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.
ReplyDeletePutting senior housing in the Town center core was a mistake. Those folks have fixed incomes and don't dine out as much, shop at boutiques or go to movies.
ReplyDeleteGood idea, just find them housing in the boonies where no services are within easy access. You will have your choice soon.
DeleteThis concept was a poor attempt at separating the court/hall from malls, creating unique locations. It failed miserably as evidenced by the closures. Pike Kitchen is not far behind, while another attempt is underway at Pike Center. The Town Center development is not a failure due to government influence, but irresponsible management on behalf of failure to market the property by leasing agencies.
ReplyDeleteWhat does this mean << management on behalf of failure to market the property by leasing agencies.>>? The design of Town Center is the problem. It feels cramped and empty at the same time. It’s invisible to 355. The housing stock is 50% of what it should have been. The parking lot on North Washington is probably the worst designed in the state. The City had way too much influence on all of it. A bad leasing company is easy to fix… they lose money and someone else has to come in. The City (all of us) is harder to improve. And the physical design is locked in essentially for generations. We were better off with the setup in ~2000.
ReplyDeleteNo different in density an design than Pike and Rose, yet it is succesful.
DeletePike and Rose and Rockville Town Center for sure do not have the same design. This isn’t just a bad leasing company. I wish it were. It’s deeper and harder to fix.
DeleteAll of these walkable communities are failures because of their limited parking. Most people in the suburbs have cars.
ReplyDeleteThat’s just not right. DTSS, Takoma along Carroll, King Farm, Twinbrook Quarter are all doing good and are walkable. The problem with Rockville Town Center is it’s all done in a dumb way with a bad product for parking and walking. It’s execution and competence, not ideology.
DeleteAgain, no different than P&R.
DeleteI would think that a lot of the problems facing the Rockville Town Center are coming from the rampant crime in that area, there have been stabbings with one person dying, shootings and robberies on multiple occasions. What a lovely place to take your family, eh?
ReplyDelete"Rampant" what an overused buzz word from the MAGA crowd. Better call the NG.
Deletei have business in Rockville maybe twice a year. I agree with the one commenter, the Center is invisible from 355. It's hard to figure out how to get back there. Then negotiate one way and confusing streets. Then get parking, I wanted to check out Dawson's when they were still open and was defeated by all the above.
ReplyDeletePike and Rose seems less complicated to get around. If you are doing a quick stop, you can get your parking validated and not have to pay.
Odd, when Dawson's was located right on the main drag in town, with parking right in front. Free parking at that. Want to try again?
DeletePrice tag roughly speaking?
ReplyDeleteVoter registration booth was in the square today. Didn’t have the heart to tell them they should have picked a place where there are actually people.
ReplyDelete