The Gaithersburg City Council on Monday questioned a developer’s intent to use his property for a single purpose — a distribution center for Amazon.
Frederick-based Matan Companies bought the former Leidos campus at 700 N. Frederick Ave. in early 2019. Initially, the plan was to develop the site into a mixed-use property. But Amazon later approached Matan with the idea of building a $92 million distribution center that would create up to 850 jobs.
Neither Amazon nor Matan has publicly acknowledged Amazon’s interest in the property. But a site plan and overview has multiple references to a project there for Amazon, as well as the company’s logo on a building proposed there.
Matan submitted a sketch plan, the first step in the development process, in August 2019. It specified that the property would contain multiple buildings for multiple uses.
But this year, Matan submitted a new sketch plan that states “the redevelopment of the property may contain one or more uses.”
If a sketch plan is approved, the project would move to the schematic development stage, then a final site plan.
The property is currently in Gaithersburg’s MXD, or mixed-use, zone, but was previously zoned for industrial and office park uses. Under an annexation agreement in the 1990s, Matan may develop the property according to the old zoning standards.
The sketch plan states that the property could be used for “one or more buildings, with a building containing one or more uses,” but Managing Partner Mark Matan was more specific when addressing the council on Monday.
“The reason I’m here tonight is simple. We are clarifying our right to build a single building with a single use on the site,” he said.
Later during the meeting, Council Member Mike Sesma expressed confusion about the intent of the property.
“I’m trying to figure out what the real mix of uses is going to be here,” he said. “Because it seemed that there was an argument for maximizing or optimizing flexibility, there was also an argument made that a single use would certainly be appropriate given the flexibility that you have. So I’d like to hear a little more about the mix of uses.”
Matan responded by telling council members that he didn’t want to give specifics about the use of the property yet.
“Today, we’re trying to clarify that if the user does come down the pike and it’s a single-user, then it would also qualify,” he said. “Or if we build a building that has [multiple users] one day, and the next time the building’s torn down and a single-user takes the building, then we still qualify.
“It’s giving us tools in the toolbox. I hope to be before you with a specific user or uses. That is the goal of what I do. … Tonight, I’ve got to get through this procedural step, a step that I told you before is costing me and this project a lot of time.”
Earlier in the meeting, Matan urged the council to move vote on the sketch plan, so the project could move forward to the next phase. City Attorney Lynn Board said that because the council hadn’t posted a notice before the meeting about taking action, it couldn’t vote.
In an April 27 email to the city, Matan wrote that Amazon — which he referred to as “PS,” short for “Project Summit – Amazon” — has said the “schedule/solution is not satisfactory.” Matan’s letter says that having to get a revised sketch plan approved could lead to a delay in the delivery date and “create substantial issues for PS.”
Mayor Jud Ashman said on Monday that he thinks Matan has a good reputation, but he wants to have additional discussions before moving forward.
“Here we have arguably the most important, most visible property in the city of Gaithersburg. And we have a sketch plan that we approved last year with a mix of uses. And the delta is the ability to go from a mix of uses to a single use. And that’s sort of a deeper question for us,” he said.
“I’m not sure there’s a right or wrong answer here, but before we commit on this extremely important piece of property, I think it bears some further discussion in terms of, is this the best vision for it?”
Members of the city’s planning board, who were also at Monday night’s meeting, said they also would like to have a joint work session with the council in late July. The planning commission advises the council on whether to move forward.
The council and planning commission will next discuss the property on July 27. The public record will be held open indefinitely.
Dan Schere can be reached at daniel.schere@moco360.media