Montgomery County Goes Urban Upscale with New Phase of Rockville Pike Development

Well on its way to a grand opening a year from now, Pike & Rose, the mixed-use development off Rockville Pike, is about to shift to phase two—the redevelopment of the rest of the Mid-Pike Plaza shopping center.

On Thursday, Federal Realty Investment Trust will present initial plans for phase two of the Pike & Rose project to the Montgomery County Planning Board. The plans include as many as 462 residences, a boutique hotel and Rose Park—a green space that Evan Goldman, vice president of Federal Realty Investment Trust, said was one of the project’s “biggest amenities.”

Three of the five buildings proposed for phase two would be retail. In total, there would be 200,000 square feet of retail space, Goldman said. 

“Because phase one is restaurant and entertainment focused, phase two can really go so many different directions—a fashion mix, furniture stores, service and entertainment,” said Goldman as he stood in the entrance of what will become the concierge to Strathmore’s performance venue, part of phase one of Pike & Rose. “We have a lot of flexibility.”

On Wednesday, Goldman led Patch on a tour of the first phase of the work-in-progress development, which includes two residential buildings, office space and 150,000 square feet of retail. Several restaurants have already signed on to the project.

Sport & Health Clubs and retailer City Sports are the latest businesses to sign leases at Pike & Rose. During the tour, we took in the view from the gym’s future outdoor exercise space on an upper floor.

“From up here you kind of get the sense of a downtown, with all the tall buildings,” Goldman said.

Perched near the White Flint Metro station, Pike & Rose is a large mixed-use development that is attempting to give the strip-mall laden stretch of Rockville Pike a more urbanized feel—a major step in transforming the White Flint sector under a master plan approved by the Montgomery County Council in March 2010.

The first phase of Pike & Rose is expected to be complete by 2014. The goal is to have the second phase complete by 2016, Goldman said.

Pike & Rose is named for the streets that border it— Rockville Pike and Montrose Road.