Loftiest Names in Luxury, Under 2 Chevy Chase Roofs

So the developers, with an architect from Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum Inc., traveled to Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. What they found, when they looked closely, was that the luxury retailers were generally in one place, with multi-story storefronts that helped create a sophisticated neighborhood feel.

"It couldn't look like a strip mall," said William Hellmuth, a principal at the architectural firm. "It needs to look like a series of buildings that could have been built over time but happen to be built at the same time." He said, "What we wanted to do, in a very authentic way, was allow each one of the retailers to have their own expression and essentially to create their own experience."

So Cartier, which is moving from a smaller location across the street, will have a storefront that is encased in bronze. Inside, the company is replicating a prototype store that had its debut in Honolulu, with understated and elegant touches that give the impression of an extremely modern living room.

The Ralph Lauren store -- the biggest of all the retailers, at 16,045 square feet -- will have a mansionlike feel, with working fireplaces, similar to its Madison Avenue flagship store in New York. There will even be small balconies outside the second-story windows.

"This project is going to be an incredible retail location," said Diane Ray Brown, a vice president at Tiffany, which is moving from its somewhat cramped store across the street to one with a more open feel.

And the retailers have sales hopes that include multiple commas. Iraklis Karabassis, a consultant to the developers and the licensee for the new MaxMara shop, said that in the first year he expected to do $4 million in business selling clothing and another $4 million or so with the store's cafe and Italian restaurant.

A suit for women: up to $1,400. An entree: about $30.

"There's not much question about whether they will be successful," said Len Harris, a retail broker at Transwestern Commercial Services. "They will be."

Hellmuth has even planned an urban retreat between the two retail buildings. Inspired by Paley Park in New York City -- a tiny, pristine enclave between Madison and Fifth avenues -- Hellmuth's 9,000-square-foot park will feature rock sculptures by California-based artist Richard Deutsch.

One of several elevators from a 1,150-space underground parking garage will open right into the garden. An adjacent Clyde's restaurant was given a face-lift. The developers also are building a 200,000-square-foot office complex nearby that will be occupied by the Mills Corp., which is moving its headquarters from Arlington.

The stretch of land has come a long way since Francis G. Newlands, who would become a U.S. senator from Nevada, founded the Chevy Chase Land Co. in 1890.

"He saw a suburb to the west," said Asher, who now runs the company. "So whether it was luck or whether it was smarts I don't know which, but it turned out pretty good."

And to think: Newlands died during World War I believing he had been a failure.