Lakeforest Mall, a once-iconic landmark in Gaithersburg, has sat vacant since closing in 2023.

The company that purchased the site promised redevelopment, but it’s still not clear when new retail will open, or when homes will go on the market.

Local officials and a developer, however, said Monday that they’ve expanded their plans for the site and may soon start demolishing the old mall.

The project will now include a relocated Lakeforest Transit Center, ensuring that buses don’t have to stray so far from Md. 355 when they pick up Gaithersburg passengers. The road connects the county’s D.C. suburbs with its Upcounty area.

“Its closure marked the end of an era,” County Executive Marc Elrich said of the mall during a press conference next to the vacant property. “This project carries forward the legacy.”

A mixed-use future

WRS Inc. Real Estate Investments, a South Carolina-based company, plans to demolish the mall and turn the roughly 100-acre property into a mixed-use district with apartments, retail shopping, a theater and public spaces.

The Montgomery County transportation department will purchase part of the Lakeforest property from WRS to move its transit center from one side of the site to another, closer to the highway.

The new transit center will be part of the county’s Flash Bus Rapid Transit line along Md. 355 connecting Bethesda and Clarksburg. County planners are still designing the project and hope buses will begin carrying riders in 2031.

The state and the city of Gaithersburg have covered a $600,000 down payment for the county to purchase two acres of the property for the new transit center.

WRC will prepare the land for construction over the next year, and then the county will purchase it for an additional $5.3 million, according to the transportation department.

Montgomery County officials say the new transit center could be open in the next two to three years, and it’s expected to be one of the first completed parts of the broader redevelopment project.

Plans to relocate the transit center predate the redevelopment project. The county had considered other sites in the area, but none “was comparable in value and importance,” Elrich said.

Kevin Rogers, the lead executive at WRS, said his company is planning to build up to 1,600 housing units at the mall site, including townhomes, condominiums and apartments, some of which will be set aside for moderate- or low-income residents.

Rogers said there may be an event in the coming weeks to commemorate the start of construction. It may also include announcements about businesses that plan to move into the development, he said.

A Gaithersburg gathering place

The mall was an integral part of Gaithersburg for decades after it opened in 1978.

“Families shopped here, teenagers met here, seniors walked more laps inside this mall than most of us have walked elsewhere,” said County Council Member Sidney Katz, who represents the area.

The mall’s value plummeted over time, and its former owner sold the property in 2017 after going into foreclosure.

Lakeforest lost major tenants over the succeeding years. The death blow came in 2023, when it lost Macy’s, its last major retailer.

The mall’s major retailers, which at one point also included JCPenny, Sears and Lord & Taylor, owned parts of Lakeforest property when they were a part of the mall.

Officials said that redevelopment plans have taken longer than expected, in part because WRS had to purchase parcels from multiple owners.