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The challenges Wheaton is facing in drawing a large tenant to its downtown area as part of a revitalization project is actually a countywide problem that is changing the way government agencies approach redevelopment, said Steve Silverman, the director of the county Department of Economic Development.

Many planners and business owners believe that securing a large anchor for downtown Wheaton will spur redevelopment by attracting other tenants and bringing daytime foot traffic to local businesses. Urban planners and Silverman say they're open to making downtown Wheaton home to a large private business or a local or federal government agency.

But as the global recession reaches the bottom line of major chains and government at every level, few corporations and agencies can afford to expand or relocate right now, Silverman said. That makes it difficult to cast a line for an appropriate "big fish" anchor for downtown Wheaton or anywhere else in the county, Silverman said.

"There are not going to be a lot of those big fish floating in the seas in the next couple of years," he said.

Nonetheless, Silverman said county officials will attempt to attract major businesses to Montgomery County through existing programs such as the enterprise zone, which gives tax breaks to anyone creating jobs within designated areas.

He noted the enterprise tax zone was a major incentive for Discovery Communications to move its headquarters to Silver Spring when that area was redeveloping. Urban planners are renewing Wheaton's enterprise zone status this year.

But this time, Silverman said businesses face a "double whammy" of a shortage of public financing and loans once they get to Montgomery County.

Still, if county efforts prove successful and a major business or government agency wants to relocate to the county, Silverman said Wheaton will be one of the first candidates.

"Wheaton is ground zero," he said, indicating the area's redevelopment is a priority for both him and County Executive Isiah Leggett (D).

But in the meantime, Silverman said departments such as the DED have to change the way they work: If major businesses or agencies aren't chomping at the bit to come to Montgomery County, the focus has to shift to retaining and expanding existing county businesses.

That means expanding funds for the county's small business loan programs as well as qualifications that allow more businesses to apply, making a stronger connection between federal stimulus money and county businesses, and forming a countywide "buy local" initiative.

For the last idea, Silverman said he and Leggett would like to identify the county's top 100 employers and encourage their executives to contract out to local county businesses.

But perhaps Wheaton doesn't need a "big fish" anchor to be viable. The area just needs enough foot traffic to support the local businesses, which are already Wheaton's strength, said Manny Hidalgo, the director of the Latino Economic Development Corporation, a Wheaton nonprofit that supports small business.

But residential foot traffic, which is growing in Wheaton, is not enough to support the daytime business that Wheaton is lacking, said Moshe Briel, a local business entrepreneur.

Briel said Wheaton needs more office space in the form of taller downtown buildings, and a major anchor is the "all important ingredient" to obtain that.

The challenge, Briel said, is finding a way to attract the anchor — either by keeping rent affordable, having a development plan in place or possibly building the space for an anchor before finding one.

But Silverman, who took his position at the DED two months ago, acknowledged the discussion has just begun, and he warned that answers could potentially be far off.