Mazza Gallerie is officially a dead mall in the Friendship Heights neighborhood of Chevy Chase. The last store at the mall, TJ Maxx, has closed after its final holiday shopping season. Mazza Gallerie's new owner isn't wasting a minute in moving ahead with demolition and redevelopment of the mall property.
Construction barriers were placed along the Wisconsin Avenue side of the site Friday. 44th Street, behind the mall, will close to traffic on December 27, 2022.
Although it's hard for those who have relocated here more recently to believe, Mazza Gallerie was once a successful and busy mall. Alas, with the flight of the rich to lower tax jurisdictions in our region, the high-end retail area of Friendship Heights lost its most-generous shopaholic benefactors. Mazza Gallerie on the D.C. side, along with the Wisconsin Avenue strip once called "Montgomery County's Rodeo Drive," were the victims of two decades of failed leadership by the Montgomery County Council. The county's corrupt political cartel has controlled a majority of the seats on the Council since 2002, a period which saw that "Rodeo Drive" turn into a strip of vacant storefronts and smashed-out bus shelters.
Crooks have a solid grip on the future of Montgomery County, but they can't change the past. The golden age of Mazza Gallerie will always be remembered, much like White Flint Mall and, soon, Lakeforest Mall. "Greed, for lack of a better word, is good."
“But let it be. Horatio, I am dead;
Thou livest; report me and my cause aright
To the unsatisfied.”
15 comments:
With Mazza Gallerie and the large mixed use project across the street on the east side of Wisconsin fully located in DC, why do you blame the Montgomery County Council for their demise?
8:36: The businessses on the DC side of the line were patronized by the same people as those on the Maryland side. All were dependant upon the wealthy clientele from Montgomery County.
What is to replace Mazza Galleria and what about the small mall across the street that was connected by the metro tunnel? Is that still around? Dang I haven't been down there since Hect's closed...
Two large residential over retail mixed-use projects are proposed on each side of Wisconsin in Friendship Heights.
Robert, don’t you think that lots of very wealthy residents from NW DC also chose not to patronize Mazza Gallerie? Obviously even City Center and City Ridge in DC is struggling to attract and maintain high end retail tenants. Of course Montgomery County contributes greatly to the customer base of Chevy Chase/Friendship Heights, but it seems unfair to blame a neighboring city on Mazza’s demise. Brick and mortar retail across the country is struggling to survive.
Gotta go, and pick up my Amazon Prime free shipping deliveries…
10:39: My hunch is you'll see a lot of hotel/dorm/corporate use of the new apartments, and the retail downstairs will be downmarket from the Rodeo Drive era, such as what we've seen in recent openings in Friendship Heights. Fewer champagne bottles and more kombucha.
9:24: Steve, a mixed-use development is planned for the Mazza site, and the same for another property owned by Federal Realty on the east side of Wisconsin. Chevy Chase Pavilion is still there, along with the newer Wisconsin Place development.
I see that "smashed-out bus shelter" will never die.
Chevy Chase Pavilion is down to just Cheesecake Factory and a T-Mobile store. But it will be a challenge to redevelop that space since it has a hotel on top of it.
I've watched Mazza Gallerie come and go, and I never remember it as "busy".
Bethesda and Chevy Chase are still being taken over by $3 million McMansions. I doubt that anyone who can afford that mortgage is shopping at the dollar store. I think the retail failures at Friendship Heights are a bit more complex than your scenario.
I saw Ted 2 there in the first row of a jam-packed theatre and laughed my as off with everyone else, especially during the Tom Brady scene!
3:02: John, I won't discount that there could be other contributing factors and trends at work in the decline of Friendship Heights. But I'm referring to the ultra-rich who have left, as opposed to the doctors and lawyers and lobbyists who are buying the McMansions.
When Jacob Sesker was on the County Council staff, he gave an excellent presentation to the Council that showed how just 25 ultra-rich residents who had moved out of the County had accounted for an outsize chunk of tax revenue in the annual budget all by themselves.
His warning was that continuing to raise taxes was going to instead reduce revenues coming in. Of course, the Council proceeded to completely ignore his argument.
The problem specifically with that first block of Wisconsin Avenue in the District is that it is completely dependent on national retail chains which have been struggling since the Bush recession.
Neiman-Marcus - filed for bankruptcy in 2020 and closed 17 stores nationwide.
Filene's Basement - liquidated in 2011; TJ Maxx took over site.
Lord & Taylor - liquidated in 2020-21.
Stein Mart - liquidated in 2020.
Cost Plus World Market - closed dozens of stores in 2019-20.
CVS - closing up to 25% of stores nationwide.
Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids and Williams-Sonoma are alive and well in Bethesda now.
My family left because 3 homes were burglarized in 1 week on our block including a home invasion..
Encroaching violent Crime of DC moving into Bcc is the primary factor of leaving including high taxes. Even Montgomery mall is becoming a crime scene.
I’m not sure any planning efforts can attract or retain the so called “ultra rich”. I’m sure these folks are sure to have their primary residences in some very low tax rate enclave in Florida or off-shore.
I went shopping here and the place was PACKED!!!! https://www.citycenterdc.com/
Just wait until the DC Council passes their new crime bill. Liberals do what liberals do and then blame someone else for poor results.
Poultry Barn?
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