2006-07-07, 13:37

Mixed-use in the heart of Rockville, Md.

By: Jonathan Groner
On July 5, 2006, the D.C. Examiner ran an article on Rockville Town Square, a new mixed-use project that will open in Rockville, Md., beginning late this year. The Page 19 article, "Mixed-use project aims for the heart of Rockville: Town Square to become center of the community," is accompanied by an artist's rendering of the completed project.

The article, by staff writer Bruce Miller, quotes Scott Ross, president of Ross Development and Investment, one of the developers of the Rockville project: "Forty years ago the city went through an urban renewal process that tore down its downtown and eliminated the fabric of the community. For years it languished and really became a strip center and parking lot. Our whole goal is to recreate the fabric of the community."

In a nutshell, that sums up one of the main objectives of mixed-use development: to retain and recreate the fabric of a community, to be the exact opposite of a strip center and parking lot, to be a space in which people can interact and one that people find comfortable.

We at Womble Carlyle are representing the joint venture that is developing the town square. We are very excited to be part of the redevelopment of Rockville, the county seat of Montgomery County. The county is one of the most affluent in the nation and is filled with highly educated residents. It deserves a downtown worthy of the name.

The square, two blocks from the Metro mass-transit station, will include 644 condominium units and 180,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space. The retail and restaurant space is now about 90 percent leased.

The complex will also include a new 100,000-square-foot Montgomery County public library and a 40,000-square-foot cultural center called the Rockville Arts and Innovation Center. Total public and private investment came to about $400 million.

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