Friday, December 30, 2016

Town Center North Construction

Recently, I've noticed a lot of finishing touches being added to buildings north of Beall Avenue and east of Washington Street in the Town Center North area. Hopefully, once these buildings are finished the street grid will be more complete, as today there's quite a large superblock there, only broken up by parking lots. I am, however, concerned for restaurants and shops that make up Rockville's Chinatown located in that area, such as Szechuan Jinriver, as this area is one thing unique to Rockville, so some effort should be made to try and keep the many Chinese businesses within Downtown Rockville. It seems as though rents for the retail spaces in Town Center are quite high due to the high turnover rate of the businesses there, so maybe lower rents in new areas north of Beall might encourage old businesses to simply relocate into these buildings after construction is complete. This would, I think, also come with advantages to the Chinese community, as many of them who frequent the restaurants and markets in this area are car free and currently face a hostile built environment in order to patronize these businesses.