Lakeforest Sale Happened ‘Unbeknownst to City,’ Gaithersburg Mayor Says
Gaithersburg Mayor Jud Ashman commented on the news that the “core of Lakeforest [Mall] was sold” has been sold to WRS Inc., a South Carolina retail shopping center developer.
During an interview with MyMCMedia on Wednesday, Ashman said that Gaithersburg city officials were left in the dark about the recent sale to WRS Inc.
Ashman also explained why it’s been challenging for Lakeforest Mall to redevelop over the years.
Ashman said, “Lakeforest looks like one property, but it’s actually five different properties with four different owners. So the core mall was the part that was sold, the others are still owned by their respective owners.”
If any change is made to the property, all owners need to be on board with the redevelopment plans, Ashman said.
Before learning about the latest sale, Ashman said city officials were talking about the future of the mall.
“We were engaging in our own process, where we were talking about creating a special study area for Lakeforest and doing some more intensive master planning to make sure that when somebody does come in and either acquire all the pieces, or when the property owners can agree, that the way it would redevelop is in a way that is spectacular and outstanding and what we want for the City of Gaithersburg.”
Gaithersburg city officials were supposed to talk about a resolution that would impose an 18-month moratorium on the Lakeforest property on Monday, but after the new owner contacted Ashman, the resolution was pushed back on the agenda for another two weeks.
FYI – at the request our staff and the new owner of the core mall, the Lakeforest Mall agenda item was deferred for 2 weeks and the plan is to have it on the agenda at our August 19 meeting.
— Jud Ashman (@judashman) August 6, 2019
Gaithersburg city officials will discuss the latest with Lakeforest at a meeting on August 19.
Previous Posts:
Why is the City only now planning what is next for the mall. There has been talk for years about what to do with the property and now they are placing a moritorium because they meed a study???
This has been ongoing for years, instead of focusing on economic growth we are stagnate and complacent on an area that could potentially rival the Washingtonian Center. Why not agree on a mass project to either revive the mall or redevelop the area! Gaithersburg was deemed one of the most diverse cities in America think about how we could utilize that crown to grow the community! This isn’t about peoples pockets! We live here sheese!
Bulldoze it, start over. Something like Pike & Rose would work nicely.
the problem is the crap around the mall the trash area all of Montgomery village cider mill, old town=, quince orchard all low low income trash the city wants this area to fail and has been forcing the mall to close for over 10 yrs not allowing it to build or change anything.