Business & Tech

Plaza's Purchase Puts New Housing in Flux

Crow Holdings, Inc. hasn't indicated whether it will follow through on plan to redevelop the Montgomery Village Plaza.

The future of the re-imagined Montgomery Village Plaza remains obscured as the Dallas-based real estate investment firm that now owns the shopping center has been mum on their intentions.

At issue is a plan to turn the strip mall on Lost Knife and Contour roads into a five-story mix of retail and residential, which the former owner—JBG Rosenfeld Retail—got approved in 2007.

Because that plan lays claim to more than half of Montgomery Village’s unbuilt housing capacity, the July 15 purchase by Crow Holdings could have a ripple effect on housing projects possible under the Village’s unique zoning restrictions—especially the pending sale of the Montgomery Village Golf Course.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

Crow Holdings has not returned several calls from Patch. Neither county planners nor JBGR have an inkling of their plans.

JBGR declined to disclose the terms of the July 15 sale of the shopping center, which the Chevy Chase-based company bought for $18.1 million in 2004. JBGR hatched a plan to turn the 116,000-square-foot Plaza into a mix of condos and retail. The county Planning Board OK’d the two-phase plan in 2007.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

Phase One renovated the façades and parking lot that year. In 2008, JBGR added a 6,000-square-foot building with three storefronts—occupied by Verizon Wireless, Image Sun Tanning and a GameStop.

Phase Two would reduce retail space by more than 20,000 square feet and add 256 condos in four stories on top, plus outdoor plazas, courtyards, an indoor fitness center and an underground parking garage.

The more substantial transformation hasn’t materialized in the three years since.

"Once these improvements were made, they felt it was a good time to sell the asset," Carter Davis, JBGR’s vice president for acquisition and development, wrote in an e-mail.

Although JBGR is staying on as the Plaza’s management and leasing agent, Carter said they are unaware of the new owner’s plans. And the county’s planning department has not heard from Crow Holdings in the three weeks since the purchase, said Joshua Sloan, a county planner-coordinator.

The Plaza’s redevelopment lays claim to most of the "population credits" available under Montgomery Village’s "Town Sector Zone," the county’s only zoning type based on a community-wide population density.

After approving the Gables at Rothbury apartment complex in 2002, county planners determined that Montgomery Village had 686 credits left. The redevelopment of the Montgomery Village Plaza takes up 448 of those credits. The remaining 238 roughly equate to either 64 single-family homes, 80 townhouses or 119 multi-family units.

If Crow Holdings does not follow through on the Plaza’s redevelopment, the 448 population credits will go up for grabs—though Sloan thinks the Town Sector Zone’s "sunset date" in 2015 will hit before any moves are made on the redevelopment.

Tenants of the Montgomery Village Plaza

  • A1 Mailbox Store
  • Armand’s Pizza
  • Beautiful Nails
  • Caribbean Corner
  • Crisp and Juicy
  • Dollar Tree
  • Family Christian Stores
  • Furniture & Rug Depot
  • GameStop
  • Image Sun Tanning
  • Jenny Craig Weight Loss Center
  • Little Caesars
  • Marshalls
  • Mayhan House of Kabob
  • Navy Federal Credit Union
  • Pho & Grill
  • Rent-A-Center
  • Sally Beauty Supply
  • Salon Diva
  • Textures Hair Salon
  • Trader Joe’s
  • Unleashed by PETCO
  • Verizon Wireless
  • Wendy’s


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Montgomery Village