Welcome to The Dark Side of White Flint, a frank and candid examination of the not-so-wonnerful, wonnerful, wonnerful side of urbanizing the suburbs.
Click here to read Part 13, and follow links through the whole series.
PART 14
Businesses continue to close en masse at dying White Flint Mall. For those just joining us, mall owner Lerner pulled the plug on fully-leased and popular White Flint Mall so that it could redevelop the property as an urban town. Phase one of the mall demolition is complete. Only P.F. Chang's, Cheesecake Factory, and Dave and Busters remain of the major restaurants that used to draw crowds. Some small businesses, and the movie theater remain open. Anchor Lord and Taylor is still open, and is the only business that will remain after the final demolition is complete. The popular department store has filed suit against Lerner for breach of contract, saying that the demolition and urban-style redevelopment is not allowed under the agreement it signed.
I have more closures to report.
T-Mobile will close forever tomorrow, August 4.
It's neighbor, menswear specialist Bruno Cipriani, will stay 30-45 days longer at White Flint, and then move to a new location at 5500 Wisconsin Avenue, according to an employee.
Everything around T-Mobile and Bruno Cipriani is abandoned and vacant.
The Jewelry Design Co. closed this week, and will open at a new location next week: White Flint Station, at 11614 Rockville Pike, across from the White Flint Metro station.
Finally, the nice food court known as The Eatery has been abandoned. Restaurants that closed there include Sbarro and Texas BBQ Factory. As you can see, the room is clean and in good shape, but no more food is being served. Trash bags cover the former Sbarro. Patrons are being directed to the aforementioned big restaurants at the front of the mall.
It's all quite odd when you consider that Tysons Corner is keeping its mall(s), and simply added the sort of upscale restaurants coming to new developments in White Flint to the mall, rather than demolishing it.
Welcome to the Dark Side.
5 comments:
One good thing about the mall: the post office on the 1st floor is the only in the area to stay open until 6pm (all others are 5pm). I go there if it's after 5 and I need to get something out that day.
Any idea how long they will stay?
It should remain for a while. The USPS has just started the search process for a new post office location for White Flint, and are accepting public input.
This post has a very negative tone but the fact is the world is changing. While metro areas are retaining one or two major malls, the rest are closing nationwide as the culture shifts away from auto-based suburbanization.
Change is never easy but replacing a relic of the 70s is a smart longterm strategy.
I don't believe the world is changing that much. Suburbs are growing as fast or faster than urban areas. Montgomery County was far behind Loudoun County on the richest county list this week. The primary reasons malls close is that they are poorly managed, or the landowner is given the power by local zoning to redevelop into an urban town center. A culture in which 85% of people drive is not one that suggests it has shifted away from "auto-based suburbanization." Suburbs continue to hold the advantage for people who want to raise children, be away from crime and noise, and not be surrounded by concrete canyons.
When will they close pf Chang before the Reno ???
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