The perfect venue for City Place
By Silver Springer • Mar 27th, 2008 • Category: Arts, Food and Entertainment
I’m tired…tired of stuffing my face. That’s about the most you can do in downtown Silver Spring’s shopping district (and also why PFA won’t allow anymore restaurants), save for places like Galaxy Billiards.
With the departure of Time Out there’s a significant void left in City Place Mall, the new ownership (Petrie Ross Ventures) has proposed major plans but so far we have yet to see most of it come into fruition.
So what to do? Bring a Dave & Buster’s or Jillian’s to the old theater space! I can see this being a major attraction, play golf , shoot-em up and win prizes. If they can’t accommodate them there then the preferred option would be to kick Burlington Coat Factory out! If anything tarnishes the image of City Place (or any area that has one) it’s Burlington Coat Factory AKA “the dog fur importers of Chinaâ€.
Of course a Dave & Buster’s would be a very long shot as there is already one in White flint Mall, I would prefer a Jillian’s anyways, there used to be one at Arundel Mills Mall (now a Dave and Buster’s) and it had a dance club and comedy shows. Evidently both venues are owned by the same people and require 40,000 to 75,000 square feet. Does anybody know of another company that provides this form of entertainment?
There really isn’t another type of venue in this region and I wonder why, there used to be the RIO fun land at Washingtonian in Gaithersburg but that sadly has been long gone for years now (and they wonder why the kids are getting so fat), I think there’s still some golf there though. I also think a more urban place like Silver Spring would be better suited for a multifaceted entertainment venue than suburban White Flint.
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Arcades are dead in the US, unfortunately. I doubt that this area could support more than D&B’s - and their game selection sucks. It’d be awesome to have a real arcade scene, but given the upcoming economic slowdown/recession, I just don’t think it’s coming.
Now, what _would_ do really well is a GameStop or some other video game store. There’s basically nowhere to buy games in DTSS, for reasons I don’t quite get. Hollywood Video has some decent used stuff (I got a copy of Fire Emblem for basically nothing!), but their selection just doesn’t have much variety, and forget getting hardware there…
People come from far and wide to go to the Dave & Busters in White Flint. You’d be surprised. I doubt they’d ever build another one as close as Silver Spring. It’d just cannibalize their business.
The space that once existed as a movie theater will be converted into office space when the office tower is built. Whenever that’ll be.
Hey Silver Springer, when I use the Your News Live function at the top of the page, it doesn’t give any kind of confirmation that the comment was sent. Sorry if you’ve gotten multiple comments from me but I didn’t think it went through.
[quote comment="4101"]Hey Silver Springer, when I use the Your News Live function at the top of the page, it doesn’t give any kind of confirmation that the comment was sent. Sorry if you’ve gotten multiple comments from me but I didn’t think it went through.[/quote]
Woodsider, I’m getting your messages but when I try to reply to you I get a return error e-mail.
[quote comment="4100"]The space that once existed as a movie theater will be converted into office space when the office tower is built. Whenever that’ll be.[/quote]
True, but according to the very nicely detailed site plan on Petrie’s site, the old theater space is set for a major tenant, things are very flexible.
Ideally, the Burlington Coat factory space is better. It’s a total of 65,096SF more than the 43,568SF of the old theater space (unless there’s another level). It includes several stairways and elevators for access after hours (we want it open till like 2AM right?). Both spaces would meet the space requirements for D&B’s or Jillian’s but I would like to see Burlington Coat Factory go bye bye for this.
I must say Petrie is more hands on than the old ownership. I don’t think they are hesitating to move a lousy tenant out.
[quote comment="4098"]Arcades are dead in the US, unfortunately. I doubt that this area could support more than D&B’s - and their game selection sucks. It’d be awesome to have a real arcade scene, but given the upcoming economic slowdown/recession, I just don’t think it’s coming.
Now, what _would_ do really well is a GameStop or some other video game store. There’s basically nowhere to buy games in DTSS, for reasons I don’t quite get. Hollywood Video has some decent used stuff (I got a copy of Fire Emblem for basically nothing!), but their selection just doesn’t have much variety, and forget getting hardware there…[/quote]
There’s a whole new world of Golf, computer tournaments, and paintball/laser tag.
Good god, all I care is that we get rid of Burlington Coat Factory (which proudly claims is not associated with Burlington Industries - which makes me think of what that company did to Burlington Coat Factory to make them hate on them so much)
Maybe something like the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria. We need to have a huge incubator for budding artists. I would love to see an artist community flourish in Silver Spring.
I am sick of the chain retail crap.
I am sick of chain restaurants.
Make Silver Spring a destination for arts and entertainment. Booyah!
While I know that plans for building a new SS library on a separate site are well in train, I think City Place would be a fantastic site for a public library — plenty of parking and vacant space. If creative use of the that space could be explored, SS could have a unique library facility.
Library in City Place: creative, but HORRIBLE idea!
IHY: Haven’t been there, but Torpedo Factory sounds like a good idea.
Best idea: JILLIAN’S (or an upscale bowling alley, better yet indoor mini-golf! (j/k))
Bob, I imagine it is Burlington Industries’ lawyers that forces them to put in that disclaimer. They are the ones that didn’t want to be associated with BCF… not that they even exist anymore.
“Burlington Coat Factory’s logo is often supplemented with the tag “Not Affiliated with Burlington Industries.” When Burlington Coat Factory settled a trademark dispute with fabric maker Burlington Industries in 1981, Burlington Coat Factory agreed to say in advertising — as it does to this day — that the two companies are not affiliated, even though Burlington Industries ceased operations in 2004.”
How about starting slides at the theater, flooding the food court area, and make it a year round water park. Around the upper levels you can have boardwalk stands like Thrashers Fries, Dolly’s Salt Water Taffy…
yes some entertainment place for the adults would be nice also.
Comment by IHateYuppies
Made Friday, 28 of March , 2008 at 9:51 am Quote
Maybe something like the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria. We need to have a huge incubator for budding artists. I would love to see an artist community flourish in Silver Spring.
I am sick of the chain retail crap.
I am sick of chain restaurants.
Make Silver Spring a destination for arts and entertainment. Booyah!
RE: Why don’t you do us Marylanders a Favor and keep your freaking Nose out of Maryland Affairs because its Proving Fact that you want All of the Maryland Suburbs(Silver Spring) to remain Inferior to the Economic, Upscale Retail, Business Friendly Rich Northern Virginia……..
Your just another Maryland hating Virginian Troll that should only be seen(as a low life country hick) and Ignored……..
Comment by Joel
Made Friday, 28 of March , 2008 at 10:15 am Quote
While I know that plans for building a new SS library on a separate site are well in train, I think City Place would be a fantastic site for a public library — plenty of parking and vacant space. If creative use of the that space could be explored, SS could have a unique library facility.
RE: Thats a Thoughtless Idea because there is better site to build a Library a block or two away and it wouldn’t make sense to build a Library exactly across the street from a Book Store………
City Place needs to get a Very Modern Developer and re-develop the site into a Upscale Shopping Mall with the new office tower built on top similar to Pentagon City Mall and Ballston Commons……….