For 45 years until closing in 2023, Lakeforest Mall served as an entertainment and employment hub for the Gaithersburg community and other Montgomery County residents. Now the 100-acre mall property will be reborn as a mixed-use development featuring housing and space for businesses, retail, restaurants and entertainment.
On Sept. 26, the Gaithersburg City Council and Mayor Jud Ashman unanimously approved redevelopment plans calling for the construction of 1,600 housing units along with 1.2 million square feet of entertainment, recreation and commercial space.
“It feels great to get to a point where we may be helping [the property] once again achieve its potential,” Ashman told MoCo360 on Thursday. “I feel like a lot of my work in elected office in Gaithersburg has been leading to this moment.”
Ashman recalled that when he unsuccessfully ran for office in Gaithersburg for the first time in 2005, he spoke with residents about his “wish list” for the city. The potential redevelopment and revitalization of the Lakeforest Mall site was high on that list for the council candidate.
With the approved plans, the former mall now heads for demolition beginning in early 2025, according to Ashman and WRS Inc. Real Estate Investments, the mall property’s owner and developer.
Kevin Rogers, principal at WRS Inc. Real Estate Investments, told MoCo360 on Friday that he expects the demolition process to begin in the first quarter of 2025 and the process could take up to 14 months to complete.
After demolition, Rogers estimated the construction of the project could take up to six years.
But before construction can begin, the Planning Commission must approve the developer’s final site plans for the project, according to Ashman. The developer has not submitted the final site plans yet.
Housing, jobs, entertainment and shopping
A large portion of the redevelopment is dedicated to housing. Plans for the 1,600 units call for a mix of multifamily apartment buildings, two-over-two stacked condos, triplexes and townhomes, according to planning documents. Fifteen percent of the 1,600 units will be classified as affordable for rent or purchase per city requirements for new developments, according to Ashman.
Gaithersburg City Councilmember Lisa Henderson told MoCo360 that she was most excited about the number of housing units included in the project.
“There are many things we could have done with this land, particularly in this climate of the housing crisis that we’re in [and] we see across the country. Gaithersburg is doing an exceptional job of building more housing supply and this keeps us not just on track but exceeding our goals,” she said.
The project also includes 750,000 square feet of office space for a variety of industries such as medical offices, life sciences, research and development, and light manufacturing, planning documents stated.
“Whether it’s people in white lab coats or that stare [into] the microscope all day or twirl a beaker and make vaccines, whatever they do, they’ll be able to walk out the door of their building to a whole universe of restaurants, shopping, entertainment. They can live there if they choose,” Rogers said.
In addition, the plans include 250,000 square feet of large-format retail space, 220,000 square feet for commercial and entertainment uses, and 30,000 square feet for civic uses such as parks and a community center.
Also proposed for the site is a new transit center. Rogers said WRS plans to sell a portion of the property to the county to construct the new facility. Currently, there is a transit facility for buses on the site on Lost Knife Road at Odendhal Avenue.
A shared vision
Henderson said approval of the plans was quite the “feat” because it involved ensuring that the redevelopment fit the city’s master plan as well as the needs of residents.
Gaithersburg residents engaged with city officials on the future of the mall, Ashman said, at levels he had never seen before for other city endeavors or legislation.
“I’ve been at this for 17 years, I’ve never seen that much public feedback,” Ashman said. “It means so much to so many people, not just in Gaithersburg but in Montgomery Village.”
Lakeforest Mall opened in 1978 and was an important employment hub and popular meeting space for Gaithersburg and county residents for more than four decades. It closed in March 2023 due to changing retail habits and low tenancy. In the years leading up to the closure, the mall experienced a spate of crime, including the fatal stabbing of a T-Mobile employee and a fatal shooting in the parking lot.
Recognizing the decades-long role the mall played in the lives of many local residents, Rogers said the development’s name will include “Lakeforest” in some capacity.
“It may just be Lakeforest. It may be Lakeforest and some other words, I don’t know, but keeping that name is important because of the emotional connection,” Rogers said.
For Henderson, who grew up in Gaithersburg, that connection stems from the hours she spent hanging out with friends and family and learning how to ice skate at the mall.
“We’d hang out there all day. We’d get ice cream, go to the movies, walk around for hours because other friends were there, rival schools were there,” she said. “To see it revitalized into something that will again be a place for the community, I am most excited about. I can’t put a rating on that one.”
