The first part of the summit was on the just completed Town Square including how to make the best of the current economic environment. Here’s a quick rundown on some of the points presented.

City long-range planner David Levy thinks that the Rockville Town Center Master Plan’s goal of creating daytime, evening and weekend activity area has been met with Phase I, regardless of whether there are condos or apartments.

Parks and Recreation director Burt Hall explained that the Mayor and Council have postponed a change in the hours for paid parking in Town Center until October so evenings and weekends will remain free through the summer. The monthly parking rate will be lowered from $75 to $65. All City residents will get 12 free parking days starting on June 1, 2009. Coupons will be distributed at City Hall.

Michael Schwartzman from Ross Development gave the real estate developers perspective on Town Square and he said “It has been fantastic … I can tell you that with all sincerity.” Ross is still the 50% holder of the Palladium condos. Town Center has won 10 awards.

Matt Wexler of CIM Group which he described as an “urban investing leader”, reported that his company owns 492 rentals in Town Center and that they are about 85% leased. The projections of renting about 20 units per month have been met. The renewal rate is also on target. Someday they hope the units will be introduced as condos when the market improves. Although later during questions, a couple of people expressed disbelief that 85% were actually rented, Mr. Wexler reiterated that about 85% were in fact rented whether people had their lights on at night or not.

Neil Berkoff (sp?) of Federal Realty said that we cannot ignore that we have had some store closures. They are working to put stores in that people want. Natural attrition occurs in new developments. Some merchants are challenged but for those who are committed, they are working with them. The new furniture store has 12 other successful locations and thinks this store will be successful.

The big news is that the Super Fresh Grocery assured him that it will open this year. Vice President Robin McBride said that as she was walking out the door to attend the Summit, she confirmed the grocery was opening and that their inability to get an exception from the State of Maryland to sell alcohol in the store was not a deterent.

Debra Moser, the executive director of VisArts, talked about how VisArts is gaining recognition throughout the country. The Torpedo Factory in Alexandria (which I always refer to when explaining about the artist studios) came up to see the building because they are thinking of renovating. 57 juried artists will participate in the Fine Arts Craft Festival during Hometown Holidays and a sculpture will be built in the portfolio gallery. Each Wednesday throughout the summer, artists will be in the Square.

Debra Simon, owner of the Waygoose, said that, as a retailer, “It’s been hard.” When the shop re-opened in Town Square after being on North Washington Street before the redevelopment, the recession started almost immediately. She said it’s difficult to make people realize there is something special behind the large garage walls on Rt. 355. Regional media coverage has been difficult to obtain in order to attract people from outlying areas. Although the Square has been getting national attention, it does not have the attention of people living within 10 miles.

She asked everyone to “Invite all your friends that live more than a mile away.”

Sally Sternbach of REDI provided a financial assessment of what should be built in Town Center because this is what she is “paid to wake up and think about.” She advocates for more commercial office space, not government buildings. Commercial offices place a lower demand on public services and provide more tax revenue. She also said that commercial tenants rent more hotel rooms, eat out more in restaurants, and choose more expensive meals than government tenants.

Robin McBride, Vice President of Federal Realty, explained that they have subsidized $1 million dollars for marketing in addition to the fees charged to merchants. Two market studies have shown that shoppers “will not travel north” from DC or Bethesda, but people will travel south from Clarksburg, Olney, and Gaithersburg.

Federal Realty holds events throughout the country at their properties. It’s different at Town Center, she says, because for some reason the large crowds at events do not result in sales generation.

This was all during just the first part of the meeting. The second part looked at Town Center north of Beall Avenue (across the street from Town Square).

David Levy explained that Maryland Avenue will be extended like a curved spine through this section and Dawson Avenue will connect North Washington Street with Rt. 355. The new Rockville zoning confirmed by-right heights for buildings and also set a maximum (with no minimum) for required parking. This north section is not a public-private undertaking like the Town Square and it will be privately developed.

As Mary van Balgooy of Peerless Rockville started to explain about the possibilities for the Pink Bank, which I’ve previously detailed, I had to leave for my kickboxing training. JBG had decided not to speak because the plan was too immature to comment on at this point. I believe that KSI was going to present about their approved development along Beall Avenue which includes the Pink Bank building. Please let us know what we missed in comments!

8 Comments

1. Jon H. Oberg

   I must comment on the thought above: “She said it’s difficult to make people realize there is something special behind the large garage walls on Rt. 355.”>

   The Rockville Traffic and Transportation Commission, on which I serve, made this prediction many times over during Town Center planning. We said it would be necessary to have some kind of visual and accessible connection between Town Square and Rt 355, both immediately, for retail purposes, and eventually when 355 is boulevardized.

   I brought photos from other cities to demonstrate successful connectivity between thoroughfares and retail districts. Our veteran members recalled that the plans threatened to repeat the same mistakes that doomed Rockville’s previous attempt at city center renewal.

   To no avail. Rockville planners and developers said they would not give up two parking places just for a sense of connection to retail. Now retail is suffering, but this should have been foreseen. Parking formulas must never trump good planning.

2. Dave Roberson

   With the exception of the ksi/pink bank corner I think it is important for Rockville to help find a developer that will buy all the remaining property including the old giant site. Otherwise I don’t see how all the puzzle pieces could fall into place considering there isn’t even a road structure in place. The roads can’t be built until redevelopment starts. To me it seems like a very tough problem.

3. Anonymous

   I completely agree with Mr. Oberg’s thoughts about the “wall” separating Town Center from 355. It would be interesting to conduct a survey of people who drive along that route routinely to see if they even know what is back there–if they could even name one of the restaurants or stores. The fact that our “Town Center” does not visually connect to the main road that runs through the center of our city is just poor planning. And now we are all stuck with the bill for those empty parking garages!

4. Anonymous

   thanks for this great recap!

5. Dave Roberson

   Well, I think the current town center setup is great in that it maximizes the amount of mixed use retail that could fit in the space. Parking is abundant…which is also a plus. I think we need the ever elusive “anchor” retail to support the other great stores we already have. Talk about something that seems to plague downtown Rockville.>

   What about the underused corner of middle land and 355? Could a retail anchor store fit there? Is Rockville really adverse to having something like a big box store that all people driving on 355 will be drawn to? Anchors stores are key…in other words the grocery store needs to open too.

6. Anonymous

   The mix of shops in town square is too high-end, and too pricey for many folks in town (and especially those who come from the east side of Rockville). We need more basic retailing that would draw people donwtown on a regular basis, like an urban-style hardware store.

7. Phyllis

   Thank you so much for the recap. As always, you and Cindy do a great job of showcasing the community and local activities. I missed the presentation as the fourth of our Science Cafes was taking place in the Greystone Grill. An overflowing crowd learned about exploring your DNA for clues to your health and heredity.

8. Cindy Cotte Griffiths

   Well, thank you Phyllis! I’m so glad that I was able to fill you in on the Summit. How exciting to think about the Cafe going on in the Town Center while we were discussing how successful Town Center has been. Cindy

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