Rendering of the future retail building on display at Montrose Crossing |
One last look pre-fence |
Rendering of the future retail building on display at Montrose Crossing |
One last look pre-fence |
Jessica Reynolds, a member of the Rockville Historic District Commission, is speaking out on the recent 3-2 decision by the Mayor and Council to allow demolition of a historic bank building at 255 N. Washington Street.
In a letter published in this week's Gazette, Reynolds accused city leaders of preserving only those buildings with "architectural styles that meet their own tastes." The decision to not allow a historic designation process for the "Pink Bank" "has implications for how the public's voice will be heard in Rockville in the future," she wrote.
The building's distinctive design, Reynolds argued, not only serves as an important reminder of the city's blunder of demolishing its original, historic town center during the 60s, but also reinforces a sense of place in a time of what she has previously called "cookie cutter" buildings.
Reynolds predicted that the modern town center itself will be replaced again in only 30 years.
The HDC had recommended the city allow a historic designation process to begin for the structure. Supporters of demolition argued that historic designation had already been dismissed previously (however, according to preservationists, the building only recently has qualified by age for designation), and pointed to the developer's years of planning - and work with residents in the adjacent West End - as arguments for allowing the new development to proceed. Mayor Phyllis Marcuccio added that she strongly supported property rights by landowners in the city, and therefore was voting on principle to allow demolition.
The classic architecture of Rockville's venerable town center Giant grocery store is gone forever.
A store design familiar to longtime area residents, one could find contemporaries at one time in DC and in Bethesda. The latter was located where Upstairs at Bethesda Row stands today.
It's sad to see it go. Many of the classic postwar Safeway stores are now gone as well. I managed to get the Damascus Safeway on tape for posterity, just before the wrecking ball arrived.
No such luck with this Giant, but here is the aftermath.
The Giant will be replaced by a low-rise retail development, to be delivered by developer JBG early next year.
A new development proposal could replace the Travilah Square Burger King with a Walgreens pharmacy.
The shopping center's owner is proposing to demolish the Burger King and a small office building, and build a 14,993 square foot Walgreens. A drive-thru pharmacy would be part of the structure.
All the rest of the shopping center will remain the same.
It's getting harder and harder to find a Whopper in Montgomery County these days!
A town center Walgreens is currently under construction on Rockville Pike, at the former site of the Orange Ball.
Here is the proposed design of the Travilah Square Walgreens: