TW Perry, the lumber store and building supplier that opened in 1911 in Chevy Chase, will soon close its Connecticut Avenue location and move to Silver Spring ahead of an expected redevelopment project.
The store announced in February that it will move from its 8519 Connecticut Ave. location to a new location at 9015 Brookville Road in Silver Spring.
The move was originally set to happen Monday, but has been delayed because of permitting issues at the Silver Spring location. The Chevy Chase location will remain open for at least this week and an exact moving date isn’t certain, TW Perry marketing manager Jennifer Purdy said Wednesday.
The store’s Chevy Chase location is part of plans for a mixed-use town center from the Chevy Chase Land Co., the developer that owns the shopping center and has its headquarters at the nearby 8401 Connecticut Ave. building.
“We specifically purchased the [Silver Spring] location several years ago to be the new home of TW Perry as the Connecticut Avenue location (along with other parcels surrounding it) will be redeveloped by the Chevy Chase Lane Company,” TW Perry President and CEO Gary Bowman in a press release announcing the move. “First and foremost, the new facility provides a better shopping experience and has more capacity to service our customers.”
An old, undated photo of the TW Perry store (left, via TW Perry) and a rendering of the proposed redevelopment for the site (right, via Chevy Chase Land Co.)
TW Perry bills itself as the largest full-service independent lumber and building materials dealer in the mid-Atlantic region.
Since starting in 1911 in Chevy Chase, it has added locations in Gaithersburg, Baltimore, Annapolis and Virginia. Founder Thomas W. Perry was a charter member of the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rotary Club. The company was eventually sold out of the Perry family in 1999 to Edward Quinn, who is the company’s principal shareholder and chairman.
In its announcement of the move, the company said the larger Silver Spring location will have a design center and easier vehicle access with dedicated entry and exit lanes, “a big improvement compared to TW Perry’s Connecticut Avenue traffic pattern.”
The Chevy Chase Land Co. is moving through the county’s approval process for its redevelopment proposal, which includes three buildings with ground-floor retail and residential units above built around a neighborhood square.
The project would also include a new north-to-south street connecting Manor Road and Chevy Chase Lake Drive.
The existing shopping center that includes the TW Perry store and Chevy Chase Supermarket would be demolished to make way for the project, which includes about 500 residential units and space for a 50,000-square-foot grocery store. Representatives from the Chevy Chase Supermarket haven’t revealed their future plans, including if they’ll seek to move into the new grocery store space.
Chevy Chase Land Co. expects to start construction on the project in 2017.
