The department store chain fought the mall's owners to stop their greedy, hasty plan to pull the plug on the fully-leased mall, where the parking lots were jam-packed and diners had long waits for seating at popular restaurants like The Cheesecake Factory and P.F. Chang's.
Then they sued the heck out of the mall owners for a clear breach of contract. The court system correctly determined that the owners had royally violated the contract it signed with Lord & Taylor decades ago that required them to keep the mall intact and operating.
Lord & Taylor won bigtime, with a huge cash award. The valiant effort - along with Montgomery County's moribund economy, County elected officials' utterly-humiliating failure to win the Amazon HQ2 for White Flint in an all-or-nothing Hail Mary pass, and the resulting capstone of the total collapse of the vaunted White Flint sector plan vision - has ground the property owners' "town center" plans to a halt.
Not only has Lord & Taylor winningly kept its White Flint store open next to the overgrown field where the mall once stood, but now it has scored another greatest hit. At Lakeforest Mall, where the chain's new owners have decided to close that store, Lord & Taylor has posted a most-interesting sign.
The sign pays tribute to Lakeforest Mall, another mall falling victim to not only greed, but the decline of Montgomery County in general. But it saves the best for last: It directs Gaithersburg customers to the Lord & Taylor at "White Flint Mall." Not only does this warm the hearts of White Flint Mall fans, but it's technically correct. Lord & Taylor's building was part of White Flint Mall, and it remains standing. Thus, it is still White Flint Mall.
“But let it be. Horatio, I am dead;
Thou livest; report me and my cause aright
To the unsatisfied.”
41 comments:
Haha, we clearly live in two different realities if you think that the parking lots were jam packed!
5:18: You did live in a different city at the time, so I'm not surprised you wouldn't know. #carpetbagger
Reality check: If you were dining at White Flint Mall at dinner time, you had to drive around searching, and then walk back to the mall from a far-away parking space up until the time Lerner pulled the plug.
#Facts
Lord & Taylor 1, White Flint Mall and coffee tables being body slammed through 0
Every day more confirmation that MoCo has the same problems as the rest of the country.
White Flint Mall was doomed from the moment Federated Stores decided to build a Bloomingdales at the former Hecht's in Friendship Heights way back in 2006.
Borders closed. Bloomingdales closed. 2 out of 3 anchors closed. No chance of getting any others to replace them.
5:48: We're last in the region by every economic development benchmark, so, no, Loudoun, Fairfax, Arlington, etc. are not experiencing the moribundity we are in Montgomery.
5:54: I beg to differ. Plenty of malls find replacement anchor tenants. Lerner didn't want to.
Montgomery County love it or leave it
Tysons Galleria - lost Macy's
Fair Oaks - lost Sears
Dulles Town Center - lost Nordstrom's
Landmark Mall - everything closed except Sears
Ballston Common - everything closed except Macy's
5:58: And all of those areas and counties are still destroying us on every economic front.
There was a way for Lerner to keep the core mall and essentially rebuild around Lord & Taylor.
There are actually several examples of this right in our region- such as Ballston Common Mall becoming the new Ballston Quarter. The mall is essentially brand new with some of the core parts retained such as Macy's. Very urban with a great new gym, restaurants, movies, etc.
If Lerner had taken that route, we probably would have seen White Flint Quarter by now instead of the hole in the ground being zealously guarded by mall cops.
White Flint Mall could have been re-imagined.
6:05: Yes, that would have been financially the best decision for them. Westfield is now taking that approach at Montgomery Mall. First get a viable town center running, *then* think about demolishing the mall itself.
It's telling that several of the architects and leading voices of the new White Flint either
(A) Don't live in White Flint and have never lived or spent meaningful time there
(B) Quickly and quietly left town
Reminds me of the "Bethesda Plan" online polls where folks in DC and Arlington were weighing in on what Norfolk Ave should look like.
I guess they took 5:58's advice and "left it"
Saith Dyer: "Plenty of malls find replacement anchor tenants. Lerner didn't want to."
Macy's: already at Montgomery Mall and Wheaton Plaza. Not an option.
Nordstrom's: already at Montgomery Mall. Not an option.
JCPenney: already at Wheaton Plaza. Not an option.
Target: already at Montrose Crossing and Wheaton Plaza. Not an option.
Costco: already at Wheaton Plaza. Not an option.
Walmart: they don't do malls.
Hecht's, Woodward & Lothrop, Garfinckel's, Raleigh's, Wards - all gone.
Saith Dyer: "First get a viable town center running, *then* think about demolishing the mall itself."
Ballston Common was demolished to create the town center.
Addition to 6:46 AM -
Sears (marginally viable in 2011) - already had stores in Montgomery Mall and White Oak.
5:18 here again- Dyer you seem to know so much about where I am from? Please share. FYI native MOCO resident here. So maybe better off keeping your smart ass comments to yourself.
If any part of that parking lot was full it was the 200 spaces in front by Rockville Pike. Drive 2 seconds to the garage and you had your pick. Anyway, I dont know why I am arguing about this...except to prove that you have no idea what you are talking about.
7:39: Now you admit the front parking lot was full. The next step is admitting there were many more than "200 spaces" across the front of the mall.
"fully-leased mall"
Utter lie. White Flint was moribund for years before Lerner started terminating leases. Two of the largest tenants, Bloomingdales had left and Borders had closed. Lerner may be greedy, but they took the correct preemptive action. And its kind of dumb to parrot greedy failed developer Donald Trump's talking points but reject the driving force behind capitalism.
"The sign pays tribute to Lakeforest Mall, another mall falling victim to not only greed"
How was greed involved in the Lakeforest situation? The mall was bleeding red and eventually entered receivership.
I went to White Flint one Tuesday evening to shop for a party dress, after they'd announced the mall would eventually close but before it actually did. It was empty. Store employees were so happy to see me and I got great service. I do remember full parking lots back in the day, but it was far from full the last time I visited. Lakeforest Mall has long been languishing, but again, I don't think it's fair to extrapolate from the death of a mall the state of the rest of the County's economy. Malls everywhere are dying. The "I told you so" tone is off-putting.
Lakeforest Mall sold for $100 million in 2012.
Lakeforest Mall sold for $19.1 million in August 2017.
Lakeforest Mall sold for $4 million in January 2019.
"Falling victim to greed" isn't a very plausible explanation for this.
8:24/8:01: Greed was only one factor at Lakeforest - the failure to attract and resign tenants. The County, and the Lakeforest area in particular, have been allowed to become undesirable destinations by the County Council. Crime and declining surroundings were not issues at White Flint.
Just because the price went down doesn't mean they weren't greedy!
MoCo is in decline. "The first step is admitting you have a problem."
Lakeforest is a victim of mismanagement or willful neglect.
There is a good population to support a retail/restaurant/entertainment center there.
I read on Sam Eig that there are some green shoots as the Gaithersburg Mayor and Council focus on working with the new mall owners.
http://sameig.blogspot.com/2019/08/gaithersburg-mayor-and-council-to.html
8:40 AM False statement, but you need to continue your false narrative.
Same lies you've posted for years, under "anonymous" here.
@ 8:54 - How is @ 8:40 a "false statement/narrative"? What do you know about Robert Dyer's employment history that I don't?
Let’s stand back and look at the big picture. The fools who attack Dyer as a hobby may be ignored.
Dyer is right about White Flint. It was a vibrant mall. What a loss.
Dyer is right about the need for an outer beltway and more business-friendly policies. We are a dormitory, not a walk-to-work community.
Dyer is right about the poor night-time economy.
It’s telling that the fools put up a smokescreen instead of engaging on these issues.
9:34AM so your opinion and Dyer's match. Aren't you special.
What do you have to say about all his lies?
@ 9:51 AM Dyer lies?
I think you're mistaking Dyer as Hans Riemer, and "The Montgomery Way"
Sadly, Hudson's Bay Company is selling Lord and Taylor to online clothing rental company, Le Sac. Presumably, Le Sac is looking for top line retail locations to augment its online rentals.
Hudson's Bay Company also owns Saks Fifth Avenue and Saks Off Fifth.
Saks Off Fifth is closing or has already closed at least 20 stores this year.
Shopping malls are closing nationwide and are a prime indicator of the end of the era where folks would actually get off their butts to go shop. These days, if you can't find it on Amazon, you don't need it.
Dyer, bless your heart. You are just batshit crazy, you know that?
7:36pm back from tapping your foot in the Lakeforest men's room stall?
What, specifically, did the County Council do to "allow the Lakeforest area to become an undesirable destination"?
And what, specifically, would you have done to prevent this from happening, had you been elected to the County Council in 2018, 2014, or 2010?
9:42: Have you looked at a Lost Knife/Lakeforest Transit Center crime report recently?
Specifically, I would have elected a tough-on-crime Councilman like me, who wouldn't recruit, harbor, aid, abet and actively partner with gangs like our current and recent-past Councils. A Councilman who wouldn't ignore a 53% spike in rape in 2018, until it becomes an embarrassing national scandal for the county. A Councilman who would restore Lakeforest Mall to the family-friendly and popular destination it was in the 1980s.
We need to more forward not backwards. You are backwards.
5:28am turning our County into a bedroom community is backwards. We need new leadership.
I used to work at White Flint mall. The parking lot was never jam packed, at least not during the mall’s later years.
Regional malls are dying all over the country, this is hardly unique to properties owned by the Lerners or under the jurisdiction of the Montgomery County Council.
4:41: The front lots absolutely were jam-packed. That's why I had to park in the far away lots, which any mall has for holiday overflow traffic. This was the case until the restaurant anchors closed.
White Flint was not "dying," which is the whole point. Lerner themselves declared it "fully-leased" just prior to pulling the plug. It was a very popular mall until the end, when all the tenants were booted out and it was a maze of shuttered storefronts.
Sat 11July 2020
MrDyer, Lord and Taylor was sold to Le Tote (online fashion renter).
The global covid19 pandemic has devasted L&T (and many others, for example Brooks Brothers is going bankrupt as well). Le Tote has announced all L&T will liquidate. So Lerner wins it seems.
I do hope L&T sells their building to Lerner for as much as possible.
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