From Rockville Pike it looks like an office building and a parking lot, ditto from North Washington Street. From Beall Avenue it isn’t much more than a construction site with empty store facades. On the other side there is an open Starbucks and Gordon Biersch, nothing too special. But in the center of these four roads lies the new heart of Rockville, a place where city officials hope to start the re-imagination and invigoration of downtown Rockville. This is Rockville Town Square, and although its outsides aren’t quite done, its inside is already sparking life in a downtown once didn't even exist.
THE NEW Rockville Town Square, located in downtown Rockville across the street from Regal Rockville 13 Theaters, is a mixed-use area with restaurants, shops, a community center, a brand new public library, condos and apartments. It is all built around an open square where music and events occur weekly, and people can go to just hang out.
"The goal for the city of Rockville is to create a heart and center for Rockville that wasn’t there. It’s a space where people can go and sit outside in a steamy mid-Atlantic summer evening and hang out," said David Levy, Rockville's chief of redevelopment.
A heart for downtown Rockville has been a long time in coming. Before construction even started on the town square, debates on what to do with Rockville’s town center had been raging for decades, even preceding the building of the Rockville Mall, the one-story strip mall and parking lot that used to reside where the square now stands.
After a plan for the town center was adopted in 2001, groundbreaking for the Town Square occurred in 2004. With the process nearing completion after three years of construction and at a cost of $370 million dollars, the city is very happy with the outcome said Levy. A ribbon cutting was scheduled for Tuesday, July 17, celebrating the official opening of the already bustling Town Square.
The Town Square is only the first step in the planning process of reinvigorating the town center. From here the city hopes to create a true downtown that brings people and businesses into the center of Rockville.
"There is a lot of history in that square, the version that we see now really began in the mid-90s with the Imagine Rockville program and the request to really make a town center," Levey said.
DEBORAH SIMON, owner of The Waygoose, an American craft gallery, is part of that history. Her store was in the Rockville Mall for 10 years before construction began on the town square and forced her business to Bethesda. Now, with the help of the City of Rockville, she has moved back, opening a new store in the Town Square even while keeping her Bethesda location open too.
"It was something we believed in all along. Part of the planning and agreement was for the store to come back," she said in her new Rockville store. "Before there wasn’t enough up here to draw people in, it was just word of mouth. We closed at six and weren’t open Sundays. Now this is some place where people just go out to come to. People are slowly discovering it's here."
Simon isn’t the only one to notice the massive change in the area. Annette Hallacoglu, a Rockville resident who is working at the new Gifford’s Ice Cream for the summer, can’t even remember when she would come to the old mall.
"It’s definitely changed. I don’t even remember what it was like before and I have lived here my entire life," she said before helping a customer get some mint chocolate chip ice cream.
It isn’t just owners and employees who are impressed by the city's new center. Liz Bigott, a Rockville resident who was spending time studying in the grassy area of the square outside of the new, two-story, high-tech Montgomery County library, was skeptical at first but has fallen in love with the new square.
"I think it’s awesome. I didn’t like the idea at first but it turned out very homey. Rockville has never had anything like this before. Its great for kids and people from everywhere can come here," she said, noting that her study partner was from D.C.
COMING INTO Rockville Town Square from out of the area isn’t against the norm either. In fact it’s one of the goals that the city and the new businesses hope to accomplish with the new Town Square. Along with the draw of a brand new public library for Montgomery County residents, the square offers the Arts and Innovation Center a 40,000-square foot community center offering classes, meetings, recreation, exhibits, and shows. The square also has plans to offer free wireless Internet for anyone.
"This is not just any old shopping center. This is downtown Rockville. It has a history and a past. This is not going to be just a generic place. There will be signature art, historical aspects and many other events that make it more than just another development," said Levy.