At a yet-undetermined future date, SunTrust will then move downstairs into the ground floor of the Kenwood Professional Building at 5272 River, where Gaylords Lamps & Shades is currently located. As I reported earlier this month, Gaylords is planning to move to downtown Bethesda this fall. If you've lived here more than about five or six years, you will recall that ground floor space with the little circular driveway used to be a bank.
SunTrust's announcement is another small, but interesting, clue about where Westwood Shopping Center owner Regency Center's thinking is these days. It's also a curious move by SunTrust. They're sure to lose some customers by virtue of the new, drive-thru-less location. But they did not necessarily have to make this move.
The part of the shopping center where SunTrust is located is not supposed to be demolished until the new Giant building opens. Theoretically, some of the existing tenants on SunTrust's side of the center could then move over to the retail spaces in that building. But SunTrust is choosing to move early.
So there's some room for speculation here. Is Regency still not meeting with existing tenants and spelling out all the terms for their future in detail? Will they indeed offer a below-market-rate rent to those tenants (not that SunTrust would need a lower rent)? Will they indeed be able to move over to new spaces before demolition of their current storefronts? Has the staging plan changed?
Stay tuned.
Last I heard, the very capable and friendly pharmacy staff at the Westwood Rite Aid have been told nothing.
ReplyDeleteThe Nighttime Economy Task Force strikes again
ReplyDeleteRoberts Question was, Is Regency still not meeting with existing tenants and spelling out all the terms for their future in detail? Will they indeed offer a below-market-rate rent to those tenants? As a business owner in the Westwood shopping center, I can tell you that Regency has told us Tenants NOTHING and have not met with Regency for over a year. We are told nothing. And as far as having below market rent in the new building, that made me laugh out loud. Regency stated when they bought this property and the property manager stated rents would go up and we would be charge market rent.
ReplyDelete8:31: That, too, is interesting because Rite-Aid should be one of the first to go once permits are pulled - if they are sticking to the staging shown to the public.
ReplyDelete8:43: That is important for people to know, because Equity One and now Regency represented the situation quite differently in the community meetings - while always using legal, vague language to avoid actually committing to anything. If they charge the small businesses full market rate, then they have no intention of bringing them back. They ought to have told the community that upfront.
ReplyDelete"Gaylords is planning to move to downtown Bethesda this fall. If you've lived here more than about five or six years, you will recall that ground floor space with the little circular driveway used to be a bank."
ReplyDeleteIf you've lived here longer than that, you will recall that Gaylords used to be in downtown Bethesda.
8:53: Yes, in fact, I broke the story about their move to River Road from that downtown location.
ReplyDeleteThat has to be the most uninviting bank drive-thru lane I have ever seen.
ReplyDeleteMoving to the Kenwood office building gives them much more visibility than their present location - right on River Road and not some cul-de-sac. Given that the landlord of that building is not the same as that of the shopping center, it's probably not related to the redevelopment.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it may be related to the recent merger of SunTrust and BB&T.
Have you contacted any of the parties involved?
I'm surprised TD Bank hasn't set up in that part of Bethesda yet.
ReplyDeleteWonder if Robert has a shorter or longer walk to the Suntrust to check his trust fund? Daddy's patent(s) = Rehhhtard
ReplyDeleteClosing at noon on a Tuesday? That seems weird.
ReplyDelete10:59 AM - Equidistant. :)
Landlords offering tenants below-market rates? Why, that's a subsidy - just like what our Communist County Council would do.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of a bank being on the 7th floor of a building, let alone the 2nd floor of any building. I expect Dyer to be scooped once again on the real story.
ReplyDelete7:35: My source is SunTrust Bank itself, dumbass.
ReplyDelete10:59/11:45: Your comments (both posted by you) have been screen-captured for law enforcement and legal proceedings. It included your typical, "I know where you live, etc." threat, as well as being part of your ongoing campaign of harassment, cyberbullying, defamation and stalking. Each of those carries about a two-year sentence in federal prison, and we also have the new state law on cyberbullying.
Hope you like wearing orange.
By the way, I don't have a bank account at SunTrust Bank, dumbass.
10:02: Information directly from SunTrust. If it was related to the merger, they would have just closed the bank, Greenspan.
Are you a professional or not?
DeleteYou said dumbass twice in a post where you accused somebody else of cyber bullying. Try acting like an adult. Simply delete any post you don’t like. Keeping them and your responding with cheap insults only makes you look weak.
Greenspans will not replace Robert!
7:27: You probably did not realize the troll I was replying to continues to stalk, threaten, and dox me online. "Dumbass" is a very, very mild response to someone who is threatening me, and running background checks on me and even my relatives. Law enforcement will do much more to him than call him "dumbass."
ReplyDeleteThe comment about the Plaza reminded me - I saw The Twins on Sunday afternoon. But no longer wearing their distinctive Brunhilda wigs.
ReplyDelete9:52: "You simply can't" realize that you look like a psycho nutjob, cyberstalking and cyberbullying me on here every day of the week.
ReplyDeleteYou've posted over 100 troll comments THIS MORNING ALONE, even after being asked to cease and desist and to no longer post on this website.