ZAP! BOOM! POW! The crash out of the food hall fad in Montgomery County is snowballing. Caught up in the downhill momentum is The Spot at 255 N. Washington Street in Rockville. Its 6033-square-foot space just hit the market for lease Friday. The listing is being handled by H&R Retail brokers Bradley Buslik and Austin Hersh. Although The Spot remains open for business, the online listing states that their space is "available now."
A series of food halls, primarily targeted at the large Asian demographic in Rockville, opened in 2018 and 2019. The Spot's biggest rival - The Block - has already exited. Down in struggling Friendship Heights, the food hall called The Heights recently shuttered, having experienced perhaps the briefest run of any such enterprise in the County. Still chugging along in Rockville is Pike Kitchen.
The departure of The Spot will be a major blow to what's left of nightlife in Rockville Town Center. Spaces occupied by bars like American Tap Room and Gordon Biersch remain vacant years after both closed their doors. Raucous rooftop nightlife events at The Square in Rockville fell victim years ago to complaints of noise by apartment dwellers at the development. Food halls survived the pandemic, but seem to have ultimately lost their novelty shortly thereafter, leaving huge spaces behind.
Where else along 355 are there so many failed businesses and long empty spots? It wasn’t like this before the City tried its hand at Sim City to remake these blocks along North Washington. Anyone involved in the Town Center effort should be barred from public office and commissions.
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