Lord & Taylor opted to keep their WHITE FLINT store open after the adjacent mall had been bulldozed. A contentious lawsuit followed, with the L & T parent company suing mall redevelopers. L & T prevailed in August 2015. Ironically, in just 5 years, the WHITE FLINT store would be shuttered.
Graphic from the Hudson's Bay Company
WHITE FLINT
Rockville Pike and Edison Lane
Montgomery County (North Bethesda), Maryland
Rockville, Maryland's Lerner Enterprises played a major role in the development of several Greater Washington, DC retail centers. Their first major endeavor, Maryland's WHEATON PLAZA, was dedicated in 1960. This mega mall was followed by Virginia's TYSONS CORNER CENTER (1968), Maryland's LANDOVER MALL (1972), Virginia's TYSONS GALLERIA (1988) and Virginia's DULLES TOWN CENTER (1999).
WHITE FLINT, also a Lerner Enterprises project, was built on a 43-acre plot, located 11.6 miles northwest of the United States Capitol. The site was once occupied by the White Flint Country Club, which had been named after white flint quartz deposits indigenous to the area. Before the mall was built, the section of unincorporated Montgomery County had been known as Kensington. The developer, desirous of a more upscale address, began to refer to the area as "North Bethesda."
The 3-level "shopping environment" was designed by Baltimore's Rogers, Taliaferro, Kostritsky & Lamb ("RTKL") firm. It encompassed 800,000 leasable square feet and housed 120 stores. The first operational tenant, a 4-level (259,000 square foot), New York City-based Bloomingdale's, held its grand opening on February 26, 1977. A 2-level (118,000 square foot), New York City-based Lord & Taylor was inaugurated on March 1 of the same year.
WHITE FLINT was officially dedicated on March 7, 1977. It included the eleventh location of Washington-based Raleigh Haberdasher, as well as Black Star Jewelers, Radner's of California, The China Closet, Pants Corral, La Boucherie Bernard meats, The Perfect Cup coffee bar, Discount Record & Book Shop , The Loft restaurant and The Eatery, a 12-bay food court. The Movies White Flint, a 5-screen multiplex, also debuted on March 7, 1977.
The interior of the shopping complex was divided into several "city street" -themed areas. The Georgetown M Street was located on Level 3. Via Rialto, a Tuscany Town-motif section, was situated along the Level 1 Main Entrance corridor.
WHITE FLINT was conceived as a high-end, fashion retail complex. Plans for a third anchor, which was to have been a New York City-based Bonwit Teller, had been announced in January 1977. This store never materialized. The space was filled by a 2-level (80,000 square foot), San Francisco-based I. Magnin, which opened for business on August 12, 1978.
Competitors of WHITE FLINT were many...although nowhere near as upscale. They included the aforementioned WHEATON PLAZA {2.6 miles east, in unincorporated Montgomery County, Maryland} and MONTGOMERY MALL (1968) {2.1 miles southwest, also in unincorporated Montgomery County}.
WHITE FLINT became rapid-transit-accessible on December 15, 1984, when revenue service began on the DC Metro's 6.9 route mile White Flint-to-Shady Grove Red Line extension. The White Flint station was situated 2 blocks north of the mall.
A prospective expansion of the shopping hub was announced in July 1989, which was to include a new Macy's anchor store. This plan was never carried out. The first anchor rebranding at the property involved I. Magnin, which was shuttered June 6, 1992. A (40,000 square foot) portion of its space re-opened, as a Borders Books & Music, in July 1993.
WHITE FLINT was renovated between 2003 and 2005. The Main Entrance and Center Court were refurbished. The 5-plex cinema, which had been operated as Neighborhood, Cineplex Odeon, Loews Cineplex and AMC venues, was also remodeled. The complex was now owned by a joint venture of its original developer, Lerner Enterprises, and the Rockville, Maryland-based Tower Companies. The shopping facility still encompassed its original 800,000 leasable square feet, but now housed 125 store spaces.
During the early years of the 21st century, WHITE FLINT strove to remain competitive with the nearby Central Business Districts of Bethesda and Friendship Heights. Unfortunately, it had lost a great deal of its original luster. The owners announced a redevelopment in November 2011. They would, over the course of 25 years, reinvent the shopping hub as an "outdoor mix" of residential, retail and office components.
The shuttering of Bloomingdale's, on March 14, 2012, heralded the end of WHITE FLINT, as Washingtonians had come to know it. The vacant store was sealed off from the rest of the complex and razed in April 2013.
Other tenants were given eviction notices. Dave & Buster's sued mall owners, but eventually gave up the fight and closed their store in August 2014. By late 2014, only Khoury Brothers Jewelers, P.F. Chang's China Bistro and Lord & Taylor remained in business. Khoury Brothers relocated their store away from the mall; P.F. Chang's closed theirs on January 4, 2015.
Lord & Taylor, under the auspices of New York City's NRDC Equity Partners, also sued the owners of the mall. Their store remained in operation and was to become part of a redeveloped WHITE FLINT property. In July 2015, demolition of the mall got underway. Only Lord & Taylor and a northwest section of parking garage were left standing. Lord & Taylor would eventually close their store. It went dark in December 2020.
Sources:
The Washington Post
http://www.shopwhiteflint.com
www.cinematreasures.org
http://www.whiteflint.org (website on Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
http://www.movie-theatre.org / Mike Rivest
http://en.allexperts.com/e/i/i/i._magnin.htm
"White Flint Mall" article on Wikipedia
