Revlon s current Developer the recent explosion in Heston s growth is following almost precisely the grand design that Simon called a Quarter Century ago Simon wanted a place where people of All kinds could enjoy the Bestol both worlds the cosmopolitan delights of the City and the Beauty of the Countryside without Ever leaving his goal was to enable people to live work and play in the same Community for the rest of their lives if they chose he decreed that Beauty structural and natural is a necessity of the Good Lite and should be and that recreational opportunities should abound finally he wanted his town to be a financial Success. Simon s Promise was a Long Lime coming and Urban planners tend to agree that another Revlon won l be built Lor a very Long Lime in is a living museum says Tom Grubisich. Editor of one of Revlon s two weekly newspapers there won t be any More Bostons built on this scale in our lifetime " the new town concept is As old As Renaissance France and Many of today s major us cities were built not by happen glance but according to a detailed master plan san Antonio Texas was built in 1730 by the spaniards whose specifications included the exact dimensions of the City s main Plaza colonial Wil Hamburg was one of the original new towns built in Virginia under legislation passed in tg99. Other new towns Are Philadelphia Salt Lake City and Charleston s c new towns were government ventures in the earliest Days of America again during Franklin Roosevelt s depression Era administration and for a few years during the Nixon administration until they fell victim to the economic shocks of the 1973-74 Oil crisis. Frustrated by the inconveniences of living with his family on Long Island and working in Midtown Manhattan. Simon became intrigued Wilh the idea of transplanting to a Rural Selling All the amenities of 57lh Street his favorite neighbourhood in new York among its Swank shops apartments restaurants Art galleries and concern Halls were Many of his lather s real estate holdings so it was that Simon sold one of his most famous properties Carnegie Hall for $5 million to a quasi Public group and used the proceeds in 1961 to pay $800.000 in Cash As Down payment for Sunset Hills farm a 6,750-acre property in Western Fairfax county a. The farm was the site of the a Smith Bowman family s whiskey distillery the total Purchase Price was $12 8 million. Armed with millions of dollars in Loans from new York Banks Simon hired architects and Urban planners and began excavation Lor Lake Anne Village the Crown jewel of his ambitious project. But by the fall of 1967. Sales of Lake Anne s daringly designed Homes were lagging and Reston was plummeting into financial crisis. Simon was abruptly fired by his major Lender a subsidiary of Gull Oil but not before he had bequeathed his new town a name using the " initials of his own name and the listing imprint of his vision Henry Rogers a stale department employee was one of Revlon s earliest pioneers. He still lives there with
