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The Burtonsville Shopping Center will have a Giant Food grocery store and CVS pharmacy as its anchor stores, according to the developer of the property.

"We're trying to build a very high-end, attractive shopping center," said Christopher Jones, president of the Bethesda-based BMC Property Group, which owns the center.

Jones said he has commitments from Giant and CVS to move in when the 130,000-square-foot shopping center is completed between late spring and summer 2010. Jones said he is working on bringing in at least one restaurant, but said the number of stores has yet to be finalized. Giant would move from its location at the nearby Burtonsville Crossing Shopping Center, he said.

Last week, the Montgomery County Planning Board approved a consent item that allowed BMC to start construction while other permits with the State Highway Administration are being worked out. Acquiring the necessary permits for the center at the right time has been a problem for Jones.

"We can do part of our development before the off-site [work] is completed," Jones said. "This was a housekeeping item. … It allows us to move forward."

The Dutch Country Farmers Market, a long-standing community institution, will temporary close after Saturday as they prepare to move to Laurel in late August or September, according to the market's newsletter. CVS, the other remaining store at the center, will be open and housed in a trailer during construction. While the project is underway, construction of the buildings should begin in late summer, Jones said.

Giant would move from its current location at the nearby Burtonsville Crossing Shopping Center. Steve Boyle, managing director of Columbia, S.C.-based Edens and Avant, the owner of Burtonsville Crossing, said in an e-mail Tuesday that he is talking with the county about the future of the center.

"We continue to have a long-term lease agreement in place with Giant Food but are aware that the retailer is considering moving," Boyle said. "This doesn't change our commitment to this center and attracting retailers that will best serve the Burtonsville community and specifically the neighborhoods surrounding Burtonsville Crossing. We will continue to work closely with officials with Montgomery County to share ideas about our vision for retail in this area." 

Giant spokesman Jamie Miller could not provide details when reached for comment Tuesday but said they would have information available later.

Stuart Rochester, chairman of the Fairland Master Plan Committee, said community members have warmed up to shopping center after being weary of a "big box" store. He said he's "very supportive of [Jones'] effort to create better regress and access to the center."

In addition to working on how to improve access to the new center, Jones said he's trying to acquire a gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Certification for the site.

Burtonsville Crossing feeling economic downturn

With the Planning Board's approval last week, the road to completion for the Burtonsville Shopping Center appears to be less congested. Its competitor, the Burtonsville Crossing Shopping Center, hasn't fared as well.

Located off a busy stretch of Route 29, Burtonsville Crossing isn't going with the flow – it is losing traffic.

Seven storefronts at the shopping center are now empty.

For East County Citizens Advisory Board member G. Stanley Doore, the loss of business at Burtonsville Crossing can be attributed to the reconfiguration of Route 29, which has made it harder for northbound drivers to drive into Burtonsville Crossing. The center, which is west of 29, currently has a ramp for drivers going south on the road.

"It's much harder to reach," Doore said.

Doore said an anchor store in the Burtonsville business area would give the area a destination to compete against similar shopping centers in Briggs Chaney and along the Montgomery County portion of Cherry Hill Road.

Doore said it's a problem for shoppers to go from the Burtonsville Shopping Center to Burtonsville Crossing because of the traffic on Columbia Pike, which separates the two centers. While he knows it's not in the county's plans, Doore would like to see a road connecting the two.

"Now you have two independent shopping centers," Doore said. "Traffic flow should be the first consideration. Unless there was a fairly large [anchor store] such as a Costco, it's going to be very difficult to compete."

Shopping trips can now be isolating and worrisome for Melissa Leone, a Burtonsville resident for 23 years. She said the center is not the same without the businesses that used to occupy the plaza.

"It gives you that empty feeling," said Leone, who used to patronize the Parcel Plus store at the center, which has gone out of business. "You don't feel comfortable sometimes."

Burtonsville resident Craig Atenidegbe still goes to the Giant supermarket at the center, where he often bumps into friends. The shopping center brings a sense of community, he said.

"[It's] a community center for [the area]," said Atenidegbe, who heads Network for Humanity, a Burtonsville-based nonprofit. "I see people and go, ‘Hey, that's John.'"

But with gas prices rising and shopping center stores closing, Atenidegbe's is feeling the financial pinch as he goes elsewhere to run his errands.

A customer of the Parcel Plus and T-Mobile stores that used to be at the center, Atenidegbe now travels to Laurel to go to T-Mobile and to Cherry Hill Road for UPS/FedEx shipments.

Owners question rent increase at Burtonsville Crossing

Kelly Valentine, owner of Pet Barn at Burtonsville Crossing, said bringing in small but well-known businesses is important for drawing customers to the shopping center. But she doesn't understand why the rent is being increased as businesses leave.

"They're trying to increase our rent with all of this happening," Valentine said. "How can they justify that? It's not a way to keep businesses in Burtonsville."

A Burtonsville Crossing store owner who wished not to be identified said the developer's rent increase has contributed to stores leaving. The increasing rent has caused the owner to consider offers to buy the business.

But the owner said interested parties look elsewhere when they find out the rent at Burtonsville Crossing costs $37 a square foot. It used to cost $28, the owner said.

Ten buyers came and went – now the owner said there's has been "no breaks for tenants."

"With this economy I have to think before [I act]," the owner said.