Q&A With Chris Weilminster, Senior VP Of Federal Realty Trust

Bisnow: With Pike and Rose, you’ve converted a single-use retail space to a walkable neighborhood and place people will want to call home. What are the biggest challenges of that conversion process?

Chris: I think the biggest challenge is, how do you deliver the vertical density at a given time to meet the proper supply and demand metrics? There’s no way that we could deliver 3.5M SF at one time—the market wouldn’t be able to accept it all at once. So we had to really think about how we were going to phase it.

In our first phase, we built three projects, which delivered almost 500 multifamily residential units, 180k SF of retail space, and 80k SF of office space. With our street-level retail, we implemented all of the placemaking attributes that Federal Realty spends an inordinate amount on to make sure that it’s unique, special, and really appeals to the market. I think we’re at 97% occupied with our multifamily project, the retail space we have is close to 100%, and our office space is fully leased as well.

Bisnow: What market trends do you see in Montgomery County right now? Is it becoming more unified and urbanized? 

Chris: It was interesting, I just saw a tweet with the news that Washington, DC, is the No. 2 worst commuting city behind Los Angeles. I say this a lot—people want to spend more time being there than getting there. I think what needs to happen—and the trend that we see—is that the Millennials, who would want to live in DC but sometimes find it difficult to afford, are looking for the next best place, and Federal Realty really embraces the suburban-urban environment with close proximity to a Metro.

So we’re seeing people moving into Montgomery County who want to live, work and play in the same area without having to drive for half an hour from another suburb. And now the Baby Boomers, the empty nesters—when the kids move out, they want the same urban convenience that appeals to the Millennials, and they have a lot of discretionary income. We can create environments that attract the Millennials, and the Baby Boomers will follow. The combination of both leads to great success.

Bisnow: What do you think made MoCo the desirable place to live that it is today?

Chris: Montgomery County is closely linked to Washington, DC, and the federal government, and it has proximity to great transportation hubs—whether it’s BWI, National Airport, Dulles or Union Station. It’s just very well-positioned with regard to the Washington, DC-Baltimore corridor, so you can get access to everything. It has NIH, which attracts people from all over internationally and has a high propensity to bring in a lot of the foreign emissaries and all of their support staff from DC.

The public school systems in MoCo rank among the best school systems in all of the United States. So I think when you look at all of the attributes that MoCo offers to people looking to move into the Washington, DC, area, it checks a lot of boxes with regard to quality of life, the kids' education, convenient access to all of the work centers, and a real propensity for smart growth. 

Bisnow: How do you think MoCo could improve?

Chris: I think there need to be developments that serve the needs of the communities. There needs to be continued investment in public transit and public amenities. Developers need to provide a wider spectrum of options to consumers—whether it’s hotel or rental or condo—that will make people want to pull off the road and spend time. All of those things, in an environment that allows consumers to walk across the street and hop on the Red Line, or roll out of bed on a Saturday morning and have 10 different restaurants to choose from within walking distance—I think those things will allow for a better overall living environment in MoCo.