Take it for what it’s worth but according to several sources the breakdown in the Birchmere is a story of financial disagreements in the deal.
In a conversation with County Executive Isiah Leggett, the following information was related.
Rent for the Birchmere was to cost $7,000 a month, the kitchen alone was $750,000. In a rent-to-own agreement [...]

I too am disappointed that the County could not reach an agreement with the Birchmere; however, the Department of Economic Development was not able to reach an agreement that would have provided essential protections for the County.  I will continue to advocate for a music hall at the JC Penny site because of the tremendous [...]

One reader sent me a message stating that even more restaurants are coming to Silver Spring. In fact four new shops are taking up space all over and a few are Cafés.

Rainbow Café: Rays the Classics will be getting a new neighbor that’s applied for a wine and liquor license with a hearing scheduled for August [...]

Illegal immigration and rent control dominated the Town Hall Meeting with County Executive Isiah Leggett at the Woodside Methodist Church; right outside downtown Silver Spring, Thursday night.
Development and related issues like the Inter County Connector took a back seat to audience commentary over recent illegal immigrant raids in Wheaton by ICE and the spiking rents [...]

The City Place Office Tower must clear a few hurdles before it can begin construction. Under one unusual condition, the applicant must provide and manage a child-day care facility through a publicly owned or privately donated site.
The condition was resurrected from the 1989 site plan.

If demand does not warrant a day-care facility or no [...]

Ask and you shall receive, a few months back, when the City Place Office Tower was being presented in front of the Silver Spring Citizens Advisory Board, some attendees questioned the 80’s vernacular architecture and afterwards requested for a design that was a little more modern. Another request made was for the office building to [...]

I know I said I was going to post this yesterday but I started writing and the plan just snowballed into something bigger than I thought. Below is a rough vision of what I would do with a lot of money and time to wait.
Zoning
The 27 acre Blair complex is zoned CBD-R2 and [...]

Above lies a conceptual site plan of what was suppose to be a future expansion of the sprawling Blairs complex. The blue buildings highlight planned construction while the orange is existing. Now that the site is up for sale by the current owner, Tower Companies, the opportunity presents itself for a formidable developer with the [...]

On July 19th, 2007, the planning board will weigh the resubmitted site plan of the future United Therapeutics Corporation Headquarters. The project is on two parcels of land on the opposite sides of Cameron street and borderd by Spring street looking west.

United Therapeutics is requesting to reduce the overall space from 213,032 square feet [...]