Chevy Chase Pavilion, like many businesses on the D.C. side of the line in Chevy Chase, hasn't been spared from the cratering of retail in Friendship Heights. As many of Montgomery County's wealthiest have fled to greener pastures in lower-tax jurisdictions in the region, they've taken the buying power that kept these gleaming malls and boutiques afloat in previous decades. Instead, Chevy Chase Pavilion is now seeking tenants for many retail and anchor spaces.
Empty storefronts are now a common sight along what was once touted as "Montgomery County's Rodeo Drive." Boutiques that were mainstays from the Kennedy to the Obama administration suddenly were closing their doors. But on the D.C. side, Lord & Taylor has closed. Mazza Gallerie is going to be torn down. And Chevy Chase Pavilion is struggling.
Chevy Chase Pavilion still has a lot going for it. Architecturally, the mall's interior is spectacular. The grand atrium is still a jaw-dropper, even if you wouldn't want to be in there during a hailstorm. J. Crew remains open. There are practical tenants like CVS Pharmacy. And they have The Cheesecake Factory, one of my favorite restaurants.
It's long been clear a new direction is needed to revive Friendship Heights, and Montgomery County in general. Unfortunately, with nine councilmembers each having taken thousands of dollars in contributions from developers, they are predictably telling us that more luxury apartments are the answer. They're not.
Friendship Heights needs more boardrooms, not more bedrooms - high-paying jobs and corporate headquarters that can boost County revenues, allowing us to lower the tax burden on residents, and bring back the money that can sustain high-end retail. New hotels could bring tourists and business travelers (might help to attract business first, though!) to fill shops and restaurants, people who would not generate the high costs in school construction and County services that apartment dwellers will.
Or, we can just keep going the way we've been going, and hope for another well-timed federal bailout every few years. Dumb luck isn't a fiscal strategy. The economic cycle will catch up with us eventually. When the music stops, many will be left without a chair.
18 comments:
This is so depressing to look at. What a waste of great real estate.
Utter failure and betrayal by the Corrupt MoCo Cartel.
I remember when the Pavillion opened and its later glory days when Pottery Barn was a must-visit in the area (after a stop at Borders, Eddie Bauer and LNT). This is a pretty remarkable transformation. It's baffling that such a well-heeled area is so poorly retailed.
Why did DC let the MoCo cartel kill shopping malls?? Terrible idea!
Aren't shopping malls dying across the country? Aren't brick and mortar retail spots suffering due to more consumers desiring online and delivery methods, as like a trend everywhere? Its kind of a stretch to say just because wealth is moving out of MoCo that those same folks would still be traipsing through indoor malls - most people aren't doing that anymore.
I do agree that all of the eggs keep being put in the high-end residential basket, but when high paying jobs are white-collar easily-done-at-home jobs, isn't that kinda smart?
I would love to see more business space as opposed to residential, but do the numbers support that? I mean, developers aren't stupid and if there was a market, they would certainly try to profit from it.
I like your site, thanks for keeping it up!
4:47: In the case of Friendship Heights, many of the empty storefronts are in single-level retail buildings, or on the ground floor of residential buildings, so the decline has really been across the board as opposed to just malls.
The decline of malls across the country has been more of a phenomenon of property owners who - now with rezoning - can make bigger profits with residential housing deciding to let their malls lapse, so they have an excuse to redevelop. And of Bain Capital types at the same time snapping up retail chains that are often in malls, sucking the blood out of them for profit, and then throwing the husk away into bankruptcy.
You touch on a key point that is holding us back in Montgomery County. Under our current tax structure and business climate, no, there is little market demand for office space for major corporate tenants in MoCo. In fact, we haven't attracted a single major corporate HQ in a quarter century.
So developers can't blamed for favoring residential until we change the county's direction, to attract high-wage jobs.
Thanks for reading - the site wouldn't exist without readers like you!
Wow
Every county state and city has a blueprint for success
Texas Florida
Yet they choose to go woke tax businesses and families and go broke
Donthey not understand
People can move
Reason why socialism always fails
Cuba and Venezuela were rich but the high earners fled
NYC is failing bc wealthy left the city
Corporations will move to low tax areas
DeSantis is a genius
It's hard to think of a retail operation that hasn't suffered once the private equity guys and gals get involved. Private equity loads these companies up with debt, strips them of their assets, while paying themselves big management fees. Combine this phenomenon with the bottom-line challenges presented by on-line shopping competition, as well as a pandemic or two, and its no wonder the chain mall stores (which used to be known as desirable credit tenants) have failed across the country.
(BTW, DeSantis is no genius, he is just another hypocritical right-wing politician who does not have Florida's best interests at heart.)
The malls in our region that have adapted and have great dining options still have packed parking lots.
Imagine being so removed from reality you think NYC is failing and DeSantis is a genius.
Anyways, these are some cool pics; the indoor space really is impressive. Ultimately, malls simply aren't a destination draw anymore. You've seen a huge proliferation of town centers across MoCo and the region that keep people much more local for dining/shopping/entertainment. People simply aren't going to drive 40 minutes to DC for a mall or 30 minutes to downtown Bethesda for nightlife anymore when you have several new retail clusters spread around the county that are easier to access for most of MoCo's population.
That's not to say Friendship Heights sucks now or Bethesda sucks now, it just means the county has grown and improved and they aren't the only game in town anymore. To regain vibrancy, Friendship Heights will either have to add more residents to support the neighborhood's retail or the amount of retail space available will have to be downsized or - most likely - a combination of both will have to occur.
I guess I am not close enough to this to understand how the Montgomery County cartel is somehow responsible for the plight of Friendship Heights. Bethesda seems to be booming, and is not that same cartel overseeing that expansion? Or the development at the corner of CT Avenue and Jones Bridge in CC, MD, which looks like it is copying Reston Town Center. Again, that area looks like it will be popular.
Same comment...if all the $$$s have fled to lower tax jurisdictions, why is Bethesda (only 1.5 miles up the road) booming?
I think Friendship Heights suffers from a hodgepodge of different owners and different jurisdictions, since it straddles the DC / MD line. It was also very clearly hammered by the pandemic. There does not seem to be any reasonable way to tie together the vacant Lord & Taylor, Geico (I believe that will be sold or has been sold?), the parking lot between L&T and Mazza, Mazza, CC Pavilion and the stores on the MD side. Would also be great to put the huge Saks parking lot to a better use. Seems like a ton of space, but all different owners with different perspectives.
Hate to say it, but I think the area needs a Costco or something equivalent (maybe at L&T site?) to bring people to the area and serve as an anchor. Wheaton Mall is maybe a template
6:56: Bethesda is only booming in residential development, which is not generating enough revenue to cover the costs in County services that new residential is requiring. The Chevy Chase Lake development you refer to is the same, primarily residential. What has caused the County's structural budget deficit - along with out-of-control spending - is the failure to attract the commercial and high-wage corporate HQ revenue.
The movement of wealth from Montgomery County to lower-tax jurisdictions in the area is well-documented. We also have not seen the "Rodeo Drive" boutiques that closed in Friendship Heights move to Bethesda. Mainly furniture stores and cookware.
You're right, given the decline in Friendship Heights, that something like Costco might be on the horizon. This would have been inconceivable at the turn of the century.
I think the Rodeo drive concept never made much sense. Those stores all moved to City Center, DC when that opened. Honestly, that concept hindered more Friendship Heights development because those stores are low volume, high $$ stores. They don't invite much casual traffic or window-shopping.
The Pottery Barn and Anthropologie stores moved from Friendship Heights up to Bethesda.
I went to Bethesda on a Saturday night a couple weeks back and the place was jammed and humming. Tons of people at the various restaurants. I look at the Apple Store, North Face, etc. and see a place that looks dynamic. Not sure what constitutes a furniture or cookware store.
I am not sure how you are defining Wealth. I am acquainted with many families earning say $300k - $1MM (think lawyers, doctors, consultants, tech folks) who have the ability (especially with the pandemic and more ability to remote work) to move elsewhere and have not gone anywhere. These folks live in both Upper NW DC and Montgomery County, MD.
12:54: While the flight of the rich is real and I've documented the specific dollars amounts they've taken to each of the competing jurisdictions in our area, of course not every wealthy person has left. Some certainly have a philanthropic or ideological motivation to stay rather than pay lower taxes; some prefer their home or neighborhood, and as a wealthy person, have the luxury to stay at greater cost.
You mentioned a couple of the furniture stores, and Williams Sonoma is a high-end cookware and home goods retailer. My point in that regard is, we haven't seen the high-end fashion boutiques from the Collection at Chevy Chase move over to Bethesda. A sizable chunk of their clientele has simply migrated to other counties. As far as window shopping, that's the definition of Louis Vuitton or Jimmy Choo.
The first step is admitting we have a problem, and that our elected officials are not as talented and virtuous as they and their friends in the local press have suggested they are.
The Apple Store is the definition of window shopping...tons of people going there just to play with the new toys and not planning to purchase and the store and staff completely accepting that is the case.
No one window shops at a Louis Vuitton or Jimmy Choo...heck, a salesperson will probably chase you off with a stick if you try do so. Those stores are designed to have very few people make very high ticket purchases. If you ever go by one of those stores, they are nearly always empty, because again, that is their business model. Super high level of attention and customer service for the people that want to spend those $$$s, but no interest in casual shoppers.
In any event...I would take the corruption or whatever is needed to transform Friendship Heights into Bethesda.
7:23: The corruption is what led to the decline of Friendship Heights in the first place. Apple stores are all over America, and people go in and play with the gadgets at all of them, even in areas with lower income than ours.
"Window shopping" is just window shopping, of which you can do very little of at an Apple store because they don't have window displays. High-end department stores and boutiques do have window displays where people can window shop after a meal at Clyde's or Little Beet Table. Alas, they've all closed in Friendship Heights.
"In fact, we haven't attracted a single major corporate HQ in a quarter century. "
How about, we even lost what the County called 'The Crown Jewel" of Silver Spring, Discovery. It's embarrassing. Residential does not pay the freight, it's actually a burden to the county.
Our elected officials are taking bribes from the wrong people!
Any update on the Judicial Watch Lawsuit trying to prevent Covid $$ from going to illegals in the County? Thanks
https://www.judicialwatch.org/deep-dive/jw-battle-md/
Sorry, but you just don't see the type of retail acropolis in Florida and Texas. Malls and retail are thriving. Low taxes ,no income state tax. The only people you should blame is yourselves for re electing these morons into office and instead of staying here and trying to fix it.You guys hi tail it to Florida and Texas and leave these areas to die.
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