It's been a big week for Wheaton, where talk of redevelopment has been ignited despite the sluggish economy. New proposals loom on the horizon, though not all of the news is good to local residents who feel that they're still getting the short end of the stick.
The Wheaton Metro station and bus turnaround. Wheaton Plaza is in the background.
- Wednesday, County Executive Ike Leggett announced that developer B.F. Saul would get to redevelop an 8.2-acre area around the Wheaton Metro station, bounded by Veirs Mill Road, Georgia Avenue, and Reedie Drive.
The project would include up to 1.7 million square feet of development - for comparison, Wheaton Plaza currently has 1.4 million square feet of space - including offices, residential units, and definitely a hotel. There won't be many stores, though. "Retail is not going to be the dominant use of this project," Gary Stith of the county's Department of Economic Development told GlobeSt.com.
Sara at Wheaton Calling looks at B.F. Saul's website and isn't impressed. "Apparently all they can say is, 'We love to build large boring buildlings without any distinguishing characteristics. Yay. Go us,'" she writes. It's unclear how much mixed-use development they've done, and their biggest contribution to East County so far is the White Oak Shopping Center.
Fortunately, the county's also tapped Silver Spring-based architects Torti Gallas and Partners to design the project. Torti Gallas - where I sent many doomed resumes during college - is nationally-renowned for this kind of development. Locally, they designed the newest phase of Bethesda Row, the redeveloped area of Columbia Heights in the District, and the Village at Shirlington in Arlington.
- And at Westfield Wheaton Wheaton Plaza, mega-retailer Costco will do without a gas station alongside the store they'd like to build at the former Hecht's (above), which closed in 2006. In January, the county offered them $4 million to locate at the mall and an sped-up approval process, royally pissing off the Kensington Heights Citizens Association, which sits behind the mall, and setting Adam Paguncco of Maryland Politics Watch on a weeks-long shit-fit the likes of which we'll never see again.
Now, they'll submit separate applications for the store and the gas station, says the Gazette. "Costco views opening in Westfield Wheaton as 'a good deal without the gas station, and a great deal with it,'" Erich Brann, director of real estate development at the company, told the Kensington Heights Civic Association. But neighborhood groups are still unhappy with the proposed gas station, which would sit at the farthest edge of the mall's parking lot.
Richard Layman at Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space would rather see the entire mall razed and rebuilt as an urban neighborhood tying in with the rest of downtown Wheaton. "It's pretty clear that Wheaton Mall isn't all that successful," he writes.
Visiting Wheaton Plaza last month, I counted no fewer than four shuttered wings or entire buildings on the site, not to mention years-long vacancies inside the mall itself. However, Westfield claims that Wheaton's one of their most profitable shopping centers nationwide, and that they're not seeking any big changes.
That may be the case - the mall retains a number of high-end stores from its renovation in 2005, though Lydia at Snoburbia pointed out a few months ago that well-heeled customers still tend to avoid the place, even if it's closer than Montgomery Mall or the Mall in Columbia.
The Wheaton CBD Sector Plan proposes turning Parking Lot 13 into a town square.
- Yesterday, the Planning Board allowed developer Centex, who's putting the finishing touches on Leesborough, a subdivision of townhomes and condos on the site of the former Good Counsel High School at Georgia and Dawson avenues, to get rid of a recreation center they'd initially promised to have on site.
According to the report (PDF!), they'll replace the Rafferty Center, a gym once attached to the high school before it was razed, with a larger green space and four additional homes. The building was supposed to become a county-run recreation center but funding no longer exists to operate it.
- Plans have also been submitted for a new apartment complex on the site of the First Baptist Church of Wheaton, located at Georgia Avenue and Veirs Mill Road. Like Good Counsel, the church is relocating to greener pastures in Olney. This is a different project than the redevelopment of the First Baptist Church of Silver Spring, who plans to build apartments next to a new sanctuary, allowing them to stay in their neighborhood.
- Tying all of this together is the Wheaton CBD Sector Plan, which would set guidelines for revitalizing the downtown. Last night, the Planning Board held a public hearing for the plan, which if approved will then go before the County Council. Some of the plan's proposals include allowing buildings up to 200 feet tall along Georgia Avenue (like the new apartment tower and Safeway going up at Georgia and Reedie Drive) and turning Parking Lot #13 at Reedie and Grandview Avenue into a town square.
- Wednesday, County Executive Ike Leggett announced that developer B.F. Saul would get to redevelop an 8.2-acre area around the Wheaton Metro station, bounded by Veirs Mill Road, Georgia Avenue, and Reedie Drive.
The project would include up to 1.7 million square feet of development - for comparison, Wheaton Plaza currently has 1.4 million square feet of space - including offices, residential units, and definitely a hotel. There won't be many stores, though. "Retail is not going to be the dominant use of this project," Gary Stith of the county's Department of Economic Development told GlobeSt.com.
Sara at Wheaton Calling looks at B.F. Saul's website and isn't impressed. "Apparently all they can say is, 'We love to build large boring buildlings without any distinguishing characteristics. Yay. Go us,'" she writes. It's unclear how much mixed-use development they've done, and their biggest contribution to East County so far is the White Oak Shopping Center.
Fortunately, the county's also tapped Silver Spring-based architects Torti Gallas and Partners to design the project. Torti Gallas - where I sent many doomed resumes during college - is nationally-renowned for this kind of development. Locally, they designed the newest phase of Bethesda Row, the redeveloped area of Columbia Heights in the District, and the Village at Shirlington in Arlington.
Now, they'll submit separate applications for the store and the gas station, says the Gazette. "Costco views opening in Westfield Wheaton as 'a good deal without the gas station, and a great deal with it,'" Erich Brann, director of real estate development at the company, told the Kensington Heights Civic Association. But neighborhood groups are still unhappy with the proposed gas station, which would sit at the farthest edge of the mall's parking lot.
Richard Layman at Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space would rather see the entire mall razed and rebuilt as an urban neighborhood tying in with the rest of downtown Wheaton. "It's pretty clear that Wheaton Mall isn't all that successful," he writes.
Visiting Wheaton Plaza last month, I counted no fewer than four shuttered wings or entire buildings on the site, not to mention years-long vacancies inside the mall itself. However, Westfield claims that Wheaton's one of their most profitable shopping centers nationwide, and that they're not seeking any big changes.
That may be the case - the mall retains a number of high-end stores from its renovation in 2005, though Lydia at Snoburbia pointed out a few months ago that well-heeled customers still tend to avoid the place, even if it's closer than Montgomery Mall or the Mall in Columbia.
- Yesterday, the Planning Board allowed developer Centex, who's putting the finishing touches on Leesborough, a subdivision of townhomes and condos on the site of the former Good Counsel High School at Georgia and Dawson avenues, to get rid of a recreation center they'd initially promised to have on site.
According to the report (PDF!), they'll replace the Rafferty Center, a gym once attached to the high school before it was razed, with a larger green space and four additional homes. The building was supposed to become a county-run recreation center but funding no longer exists to operate it.
- Plans have also been submitted for a new apartment complex on the site of the First Baptist Church of Wheaton, located at Georgia Avenue and Veirs Mill Road. Like Good Counsel, the church is relocating to greener pastures in Olney. This is a different project than the redevelopment of the First Baptist Church of Silver Spring, who plans to build apartments next to a new sanctuary, allowing them to stay in their neighborhood.
- Tying all of this together is the Wheaton CBD Sector Plan, which would set guidelines for revitalizing the downtown. Last night, the Planning Board held a public hearing for the plan, which if approved will then go before the County Council. Some of the plan's proposals include allowing buildings up to 200 feet tall along Georgia Avenue (like the new apartment tower and Safeway going up at Georgia and Reedie Drive) and turning Parking Lot #13 at Reedie and Grandview Avenue into a town square.