Borders Books & Music store’s expected exit from the White Flint mall in April could mark the beginning of a much-needed reincarnation of the outdated center. The mall sits in the heart of a major redevelopment effort by Montgomery County to transform the White Flint area into an urban, walkable community with a mix of housing, office and retail replacing parking lots, strip malls and car lots.
But the mall, surrounded by acres of parking lot, hails from an era when retail developments catered to cars and malls were destinations where families spent their Saturday afternoons. Plans have been floated by its owners, Lerner Enterprises and the Tower Cos., to cover up much of the parking area with office and residential buildings along Rockville Pike, but nothing has been submitted to the county.
Borders’ bankruptcy and planned exit could change that, said Stephen Fuller, director of George Mason University’s Center for Regional Analysis.
“The owners have known for a long time that … the whole mall needed to be repositioned and restructured,” he said. “I think this, in a way, will accelerate that process because there’s no easy replacement for 40,000 square feet.”
A spokesman for Lerner did not return several messages requesting comment.
Built in 1977, White Flint was once home to high-end stores and had the same glitzy image that Tysons Corner does today. But in the early 1990s, things turned sour when marquee tenants like I. Magnin, Raleigh’s and Britches for Women left.
The arrival of Borders, which in 1993 took up the massive space left by I. Magnin, marked a new era for the mall that saw tenants like Dave & Busters, the Cheesecake Factory and Discovery Zone bring in a new clientele.
But Fuller says the mall’s makeup is once again outdated.
“New malls today aren’t going to be all retail — new malls are going to be offices, services, even residential,” he said.
Rene Daniel, a principal at the Timonium firm Trout Daniel & Associates, said the loss could allow Lerner to woo one of Rockville Pike’s big-box stores, some of which will be displaced by the coming redevelopment.
“It really depends upon the creativity of the owner and leasing people,” he said.
