‘Marketplace’ Takes on a Taste of Thai

By this summer, the spices of Southeast Asia will liven up the dining-out menu in Montgomery Village.

Owners of the former Jandara Restaurant in Washington, D.C. signed a lease two weeks ago for a 1,352-square-foot space in the Montgomery Village Marketplace, according to Jay Donegan, CEO of Vienna, Va.-based J Donegan Co., the developer that built and owns the shopping center.

Jandara operated for several years in Woodley Park before being replaced by the newly opened District Kitchen.

The as-yet unnamed Thai restaurant will likely combine dine-in and take-out eating, and should open by this summer, Donegan said—which should roughly line up with the projected opening of the Marketplace’s anchor tenant,

Built on the site of the former Upper Montgomery YMCA just as the economy tanked, the Marketplace has taken more than three years to go from land purchase to planning to construction to occupancy.

The first tenant—a CapitalOne bank—opened in the parking lot early last year, followed soon after by completion of the 25,000-square-foot shopping center’s exterior.

This fall, Errol Dsouza, owner of Stonefish Grill in Largo, inked a lease for 3,100 square feet in the Marketplace nearest the Post Office. GMC Nails—owned by husband-and-wife Can Truong and Mai Nguyen of Maryland Place—opened soon after, followed by Village Cleaners, which specializes in “organic dry cleaning.”

A fourth tenant is at work renovating their 1,100-square-foot space to make way for a Chinese take-out. The owners run Eddie’s Carry Out in the Petworth neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

Donegan is “working with some different prospects,” to fill the three remaining vacancies. But with Stonefish, the Thai restaurant and Eddie’s Carryout opening over the next few months, the Marketplace is finally reaching its fruition.

“It’s taking shape,” Donegan said. “I think by June, we’re going to have a vibrant first phase here. I fully expect that by June we’ll have the outdoor seating in place, there’ll be lots of pedestrian activity, and I think it will fit in the community and satisfy some of that need for restaurants in Montgomery Village.”