The Silver Spring Penguin

Nineteen out of 24 Penguin readers want to keep City Place a retail center, according to an informal survey. The Penguin’s next survey: Are there really only 24 Penguin readers out there?

The survey, conducted over the last seven days, asked readers how City Place should be used. Readers chose from four ideas suggested at a recent urban-advisory committee meeting in downtown Silver Spring.

The choices were: keep the Colesville Road mall, add a “big-box” store to the mall, convert the mall into office space, and convert the mall into a garage. Readers could choose only one response and cast only one ballot.

Eighty percent — or 19 voters — wanted City Place to stay a shopping center. Nine of those voters said a big-box store should move in, while ten said the building should remain a mall for smaller retailers. Voters were not asked to name preferred retailers, or whether the mall’s current tenants should remain.

Four people, or 17 percent of participants, said they wanted the mall converted into office space. Again, voters weren’t asked to name preferred tenants. One person opted to turn the place into a garage.

The Georgelas Group, which manages the property, has proposed construction of a 160-foot office building above the mall. The group also has considered converting the mall’s top floors into office space.

However, a 2006 study by the Urban Land Institute suggested two uses for City Place. One scenario would move a multilevel, big-box anchor into the mall, without the addition of office space. The other scenario would convert the entire mall into a garage for the proposed office space above it.

On March 13, the institute holds a public meeting on downtown Silver Spring’s retail strategy. The gig goes down at the Round House Theatre (8641 Colesville Rd) at 7:00 p.m.

Photo by Jennifer Deseo for The Silver Spring Penguin.