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Brian Lewis/The Gazette Owner Amanda Sanchez says rising rents may force her to sell her Riverside Lounge, as redevelopment plans take shape in downtown Wheaton.
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Kevin James Shay/The Gazette “If rates go up, that would be a burden to us,” says Murat Etili, owner of Knightsbridge Trading Co. in Mid-Pike Plaza in Rockville.
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Kevin James Shay/The Gazette Syed Husain, manager of Dry Clean-Pro, says rising lease rates are prompting him to close his Rockville business as soon as next week.

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Some five years ago, Amanda Sanchez moved her restaurant/bar from Silver Spring to Wheaton because her rent was rising and access problems arose from a redevelopment project.

Now the owner of Riverside Lounge is going through Act II of the same squeeze play.

The area around Sanchez's relocated business in downtown Wheaton is undergoing changes that include more mixed-use development with new offices, housing and retail.

“There is not much parking for my customers,” Sanchez said. “It's a very slow economy. I might have to sell because of the new offices and houses causing rents to increase.”

Sanchez's predicament is playing out across Montgomery County, as well as Baltimore, Frederick, Prince George's and other counties in Maryland. Many consumers want the snazzier and more upscale shopping venues that often stem from redevelopment, but that redevelopment comes at a price for numerous small businesses.

In Rockville, where tenants at Mid-Pike Plaza along Rockville Pike near Montrose Parkway have had to endure road construction that often confused their customers for several years, Syed Husain, manager of Dry Clean-Pro, said rising lease rates have been the main contributing factor to him planning to close the store by as early as next week.

“I don't know what I will do after that,” Husain said.

‘Probably the future'

A similar transition is occurring down Rockville Pike at White Flint Mall, where Rockville developers Lerner Enterprises and Tower Cos. plan to demolish much of the 850,000-square-foot shopping center and replace it with a mixed-use “town” with new housing units, retail and office buildings.

The transition from strictly commercial centers to multiuse areas blending housing, office space and retail likely will be repeated throughout the county, said Steven A. Silverman, director of Montgomery County's Department of Economic Development.

“What White Flint mall is doing is probably the future,” he said. “It's much bigger than just White Flint.”

Wendy Morigi, a spokeswoman for Lerner, said her company does not comment on discussions it has with tenants. She said it was too early in the process for mall management to announce plans for the businesses in the shopping center.

Murat Etili, owner of gift and home furnishings shop Knightsbridge Trading Co. in Mid-Pike Plaza, is concerned that lease rates will price him out of the shopping center after a redevelopment project that also plans to rename the center Pike & Rose.

Construction of the first phase, which calls for 200,000 square feet of retail and office space and 460 new residential units, is expected to begin next summer, according to developer Federal Realty Investment Trust of Rockville. Officials hope to lure a high-end iPic movie theater, where customers can order dinner and drinks as they watch a film.

“If rates go up, that would be a burden to us,” said Etili, who revamped his business from the English Trading Co., moving from Westfield Montgomery mall in Bethesda.

The holiday shopping season at Knightsbridge Trading is up so far from last year, Etili said.

“It's working out so far,” he said, adding that most customers have been able to find him during construction.

Next door, Filene's Basement is closing and is holding a going-out-of-business sale, but that is not due to rising rent or construction. The bankrupt retail clothing chain is shuttering its stores by early next year.

The center also once had a Silver Diner, which moved its flagship restaurant up the Pike to a larger site in Federal Plaza about a year ago. Since then, business has been booming at the new spot, with lines of people waiting to get a table out the door many nights.

Coalitions forming

Some businesses have joined with nonprofits and residents to form coalitions to address concerns. The newly formed Coalition for Fair Redevelopment of Wheaton includes more than 50 businesses.

Ash Kosiewicz, advocacy director of the Latino Economic Development Corp., which has offices in Wheaton and Washington, D.C., said she didn't know of a business that is being hurt by construction in Wheaton, where most projects are still in the planning stage.

“Our work within the coalition, beyond addressing issues of affordability, jobs, and community services, has primarily focused on what could happen to small businesses in Wheaton once redevelopment begins,” Kosiewicz said.

Montgomery County Council member George L. Leventhal said in a recent email that he has met with numerous small-business owners at Pike Center in Rockville, which also faces redevelopment, who detailed the difficulty of relocating.

“On the one hand, we rely upon the private market to match tenants and landlords at a price agreeable to both,” said Leventhal (D-At large) of Takoma Park. “On the other hand, local government is upzoning these properties to achieve a new vision of mixed-use, transit-oriented development. This vision calls for extensive ground-floor retail opportunities, but it seems to me local government has an obligation to ensure this vision is achieved.”

He suggested to Council member Nancy M. Floreen (D-At large) of Garrett Park, chairwoman of the Planning, Housing and Economic Development Committee, that issues such as the cost of relocation and whether the county should help small businesses hurt by access issues during reconstruction be addressed at an upcoming meeting

The matter is scheduled to be discussed by the planning, housing and development committee on Jan. 30.

Staff Writer Alex Ruoff contributed to this report.

kshay@gazette.net