A three-building, 476-unit mixed-use project coming to White Flint has county Planning Board approval and a new name.
Gables Pike District, the project formerly known as Gables White Flint, will bring 521,000 square feet of new development on 5 acres between Old Georgetown Road and a realigned Executive Boulevard.
The project includes three interconnected buildings, two new streets and a new parking garage that developer Gables said will serve retail customers and residents as well as users of the adjacent Kennedy Shriver Aquatic Center.
The developer said Friday that construction on the parking garage is expected to begin early next year after the Planning Board granted it two key approvals April 30.
A spokesperson for the developer said Gables would be open to discussing the idea of letting aquatic center patrons use the parking garage, but there is no formal agreement with the county yet.
The county plans to build a new Wall Park on the existing surface parking lot that serves the aquatic center. The idea is to replace that parking area with reserved spots in the new garage.
Spokesperson Tammy Murphy said Gables is supplying the land for the county to build its portion of the garage to serve a new Wall Park, but the park project and a planned new recreation center haven’t been funded.
“The county portion will be connected to the Gables portion, and parking areas will be reconfigured once the county portion delivers,” Murphy said.
Construction on the first residential building isn’t slated to start until 2017. Gables must wait for the county to realign Executive Boulevard, which now runs diagonally through the property.
Gables also decided to switch out the “White Flint” in the project’s name. The project will now be known as Gables Pike District.
Pike District is the new moniker created by Bethesda real estate and marketing firm Streetsense and endorsed by an advisory group of community leaders, developers and county officials.
Images via Gables Pike District
