Maryland taxpayers to pick up tab for Baltimore developer giveaway

Developers are about to score a mother lode of a real estate portfolio in Baltimore, realizing billions in massive profits, and Maryland taxpayers will pick up the tab for the next twenty years. The property giveaway is being characterized by Maryland elected officials who have tanked the state's finances as "taxpayer savings," counting on a compliant press not to run the numbers, and a complacent electorate not to care. Governor Wes Moore announced the plan in a press release four days ago, in which he promised $326 million in savings over the next two decades, savings he claimed would be realized by moving state government workers into leased space in privately-owned buildings. In turn, the nine state-owned buildings will be sold to developers.

This means a double payday for developers. The state - a.k.a. you, the taxpayer - will have to pay rent to house thousands of government employees in privately-owned office buildings around Charm City. And, developers will acquire valuable downtown property at - based on what we've seen in previous government dispositions of real estate in Montgomery County and Maryland - discount rates, compared to the value they will realize with redevelopment as luxury apartment buildings.

Some have theorized that there are an infinite number of realities. In none of those realities is leasing market-rate office space, over 20 years, cheaper than renovating and continuing to operate buildings you own. But it is a good program for elected officials to help fill the vacant office space owned by developers who have contributed fat checks to their campaigns. It's good to have friends in high places.

The payout bonanza won't end with Maryland handing your money over to developer sugar daddies for market-rate office leases all over Baltimore. That's because a valuable cache of state-owned buildings and prime downtown land is about to be added to their portfolios at value prices.

State Center Complex:  (201 W. Preston St., 300 W. Preston St., 301 W. Preston St., 100 N. Eutaw St.)​

State Center has been one of the biggest ongoing development scams in Baltimore for a couple of decades. What started as one developer giveaway turned into developer lawsuits against the state when they couldn't have things their way. Then, last November, the developers got $58.5 million from you - the taxpayer - for...nothing. The Moore administration paid off the developers with nearly $60 million just to end the legal battle - a battle the state would likely have won if the case had gone to trial.

So, as a taxpayer, you're already out $58.5 million for nothing at State Center. That was just the appetizer. Here comes the main course, courtesy of Gov. Moore: the complex will still be sold off to developers, who will redevelop the site with thousands of luxury apartments.

2100 Guilford Avenue

A solid low-rise government building with parking lot. Sure to be a teardown and redevelopment for luxury apartments.

​William Donald Schaefer Tower (6 St. Paul Street)

One of the tallest buildings in Baltimore, 6 St. Paul Street was only built in 1986. I was inside this building about twenty years ago, and it looked very modern and new even at that point. Now the state is claiming the building is facing "catastrophic failure?" This is a potential Trump Tower-style conversion to luxury condos, that will pay off handsomely for the developer fortunate to acquire it under a political fake "fire sale." The Maryland cartel again disrespects former Gov. Schaefer, who was treated very badly in his final years by the political machine.

310-311 W. Saratoga Street

Another prime property, right on top of the Lexington Market subway station. This guarantees maximum density will be allowed to the prospective developer, which means maximum profit.

200 W. Baltimore Street

They don't build 'em like this anymore. A prime conversion candidate for apartments, or a wasteful teardown - the option will be up to the buyer. Located right across from CFG Bank Arena (a.k.a. the Baltimore Arena). Unlike Camden Yards, you can still see the Bromo Seltzer Tower from inside 200 W. Baltimore Street. Maximum profits await!

201 St. Paul St.

Another "they don't make 'em like they used to" architectural gem. 

The worst part of this latest corruption scheme isn't the fake, inflated claims of savings. It's that the $326 million is over twenty years, while the state is facing a potential $6 billion shortfall in 2030. Aging buildings, even assuming the state has criminally failed to properly maintain them, aren't the source of Maryland's budget woes. It is astronomical overspending that has brought us here, and the Maryland legislature made clear this spring it has no intention of stopping that anytime soon.

Our local media appears too starstruck and weak-in-the-knees around Gov. Moore to challenge him on this real estate portfolio giveaway, and massive new expenditures in leases at empty office buildings owned by developer sugar daddies. They have simply accepted the poorly-documented claims of "savings" at face value, and have chosen to parrot the governor's message of "nearly four-hundred million in savings!!!!"

Unlike the local media, let's follow the money in the coming months and years. What will the sale prices of the government buildings be, compared to their true market value? Who will acquire them, and how much have they donated to Gov. Moore, Comptroller Brooke Lierman, and members of the legislature? 

Montgomery County elected officials have been giving away County-owned properties at discount rates - and sometimes even for free (!!) - for many years this century. Conversely, they are glad to overpay for rents in private office space owned by their developer sugar daddies (witness the Board of Education's move from a building owned by Montgomery County Public Schools into a glossy new office building, despite MCPS owning numerous vacant school buildings and other properties across the county. And just this week, the County government revealed it purchased a bank property in Olney that mysteriously gained over $1 million in value just since 2021, an additional cost the County was delighted to pay with taxpayer funds. 

Wes Moore embraces abundance agenda in South Carolina, as poll shows it's a loser

Maryland Governor Wes Moore (D) emphatically aligned himself with the so-called "abundance" agenda during a speech in South Carolina last Friday night. Expected to run for the White House in 2028, Moore spoke in code to some of the Democratic Party's wealthiest donors, who have already put millions behind the abundance message, spearheaded by a recent book written by pundits Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. But Klein and Thompson have found their warmest reception on podcasts hosted by neoliberal Democrats and conservatives. Many progressives, in contrast, have seen through the abundance campaign for what it is: a repackaging of earlier pushes for the juicing of corporate profits, at the expense of local control over zoning and growth issues. That perceptive reaction from the Bernie Sanders wing of the party is backed up by a new poll that shows Moore's embrace of the "abundance bros" movement puts him out of step with the progressive Democrats and independents he will need to prevail in Democratic and open primaries in 2028.

The abundance campaign is another good example of the "now more than ever" phenomenon. No matter what the crisis of the hour might be, the same old agenda is pushed as the solution. At the moment, the crisis is the Democratic Party's identity crisis. Real estate developers who have tried several tactics to gain the right to build luxury multifamily housing in the most desirable and successful residential areas - starting with the environment, and most-recently and disgustingly glomming onto the George Floyd Revolution and Black Lives Matter movement with a racial argument for blowing up zoning codes - with relatively little success, have now put a new brand on the same old YIMBY agenda. Also on board are other corporate interests, forever seeking a reduction in regulations, and an increase in profit margins.

Klein, Thompson, and others pushing the abundance agenda have offered it as a liberal response to President Donald Trump's MAGA agenda, and a blueprint for 2028 Democratic presidential candidates. But not only is it just another case of "more cowbell," it fundamentally misfires as a quick fix for what ails the Democratic Party. Where Trump's success among Black and Latino men in 2024 was in large part the idea that he would provide them with prosperity, the abundance agenda openly and unabashedly reserves the financial benefits for wealthy developers, power companies, and Chinese solar panel manufacturers. Things will "get done," and faster alright. But none of the profits will accrue to you, and you'll give up local control over decisions that directly impact your neighborhood. Good deal, right?

Voters polled by Demand Progress seem to have been impressively quick studies of the abundance agenda. Democrats and independents responded negatively to the abundance agenda, while Republicans had a more favorable reaction. Progressive policies (oddly termed "populist" by Demand Progress) like getting money out of politics, breaking up big banks and corporations, and prosecuting corruption were seen as more favorable by 72.5% of Democrats, and 55.4% of independents, according to Axios. 

When asked to make a blunt choice between abundance and populism, only 16.8% of Democrats endorsed abundance.

It's curious that Moore is one of them. Not only does the abundance agenda get a thumbs down from a majority of the voters he needs to get past the primaries in 2028, but it also puts him in a crowded lane of Democratic candidates. Among those who have also posited themselves as abundance bros are Tim Walz, Cory Booker, Jared Polis, and Kamala Harris. And Pete Buttigieg was an abundance bro before it was even a thing.

"Gone are the days when the Democrats are the party of no and slow. we must be the party of yes and now," Moore declared, which was surely music to the ears of corporate donors who want the abundance agenda to be the Democratic Party agenda. That corporate money will be an advantage for Moore, no doubt. As was seen with Joe Biden in 2020, Moore can lose Iowa and New Hampshire, and still clinch the nomination with a Jim Clyburn endorsement in South Carolina that Clyburn himself has already hinted at. And the Democratic National Committee has slammed the door on progressive upstarts in three straight elections, most notably kneecapping Bernie Sanders twice. Can the DNC do it a fourth time in a row?

Moore is in his element among the rich and famous, having raised most of his campaign cash at fundraisers in the Hamptons and on Martha's Vineyard when he ran for governor in 2022. And just this year, he closed a budget gap largely on the backs of the poor and middle class, who now must pay hundreds of dollars to register their vehicles with the state, among other regressive tax and fee hikes. The Reaganesque, Laffer Curve, trickle-down, supply-side voodoo economics of the abundance agenda are not that surprising of a platform for Moore, given that he first entered politics in college as a Young Republican.

Moore and his backers have tried to cast him as a charismatic and inspirational figure in the mold of Barack Obama. But the 2008-era Obama presented himself as a champion for the little guy, not Wall Street and real estate moguls. Once in the White House, he quickly morphed into a neoliberal and forever-war fighter, but his pre-2009 populist persona was what won him many of the same voters who would propel Trump to victory eight years later. The abundance promise of lower costs and higher profits for mega corporations might win Moore an abundance of campaign cash, but is unlikely to draw an abundance of progressive Democrat and independent primary votes.

Transformer explosion a symptom of corrupt Montgomery County planning policy

KABOOM! Another Pepco electrical transformer exploded yesterday afternoon in downtown Bethesda's Woodmont Triangle, cutting off power to many residents and businesses in the area. This has become an unacceptably-regular occurrance downtown. Importantly, power grid issues have become frequent in the two areas of Bethesda that were upzoned since 2016, downtown Bethesda and Westbard, since those sector plans were passed. This is no coincidence, and is a clear example of what many opponents of those plans warned - that the growth allowed would outstrip the capacity of the local infrastructure, including utilities. Such gross negligence has impacted communities countywide, where County officials have failed to deliver even the new infrastructure that was included in sector plans, such as downtown Bethesda, Clarksburg, Damascus, Wheaton, Glenmont, and Watkins Mill.

Around 3:00 PM Friday, a massive explosion was heard - and seen - in front of 7944 Norfolk Avenue in Bethesda. One witness saw a bright flash, and noted that power lines on nearby blocks were shaking. The explosion was so big that Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services were dispatched to the scene, but according to witnesses, departed after finding no ongoing fire. Another nearby resident told me that the lights in their apartment blinked, but power remained on. Many others were not so lucky, as you can see in the Pepco outage map shown here.

In the close vicinity of the transformer explosion, the power outage darkened buildings along the north side of Cordell Avenue, and in the 7900 block of Norfolk Avenue. Those were only two of the affected streets. Not only was this an inconvenience for many residents in an age where everything - including working-from-home - relies upon Wi-Fi, but was a cost to the bottom line of business owners in the area, as well.

Along with frequent power outages and transformer explosions in downtown Bethesda, where thousands of new residential units have been approved and constructed under the 2017 Bethesda Downtown sector plan, the Westbard area has been impacted by ongoing brownouts and power outages. The latter began in 2017, which coincided with the redevelopment of the "Westwood Complex" properties that was approved a year earlier, in the Westbard sector plan.

During these sector plan processes, many residents expressed concerns about how the area's aging power grid, and water and sewage systems, would handle the addition of hundreds or thousands of new households. And if they, inevitably and logically, could not, who would pay for the eventually-necessary upgrades? Their concerns were laughed off by the Montgomery County Planning Department, County Planning Board, and County Council. Nobody living or running a business in the affected areas is laughing anymore.

We've also seen increased flooding during heavy rains in downtown Bethesda, Westbard, and White Flint, which County officials have tried to blame on "climate change." In fact, it is those very Planning staff members, Planning Commissioners, and County Councilmembers who are personally responsible for the flooding - which has been fatal, in some tragic cases - because they approved the massive development and reduction of green space that has increased runoff countywide.

All of these problems stem not simply from developer greed, but from County government not placing limits and protections on that greed in the planning process. You can't blame developers for seeking the moon, if they can get it - that's their job. It is the planners, Planning Commissioners, and County Councilmembers who are tasked with protecting their constituents.

Instead, we've seen planners and commissioners who represent development interests fully take over the planning process. And developers in the Montgomery County cartel have controlled a majority of County Council seats since 2002, when they funded the "End Gridlock" slate. Today, we have a Council where all 11 members have taken varying degrees of money from developers. Not surprisingly, the Council's planning agenda has mirrored that of the developers who funded their victorious campaigns.

The approach can be summed up with a childish analogy. Developers - and the elected, appointed, and hired officials they support above and below the table - are skipping the vegetables, and going right to the chocolate cake every time. That all-sweets diet has understandably impacted the health and quality of life in our communities. Instead of doing the hard work of providing the infrastructure for the growth being proposed, our officials are simply approving all the growth, and not requiring those who are profiting from that growth to fund the infrastructure upgrades it requires.

Longtime residents know that developer-beholden officials have been a major factor in the economic, environmental, and quality-of-life decline over the first quarter of this century. Those engaged enough to pay attention can keep complaining about it - or we can actually do something about it. Here are just a few action items to consider:

1. Virtually every town, city, and county has an adequate public facilities ordinance. Montgomery County's is clearly in-adequate. It needs to be beefed up considerably. An APFO doesn't limit growth, it simply ensures that the private companies profiting from that growth pick up the tab for the infrastructure their new development demands: electric grid and sewer capacity upgrades, new classrooms, new social services, new police and fire facilities and equipment, etc. Right now, the majority of those costs - like the taxes the Council increasingly exempts developers from - are being pushed off onto the backs of residents in the form of higher property taxes and higher utility bills.

2. Stop the planning-to-profit revolving door. The Council should pass a law preventing planning staff and commissioners from accepting jobs with development companies and real estate law firms for at least 5 years after leaving their County position. 

3. Vote smarter. Do you vote somebody else's ballot on Election Day, a ballot that represents someone else's interests, instead of your own? Think about it. The rotten Apple Ballot represents the interests of the powerful teacher's union, which along with developers and other cartel members, is bankrupting the County finances. Endorsements by The Washington Post editorial board reflect the interests of developers, who not only purchase massive amounts of ads in the Post every week, but have actually bought multiple properties from the Post itself, which has profited from those real estate transactions. The Post, in effect, is engaged in property development itself.

Instead, vote YOUR ballot, that represents YOUR interests. The interests of you, your children and grandchildren, your neighborhood, your business. 

Do your research. Find out which candidates are funded by developers, and pay attention to which candidates are calling for responsible growth, and which are calling for unlimited growth unsupported by new infrastructure. The developer-funded candidates can often be identified by their use of terms like "abundance," "housing now," "missing middle," "inclusionary zoning," "redlining," "attainable housing," "social justice," "activity centers," "resilience," "growth corridors," "mix of housing," "Thrive 2050," "a variety of housing types," "equity," "duplexes," "triplexes," "quadplexes," and "parking minimums." That final phrase is utilized in calling for those parking minimums to be done away with to expand developer profits, not the enforcement of such adequate parking space requirements.

Remember, the County Council not only determines who sits on the Planning Board, but also controls the budget of the Planning Department. So, while it cannot regulate who is hired by the department or the policies it puts in front of the Board for approval, it can defund the Planning Department if it pushes policies that are contrary to the public interest.

4. Public financing reform. Currently, developer contributions to those Council candidates using the County's "public" financing system get matched by you, the taxpayer. Does that sound fair to you?

Corrupt users and supporters of the current "public" financing system will tout the "small contributions" that are fueling their campaigns with "people power." What they won't tell you, is that a massive number of those "small contributions" are coming from developers, development attorneys, and their family members. This is a huge advantage, as those candidates can take a great haul in checks from those development interests, and then they receive a matching amount from the pot of taxpayer money that has been budgeted for "public" financing.

Real public financing not only would not allow such outsize developer involvement, but would give every participating candidate at least some respectable amount of money to campaign with, instead of rewarding corrupt candidates who are backed by deep-pocketed development interests with six-figure payouts from the taxpayer. The current system represents a brilliant move by developers and their puppet candidates to force you to fund their campaigns.

Montgomery County Council delivering tax hike for you, massive tax cut for developers

The Montgomery County Council reached a new low this week, taking an action of fiscal irresponsibility so bonkers, it should cost them their seats in the 2026 election. They have approved legislation that will exempt any redevelopment of an office property into housing from property taxes for 20 years, if the new development provides 17.5% affordable units. Meanwhile, the same Council is planning a massive property tax increase for you, the residents of Montgomery County. Yes, this continues a pattern of shifting the tax burden from the Council's developer sugar daddies onto you, the struggling homeowner or business property owner. But it goes beyond almost any corrupt action they've taken before, as it could end up bankrupting the County, which is already under fiscal stress from a structural budget deficit and a massive debt load.

More Housing N.O.W. - a name that anyone who struggles to navigate closed streets and sidewalks around apartment tower construction sites in downtown Bethesda and Silver Spring would find laughable - is a legislative package cooked up by Councilmember Andrew Friedson (D - District 1). Loaded with developer giveaways, it appears to have been written by the developers themselves. Much like their plan to gift developers land taxpayers paid to acquire for a critical highway the Council canceled, forgoing billions in tax revenue and shifting the tax burden to you is a dereliction of duty by the Council.

Why would Friedson bring forward such an audaciously-corrupt tax break for developers? He's running for County Executive, and needs the money developers so generously provide to each of the current Councilmembers. And it's going to take a lot of money to win, especially if David Blair decides to take a third shot at the County Executive office in 2026. The seat is essentially Blair's for the taking, having lost by a handful of votes to Marc Elrich each of the previous times he ran. None of the candidates running next year have Elrich's name recognition, base of support, or voter goodwill that crosses party and demographic lines.

But barring Blair's entry into the field, developers will support Friedson. How did the unknown Friedson defeat the far-more-qualified and known former Kensington Mayor Peter Fosselman and the legendary Ana Sol Gutierrez, the first Latina ever elected to public office in Maryland, in a Democratic primary? It's not entirely clear even today, but the developer money didn't hurt. Developers haven't just mailed the checks to Friedson's campaign - they actually host fundraisers for him at their mansions.

More Housing N.O.W. is similar to another legislative victory developers enjoyed during the previous Council term, in that it simply juices the profits for development that would already happen without it. That was the bill that gave a 15-year property tax exemption (sound familiar?) to developers building residential housing on WMATA-owned land at Metro stations. Not only had such development taken place previously without this outrageous tax-free provision, but it was demanded by a development firm that had already committed to a project before attempting - and succeeding - in getting the Council to provide this tax exemption as a sweetener. Imagine their shocked and surprised delight when the knees of the Council buckled so easily to deliver such a windfall of cash, on top of the already massive profits they would be raking in.

It's no surprise they went back to the well again. After all, this Council is the biggest bunch of pushovers yet for their developer sugar daddies. The public is almost entirely unaware that this robbery of the public coffers is taking place. Or that they might be spending over $1000 more on their own property taxes next year, if they live anywhere in Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Potomac, or parts of Kensington, Silver Spring, Rockville, or even Aspen Hill. Because if your home is valued at $1 million or more, that's how much your property tax bill will be going up under the tax hike currently before the Council.

Why would the tax exemption approved Tuesday potentially bankrupt the County, and/or require your property taxes to reach unimaginable heights in the coming decades?

First and foremost, we already know that residential housing generates more new costs in public services and infrastructure than it does in property tax revenue. That, along with the County Council's out-of-control spending this century, and anti-business policies that have scared companies away from locating here, is what has created our structural budget deficit in the first place. Now imagine what the deficits will be if a majority of new apartment buildings will be paying no property taxes at all for 20 years!

Second, the legislation has a misleading talking point behind it. Most people think of "office to housing conversion" as the reconfiguration of an office building into apartment or condo-sized residential units. But the package approved Tuesday provides the same 20-year tax exemption and expedited approval for demolishing an office building, and constructing an entirely new residential building in its place.

Third, because of the allowance for demolitions, the 20-year tax exemption will apply to a huge number of projects that were - or will be - planned without the More Housing N.O.W. developer giveaways in place. In fact, a large percentage of the new buildings constructed since the "Great Recession" have been built on the ashes of office buildings that were demolished to make way for them.

We've seen that even true office-to-housing conversions have taken place without these outlandish incentives, include a new condo development and new apartment property in downtown Silver Spring. Now think about all the other apartment and condo buildings that were torn down for residential over the last 15 years alone, where the developers did not demand a 20-year property tax exemption. Gallery Bethesda I and II, Sophia Bethesda, 4909 Auburn, Stonehall Bethesda, The Wilson/The Elm (7272 Wisconsin Avenue), 8001 Woodmont, Hampden House, The Met Rockville, AVA Wheaton, and the Fairchild Apartments in Germantown are just a few examples of post-"Great Recession" redevelopments of office properties. 

Imagine if all of these were paying no property taxes for 20 years! Now realize that the long-anticipated redevelopment of the massive GEICO campus in Chevy Chase - to name just one mega project - will bring in ZERO property tax revenue to County coffers for 20 years! This is criminal.

The good news is, it's not too late to stop the madness. You can stop the More Housing N.O.W. legislation by calling or emailing your Councilmember, and all of the At-Large Councilmembers, and telling them you want no more developer giveaways. It's very easy: the Council website shows all of the Councilmembers, and there's even a tool to help you learn who your district member is (the At-Large members also all represent you, which is why you want to contact all of them, as well).

County Executive Marc Elrich is expected to veto the More Housing N.O.W. legislation when it reaches his desk. The County Council will then have to override the veto to save the developers' 20-year property tax exemption. Tell your Councilmember you will vote them out, and you certainly won't vote to promote them to County Executive if they are running for that office, if they vote to override Elrich's veto. If for some crazy reason Elrich were to sign the tax break - or let it become law by not signing it - let the Council know you will vote them out just the same, if they don't repeal it.

You can also stop the massive property tax increase by telling your Councilmember at the same time that you will vote them out if they vote to raise your property taxes again this year or next year. And if they do - VOTE THEM OUT! You don't even have to vote for a Republican; you can just vote for the new Democrats who are running against the incumbents in the primary next year. But if they squeak through again to the general election, you have to seriously consider voting for any Republican, Green, or other party challenger who remains in their way. It's the inability to vote out the Council that has led to their outrageous misbehavior. 

Are you really going to vote again for the politicians who insiders say refer to you as "losers" and "suckers" in private, willing to pay any tax, accept any reduction in your quality of life, and countenance the totally incompetent leadership they dish out?

The voters of Montgomery County need to wake up. Some of you are awake and on-the-ball. That's likely why you are reading this article now in the first place. But it's not enough. I worry about some of the other residents in this county. What will it take for you wake up and rise up against the Montgomery County cartel and its handpicked Councilmembers, who have held a majority on the Council since 2002?

You've gotten a property tax hike every year except for FY-2015, when you received a tax "cut" of about $12. The next year, the Council dropped a 9% property tax increase anvil on you like Wile E. Coyote. They seemed to pay a price for that, when voters approved term limits a few months later in 2016. But...when it came to the 2018 Council election, the cartel's candidates won every seat again. Much like their victory over the Columbia Country Club with the Purple Line, they realized they could get away with anything, and you wouldn't do a thing about it come Election Day. Invincibility. Absolute power. Such things do not a Republic make.

One of the greatest political cartoons of all time that sums up this phenomenon once ran in The Gazette. It showed a Montgomery County voter bending over in front of then-County Executive Doug Duncan, who was wielding a large paddle with the words "tax hike" on it. The voter, with his head crooked around to look back toward Duncan, said, "Thank you, Sir. May I have another?" 

Don't be that guy anymore. It's not a good look. It's a sad state of affairs, really. Break smelling salts under your nose, if you have to. 

You're mad as hell, and you're not going to take it anymore. Go to the Council website. Pick up the phone, fire up the email, and let them know, "Enough is enough!" No 20-year property tax exemption for developers, and no property tax hikes for you.

Rockville's newest streets named for notable Black figures in Montgomery County education

The newest roads in the City of Rockville have been constructed in its newest neighborhood, the Farmstead District at 16144 Frederick Road. Street signs have been installed on the completed streets, and they have been named for notable Black figures in Rockville history, particularly in the field of education. 

Nina Clarke Drive recalls a granddaughter of slaves who graduated from the Rockville Colored School in 1934, and would become the first African-American supervisory resource teacher in the integrated county school system. By 1968, Clarke was the principal at Aspen Hill Elementary School in Rockville.

George Thomas Road is named for Dr. George B. Thomas, Sr., founder of the Saturday School program in Rockville, in partnership with Montgomery County Public Schools. Begun in 1986, the program has since provided instruction to thousands of students at 12 sites across the County. This was the capstone of a career at MCPS, and in the U.S. Air Force before that.

Odessa Shannon Way pays tribute to the first Black person to be elected to public office in Montgomery County. Shannon was elected to the Montgomery County Board of Education in 1982.

Henson Norris Street commemorates a founding member of the Rockville Colored School Board. The board raised funds to construct and open the original Rockville Colored School in a two-room schoolhouse in 1876. It was located on what is today the parking lot of the Snowden Funeral Home.

Speaking of construction, the homes at Farmstead District continue to reach completion at the new development, which is a partnership between EYA and Pulte Homes. A sign shows how many of each model have sold, and how many remain.

Watkins Cabinet Co. closes after 73 years in Montgomery County, property for sale

Watkins Cabinet Company has closed at 18001 Sellman Road in Dickerson, after 73 years in business. Its 14,884-square-foot factory and warehouse facility has been put on the market for sale. This is a prime 1.43-acre property for an industrial/manufacturing use, as it is right on the CSX Metropolitan Subdivision tracks, part of a major freight and Amtrak route between Washington, D.C. and Chicago. That creates the opportunity for direct freight rail shipping across the nation, or to ports in Baltimore and Norfolk. 

I have suggested for many years that Montgomery County sit down with CSX and try to create attractive industrial sites alongside the railroad. This could be for the manufacture of anything from furniture to pharmaceuticals to drones. In exchange for the new freight business, CSX might then cooperate for the additional track that has been sought for use by MARC commuter rail on this line. According to the online sale listing, the asking price for the Watkins Cabinet property is $2,000,000. If Montgomery County is serious about getting the third track, these are the types of opportunities they should be investigating in partnership with CSX. Even without a third track, moribund Montgomery County needs the business and high-wage job growth.

Wilbur Watkins founded Watkins Cabinet Company in 1952. It remained family-owned for all 73 years. You might have a Watkins cabinet, vanity, bar, or bookcase in your home right now, if you live in the Washington, D.C. region.

Photos courtesy Brian Jamison Real Estate

You could be 7-Eleven's landlord in Germantown

If you have $4 million burning a hole in your pocket, you could take a Big Bite out of Germantown real estate. The land underneath the 7-Eleven convenience store and gas station at 12861 Clopper Road has hit the market for sale. You would become the landlord for 7-Eleven under this triple net lease (NNN) arrangement. The online sale listing offers some interesting facts about this 7-Eleven, such as its status in the 91st-percentile of customer traffic for the brand among all 7-Eleven stores in the United States, that 321,000 customers have patronized this 7-Eleven in the last 12 months, and that the store has about 5.5 years left on its current lease.

Someone save this movie theater in Montgomery County!

You could own your very own cineplex in Montgomery County. CBRE is now marketing the vacant Regal Cinemas at 20000 Century Boulevard in Germantown for sale. While the signage posted on the theater building is pushing a retail use, the online sale listing notes that the 14-screen cineplex inside remains intact. That means this could be essentially a turnkey operation to reopen the theater for a smart cineplex chain, or a wealthy movie buff. Financing is being offered on the listing page, but the asking price for the property - which includes a large surface parking lot - is not provided. Good luck, and until next time, the balcony is closed!

Vacant Rockville Town Center storefronts could become homes with City approval

A proposal to turn vacant retail storefronts in the struggling Rockville Town Center into two-level loft homes is again moving forward. Property owner Comstock is seeking permission from the City of Rockville to convert 13,011-square-feet of vacant storefronts in the ground level of its BLVD Ansel apartment building into 13 dwelling units, which would be branded as "BLVD Lofts/The Lofts at Ansel." Functionally, they will be like townhomes flush with the building, and residents will enter via doors right on the sidewalk.

Several floorplans would be available. Comstock says that residents of the new loft units would have access to the building amenities available to the other residents of the apartments upstairs. Some units will have steps up to the front door where grading makes that necessary; most units would also have ADA-compliant access from a "rear corridor." Mail delivery to the loft units would be served by a mail and package room in the lobby. Comstock says it is not going to entirely give up on retail at the property; 6500 SF of vacant retail space would be retained for potential retail or restaurant tenants under the proposal.

A sample floorplan for one of the loft units

The Rockville Planning Commission will receive a briefing on the loft conversion proposal at its March 12, 2025 meeting at 7:00 PM. Four residents have submitted comments on the plan so far; three residents expressed support, and one opposed it.

Images courtesy Comstock/City of Rockville

Montgomery County to lose more jobs to housing in Rockville

Another valuable Montgomery County office park property could be lost to residential housing, if the City of Rockville approves a proposal to convert it into condos and townhomes. 1455 Research Boulevard, one of many office sites located in the I-270 corridor of the County, would become 106 townhomes, 30 stacked condo townhomes, and 72 multifamily condo units, under the plan envisioned by developer Pulte. The company is building several similar developments in the City, including within the new Farmstead community, as well as in the King Farm, and Tower Oaks areas. Pulte's site plan is likely to be reviewed at a public hearing by the Rockville Planning Commission in summer or fall of 2025.

The existing office building, which was only constructed
about 30 years ago

The existing office building contains 17 office suites, 10 of which are currently leased, according to the property website. So the building is 59% leased. The property is 10.6 acres in size, meaning that it would still be ideal for a corporate headquarters, or a research, lab, and/or manufacturing facility, if the existing building were torn down for that purpose. It is directly adjacent to I-270. To state the obvious, all of the jobs currently provided by the current tenants of the building will likely be lost to the City and County in a conversion to housing. And the many more potential, high-wage jobs that could fill this office park site - and the resulting revenue - will never be realized.

Pulte's proposed redevelopment plan
for residential housing

From a County revenue standpoint, filling the current building, or replacing it with a major corporate headquarters or facility, would be more ideal than filling the site with residential housing. That's because residential housing, as we have seen this century, generates more costs in County services and infrastructure demands than it does in tax revenue. Hence the County's structural budget deficit, which extends as far into the future as the forecasts go. And do you remember "smart growth," which included placing jobs near housing, to reduce congestion and auto emissions in the I-270 corridor? Neither do the County Council and Planning Board, which don't even talk about "smart growth" anymore, having abandoned its fictional, expedient construct for the equally-fictional canards of "affordable," "attainable," "equity," "inclusionary," and "missing middle" - all code words bandied about in a nationwide campaign to allow upzoning for higher-density luxury housing in existing suburban neighborhoods.

Office, research, manufacturing and commercial uses, in contrast, generate less traffic and require no additional school capacity, for example. The problem is that the Council has driven the County's economy into the ditch over the last 23 years, through radical anti-business policies, and a failure to provide the necessary infrastructure to compete with Northern Virginia, such as direct highway access to Dulles International Airport via a new Potomac River crossing. Montgomery County has not only lost every competition for major corporate headquarters to Virginia during this time, but is most often not even in the hunt for these opportunities.

As a result, Montgomery County has failed to attract a single major corporate headquarters in over 25 years. While MoCo leaders slumbered this century, Virginia added the HQs of Northrop Grumman, Intelsat, Hilton Hotels, Nestle, Lidl, Gerber, Volkswagen, Corporate Executive Board, Amazon HQ2, CoStar, Lego, and more. And those are just ones we lost to Virginia! 

Montgomery County has been left to spend large sums just to retain some of the HQs it had, like Marriott International, Choice Hotels, and GEICO, all of which have downsized when making their moves. In addition to such rearrangements of the deck chairs aboard the Titanic, Montgomery County has lost still other HQs that it had altogether. While the Council argued about the legality of circus animals one week last decade, representatives of New York City and Knoxville were completing final, secret negotiations that sealed their victory in snatching away the Discovery Communications HQ from downtown Silver Spring.

Obviously, property owners such as those at 1455 Research Boulevard can't be blamed for all this. They, understandably, are not going to simply wait for a future ousting of the Montgomery County cartel from power to maximize their investment. So we are likely to end up with more residential housing at this site. The Council is not sad about that, as their developer sugar daddies want them to keep Montgomery County bad-for-business, so that prime office park sites can become residential housing sites instead. Virginia prepares and markets such office/industrial properties extensively to international businesses, and reaps the spectacular results; Montgomery County just waits for someone to build housing on them. Too bad that Montgomery County residents will continue to shoulder the increasing tax burden to make up for all of this lost business and commercial revenue. Heckuva job, Brownie!

Rockville land auction underway for I-270-adjacent plot

An auction of a unique commercial property adjacent to I-270 in Rockville is underway online, and will conclude today, February 26, 2025, at 12:00 PM. You can follow the action online this morning, even if you are not in a financial position to bid. The off-ramp to Redland Boulevard on the northbound side of the highway wraps around the plot. As of this writing, the top bid for the 2.09 acre site is $325,000. A previously-scheduled auction of the property in mid-January apparently was postponed, or failed to draw a qualifying bid. 

The property would be ideal for any business that wants to have visibility, and possible logo signage exposure, from heavily-traveled I-270. Less than ideal are the ingress/egress possibilities onto a one-way off-ramp, and the blind curve for traffic rounding the bend to reach Redland Boulevard. And while access from I-270 would be quick and excellent, getting onto the interstate from the site would be a logistical chore.