Montgomery County has formalized its partnership with a pair of developers to overhaul the core of Wheaton into a mixed-use, walkable community and 18-hour economy.
StonebridgeCarras and the Bozzuto Group have signed an agreement with the county to redevelop three county-owned parcels adjacent to the Wheaton Metro Station, a block from Georgia Avenue.
The existing Regional Services Center at 2424 Reedie Drive, a green space and a large, rectangular surface parking lot will be replaced with a 12-story, 265,000-square-foot headquarters for the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (among other county agencies), new retail space on Triangle Lane, a town square adjacent to the Wheaton Metro Station, a 395-space underground parking garage and 200 units of mixed-income housing.
“It should be a really nice mixed-use development with public open spaces features, office space and residential,” said Douglas Firstenberg, Stonebridge principal.
The $150 million project is expected to deliver in 2019, at which point StonebridgeCarras and Bozzuto will acquire 8787 Georgia Ave. in Silver Spring, current home to the M-NCPPC, for a privately financed redevelopment with 26,000 square feet of retail and 360 residential units. The existing commission headquarters building was constructed in 1953 and requires major renovations.
Montgomery County selected Bozzuto and StonebridgeCarras for the Wheaton project 13 months ago, but it’s taken a year to get the paperwork and capital commitment set. In May, Montgomery County budgeted more than $143 million for the Wheaton office building and town square, most of it coming from general obligation bonds and other long-term financing mechanisms.
“Wheaton is already a great place,” County Executive Ike Leggett said in a release. “This exciting project will make it even better.”
