Rockville-based Foulger-Pratt Development Inc. is suing the city for not allowing it to construct an entrance on one side of the commercial portion of Park Potomac, an emerging luxury community of which a portion falls just within the city limits.
According to a letter Foulger-Pratt sent to area residents in April, the firm had gone through Montgomery County’s Planning Department for initial site plan approval of the $66 million development project, which lies near Interstate 270 and includes 80 high-end condominiums.
But clearance for a connection between Fortune Terrace Drive and Park Potomac Avenue on the northern end of the site has to come from Rockville city officials. Brent Pratt, a principal with Foulger-Pratt, wrote in the letter to area residents that his company has tried to work with city leadership for two years, even attempting to coerce them by offering to fund $200,000 worth of improvements to the two affected roadways and giving $1 million to the city’s general fund in exchange for project approval.
Following a meeting with City Manager Scott Ullery and an unidentified member of the City Council, Pratt said he left “feeling positive” about approval.
However, a subsequent meeting was canceled and the deal killed, the letter states. Ullery told The Examiner on Wednesday he would not comment on the project because of the suit filed by Foulger-Pratt.
Rockville Mayor Larry Giammo, meanwhile, said he was appalled by the many “misrepresentations” Foulger-Pratt makes to Rockville citizens via the letter.
The biggest lie, he said, is the allegation that city leaders want to annex the entire commercial area, a massive change the developer claims could push back the project timeline and negatively affect negotiations with prospective tenants.
In actuality, Giammo said the city wants to annex justthe undeveloped commercial property into Rockville and that it’s willing to keep that part of the development under the same zoning guidelines as the rest of the property as a compromise.
“Our thinking is that if you want to reap the benefits of being in Rockville, you should have a relationship with the city,” he told The Examiner Wednesday. “… We’re not interested in the cash; we’re interested in building our community.”
Foulger-Pratt didn’t return calls for comment Wednesday.
Park Potomac At a glance
» 550,000 square feet of office space
» 450 luxury condominiums
» 150 town houses
» 140,000 square feet of retail
» 156-room hotel
» 80-unit, six-tower residential building
» Two levels of below-grade parking
