Business & Tech

Speak Out: Do Malls Have a Future in Montgomery County?

Do shopping malls have a place in a more urban Montgomery County?

This article was written and reported by Patch editor Whitney Teal.

With plans to redevelop City Place Mall in downtown Silver Spring and White Flint Mall in North Bethesda, the state of malls in Montgomery County is an uncertain one. 

According to a report by BeyondDC, three malls in the county have closed and redeveloped into other spaces, including White Flint. Four malls remain: City Place, Westfield Wheaton, Westfield Montgomery in Bethesda and Lakeforest in Gaithersburg. 

City Place may get a makeover and some retrofitting to make the 21-year-old shopping center more suitable for the urban neighborhood, but it will still, essentially, be a mall. White Flint, on the other hand, will go from a traditional enclosed mall to a mixed-use, urban development.

In Prince George's, five malls have closed and four are open. In Fairfax, VA, only three malls remain. 

All of which has some people asking, "What's the future of malls in suburbia?"

You tell us: Do malls have a place in a more modern, urban Montgomery County? Would you like to see your local mall redeveloped into some other use of space? 


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