BETHESDA, MD - Washington Property Company (WPC) plans to bring a 15,000 square foot food hall/city market to the street level of its next apartment community, scheduled to break ground in early 2020 and deliver in mid-2022. This will be the first food/city market hall in rapidly redeveloping Silver Spring.
Slated to be the tallest building in all of Silver Spring with 26 floors, Solaire 8200 Dixon will have 403 apartments and an enviable range of amenities including a rooftop fitness center, pool, and sky lounge, as well as a club room with co-working facilities, catering kitchen, 24-hour concierge and package service, pet spa, and more.
WPC has contracted with Colicchio Consulting of Cushman & Wakefield to help plan, design, program, and set up the food hall/city market, including selecting an operator and curating vendors. The team specializes in specialty food and beverage consulting and has most recently focused on food halls nationwide.
“Food halls are not a trend or a fad,” remarked the firm’s founder Phil Colicchio. “Rather, they are an evolution in dining out, taking cues from the shared economy model.”
“We’re very excited to bring the first food hall and city market to this landmark location in Montgomery County, just a five-minute walk from Metro,” said Charles K. Nulsen III, WPC President. “The evolving Ripley District, where we will be building our third Solaire-branded apartment building, has great restaurants like Urban Butcher, Buena Vida, and The Society. Our new destination will provide an altogether different dining experience for residents and visitors, while providing opportunities for local entrepreneurs to grow their businesses.”
Solaire 8200 Dixon and its food hall/city market will be located on Dixon Avenue on the former site of Progress Place, which housed the nonprofit organization Shepherd’s Table. Through a public-private partnership with Montgomery County, WPC developed a spacious new Progress Place building at 8106 Georgia Avenue, which now houses Shepherd’s Table and two other nonprofits, Interfaith Works and Mobile Med. Together, these groups provide a wide range of services to homeless individuals including meals, a resource center, clothes closet, eye clinic, classes, vocational services, case management, and permanent supportive housing. Since opening in 2016, Shepherd’s Table has more than doubled its meal services and expanded its client base by over 20 percent.
WPC has worked closely with Montgomery County to lead the Ripley District’s transformation from light industrial use to a vibrant transit-oriented neighborhood with an exciting new mix of dining, shopping, housing, employment, and entertainment options. The district will eventually be home to up to 3,000 people with over two million square feet of mixed-use development.
Solaire 8200 Dixon will be WPC’s fifth Solaire community, with a total of over 1,400 rental apartments, combining the finest amenities and high-end finishes with close proximity to Metrorail’s Red Line. Solaire Silver Spring, located just across Ripley Street from the planned Solaire 8200 Dixon, opened in 2012; Solaire Wheaton delivered in 2014; and Solaire Bethesda delivered in late 2016. Solaire 8250 Georgia Avenue opened just recently and is currently over 60 percent leased.
Washington Property Company is a full-service commercial real estate company located in Bethesda, Maryland. Established by Charles K. Nulsen, III, WPC is involved in a full range of real estate investment services including acquisition, land use, development, property management, leasing, and construction management. WPC has developed more than eight million square feet of commercial space in the Washington, DC metropolitan area and currently has over 1.6 million residential square feet under development. WPC is actively pursuing office, multi-family, retail, and mixed-use development opportunities throughout the region. Through its management company, WPC Management, LLC, Washington Property Company manages over 1.8 million square feet of commercial space.