The Dark Side of White Flint, Part 26
Welcome to The Dark Side of White Flint, an ongoing series about the not-so-wonnerful, wonnerful, wonnerful side of urbanizing the suburbs of Montgomery County.
First it was announced this week that the White Flint Mall U.S. Post Office would close this Saturday, April 12. Then we learned Ted Lerner's own brother, Leonard Lerner, filed suit against the mall's management and ownership to stop the mall's demolition, saying it violates the terms of the 1975 partnership agreement (in which Leonard holds a 2% stake, according to the Washington Business Journal). And I'm backing Leonard on this, just as I support Lord & Taylor and Dave and Buster's efforts to stop the demolition.
Now it gets really weird. Check out this screenshot:
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| Here's the screen I got when loading the official White Flint Mall website last night |
Yesterday, the White Flint Mall website disappeared. And, as best as I can tell, so did their Facebook page. A mall Twitter account remains online, but has not tweeted since 2011 (and only tweeted 12 times when it was operational).
Does this mean the mall is about to shutter for good?
There is conflicting evidence. Note that the Friends of White Flint article mentions the USPS had to vacate, because "demolition planned for their mall space prevents them from staying any longer." That is a very significant statement.
But last night, I called Dave and Buster's and P.F. Chang's, the two remaining restaurant tenants. Employees who answered said both restaurants would be open today, and this weekend, as usual. Since the USPS is open this Saturday, too, that may well be the case.
What about beyond this weekend? Remember when Hamburger Hamlet employees insisted they were not closing, hours before the entire contents of the restaurant were due to auctioned off?
Stay tuned!
Read more in this series:
Part 26: The final hours of Mid-Pike Plaza.
Part 1: White Flint Mall Phase 1 demolition photos.
The domain is registered through 2016 but all DNS records seem to have disappeared. No more web host to even look for.
ReplyDeletetoo bad that the judge gave the absurd ruling about distance of the other regional D&B location. As if anyone living in this area will be driving 30 miles to get to the other one... We went last week, and the "now hiring" sign is still up on their front door. The staff, when we asked about the closure told us, too, that they are simply working until told to close up. The stress for those folks has to be intense.
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