The now-shuttered Lakeforest Mall in Gaithersburg was not expected to be demolished until next year. But owner WRS Realty is now seeking to bring the building down much sooner. The rationale for waiting until 2024 was that the company would retain the fallback plan of reopening the mall, should the City of Gaithersburg not approve its plan to redevelop the site with thousands of residential units, along with new restaurants and retail.
Friday, May 19, 2023
Lakeforest Mall owner wants to demolish mall sooner than planned
The now-shuttered Lakeforest Mall in Gaithersburg was not expected to be demolished until next year. But owner WRS Realty is now seeking to bring the building down much sooner. The rationale for waiting until 2024 was that the company would retain the fallback plan of reopening the mall, should the City of Gaithersburg not approve its plan to redevelop the site with thousands of residential units, along with new restaurants and retail.
Wednesday, May 17, 2023
Lakeforest Mall contents to be auctioned off next month
Lakeforest Mall fans will have one last chance to grab a piece of memorabilia from their nostalgic past next month. After closing on March 31, the Gaithersburg mall was quickly boarded up and fenced off. Beyond security concerns, one reason for that was to preserve the remaining contents inside for future sale. That future is now set for June 21-30, 2023, when an auction of those contents will take place.
The auction will include "furniture, fixtures and equipment from dozens of stores, restaurants [and] common areas" of the mall, according to the auction listing. June 21 will be the preview date, when all items being auctioned off will be displayed on the auction page. The auction will then close beginning on June 22. Winners will pick up their items from the mall between June 26 and June 30.
Monday, March 20, 2023
The final days of Lakeforest Mall, closing March 31, 2023 (Video + Photos)
The end is nigh for Lakeforest Mall in Gaithersburg. Opened as a grand shopping and entertainment destination with distinctive architecture on September 12, 1978, the mall was hugely popular through the end of the 1990s. But then, a succession of greedy owners conspired with the sugar baby corrupt politicians they controlled in Montgomery County to run the successful mall into the ground.
The mall's signature fountain and skating rink were removed, and local elected officials intentionally allowed crime to spiral out of control. Predictably, crowds began to thin, and quality tenants began to move out.
The mall will close March 31, 2023, and will be demolished in 2024. It will be replaced with a massive housing development that will bring thousands of new residents to a property that has no rapid transit station, and no new highways planned, a traffic disaster in the making. Of course, the same political machine that helped run down the mall is approving that redevelopment.
Let's take a last look around inside Lakeforest Mall, where remaining anchor tenant Macy's was in its final hours before closing for good. We'll ride the glass elevator, and the escalators. You'll see some ghosts from the mall's past, including JCPenney, Sbarro, Ruby Tuesday and Sears.
You'll also see that this is another example of crony capitalism gone utterly mad, with a perfectly-good mall building being torn down long before its time, with all of the waste and environmental harm such greedy demolitions generate. The new development won't have retail of even half the quality the mall did, if the tenant rosters of other post-Great-Recession developments north of Rockville are any guide. Here's a final look at the breathtaking architecture, thought-provoking art installations, inspiring aesthetics, and the grand lines and designs that represent all that is good in America and western civilization. Lakeforest Forever!