Wheaton dreams of a better downtown but clings to family feel

Wheaton — home to Montgomery County’s first shopping mall — has lagged behind the pace of redevelopment in other areas of the county in recent years.

Now, residents say, the community has the potential to become a version of downtown Bethesda, with new mixed-use developments built around easy access to Metro. But residents don’t want to lose Wheaton’s focus on family-owned small businesses.

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Small retail strips with bakeries, international markets and rotisserie chicken restaurants now line the crossroads of Georgia Avenue and University Boulevard.

The area has Scottish, Vietnamese and Peruvian restaurants and a population as diverse as its businesses, said Henry S. Ostapiej, who has lived in a townhouse community a block from downtown Wheaton for 27 years.

“It should have the best maximum usage of residential and commercial right above the Metro, kind of like in Bethesda,” the retired Army officer said. “But it will be nice to have all those mom-and-pop shops that have been here for a long time and have a loyal customer base.”

Montgomery’s proposed sector plan for Wheaton, which the County Council is scheduled to vote on Tuesday, envisions a walkable downtown with taller buildings and more people using public transportation.

In the past decade, Wheaton has begun a slow transformation with the construction of nearly 700 residential units in the Central Business District surrounding its Metro station. Before 2004, there were virtually no residential units there, county officials say.

More residential, commercial and office spaces are in the pipeline.

This month, construction began on a 17-story apartment complex at Georgia and Reedie Drive, across from the rail stop. There will be a Safeway grocery store on the first level.

The Exchange at Wheaton Station will offer nearly 500 rental units and, when completed in about two years, will be the tallest building downtown.

A couple of blocks away, on Georgia just south of Veirs Mill Road, Washington Property Co. plans to build 221 apartments at the site of First Baptist Church of Wheaton, which is moving to Olney after more than 60 years on Georgia.

And then there’s the plan for the Triangle area bounded by Georgia, University and Veirs Mill. A public-private partnership with Montgomery, Metro and developer B.F. Saul plans nearly 1 million square feet of office, retail, hotel and residential space.

The proposal includes more than 250 apartments atop retail stores on the site of a county-owned parking lot. There would also be three office buildings over the Metro bus bays at the intersection of Veirs Mill and Georgia, and a hotel and restaurant and retail next door.

“The Metro is a tremendous asset,” said Rob Klein of the county’s Department of General Services. “We can’t build enough roads to get us out of this congestion problem, and younger people want to see active urban sites with public amenities, and that is what we want to do.”

Activity is also picking up at the Westfield Wheaton mall, which opened in the late 1950s as Wheaton Plaza and has undergone several additions. Mall officials said a Costco is expected to open in late 2012 at the old Hecht’s; a Sears outlet opened earlier this year; the dual-language Ana G. Mendez University has opened its first Washington area campus at the former Circuit City building (classes start in January); and H&M and Elevation Burger plan to open there in December.