Pinstripes And Porsches: Pike & Rose Preparing For Phase 2 Opening
Since Phase 1 of Federal Realty's Pike & Rose opened to the public in 2014, Montgomery County residents have been drawn to the wide range of retail offerings at the 24-acre Rockville Pike mixed-use development, just north of the White Flint Metro. As Phase 2 nears completion, new highly anticipated retail concepts are helping drive pre-leasing at its residential component.
The initial phase of Pike & Rose brought 158K SF of retail with restaurants such as Del Frisco's Grille and City Perch Kitchen + Bar, apparel options including Gap and Lucky Brand Jeans, music venue AMP by Strathmore and movie theater iPic. It also included 493 residential units between the Pallas and PerSei apartment buildings and 79K SF of office space.
The development has recently welcomed new tenants including the Nike store last summer, followed by restaurant and beer garden Owen's Ordinary in the fall and the 38K SF REI in April. One of REI's top competitors, L.L. Bean, will open a 23K SF store at Pike & Rose this fall.
Phase 2 will add 216K SF of retail, plus 272 apartments, 99 condos and a 177-room Canopy by Hilton hotel. The apartment building will welcome its first residents next month as the condos and the hotel prepare for early 2018 openings.
Pinstripes, an experiential restaurant concept featuring an Italian/American bistro with a wine cellar, 14 bowling lanes and 10 bocce courts, will open at the second phase of Pike & Rose on Aug. 5. The 37K SF location has an outdoor patio and events space that can fit up to 600 people. The venue has already booked several weddings, bar mitzvahs and corporate events, Pinstripes founder and CEO Dale Schwartz said.
"We're expecting to have quite a busy opening," Schwartz said. "We're doing a lot to be part of the community."
Pinstripes opened its first location in Chicago in 2007 and entered the D.C. market in 2014 with the opening of its Georgetown location. It now has four locations in Chicago, one near Kansas City, Kansas, one near Minneapolis, and has six more planned in Texas and California.
As he was scoping out D.C.-area sites for another iteration, Schwartz said the location was a primary factor. Due to the wide audience the concept draws, he wanted it to be far enough away from the Georgetown location as to not cannibalize its customer base. He had considered Federal Realty's Bethesda Row, but ultimately decided to move farther out in the suburbs.
"Pike & Rose became even more attractive as Federal Realty was able to pull together a critical mass of co-tenants," Schwartz said.
The company is now exploring sites in Virginia, specifically in Reston and Tysons, to open a third D.C.-area location, Schwartz said. He hopes to sign a lease in the next few months and have it open by 2020.
The upcoming phase of Pike & Rose will also include a three-level Porsche dealership, set to open in December. It will have all of its cars in indoor showrooms instead of outdoor lots like typical Rockville Pike dealerships. It will also include a maintenance area, a sales offices, a cafè and a lounge.
Sonic Automotive is moving the Porsche dealership from its current location 1.5 miles up Rockville Pike, a dealership it shares with Audi. Sonic Automotive Vice President of Facilities Development Martin Walsh said he expects being a part of the mixed-use development will bring more foot traffic and service customers to the dealership.
"What attracted us was the vision and strategy [Federal Realty] is implementing," Walsh said. "We feel this could be one of the strongest Porsche dealerships in the country."
Greystar began pre-leasing in May for Phase 2's apartment component, set to open in August. The Henri, a 272-unit rental building, will be geared toward millennials, featuring smaller unit sizes and more amenities than the development's first two apartments.
"The atmosphere was a little more important than the size of the unit," Greystar senior director Joshua Hughes said. "We're able to provide a price point that was flexible for more people who want to live at Pike & Rose."
Hughes said The Henri has been filling up quickly, with 50 pre-leases already signed. He attributes the strong activity to the name recognition of Pike & Rose and the new retail offerings opening at the development.
In addition to the H&M and Sephora on the building's ground floor, Hughes said prospective renters have been especially excited about the Pinstripes, the REI and the iPic movie theater. He said the Porsche dealership will likely help leasing at the more upscale PerSei and Pallas apartments.
"What really pushes it over the top is the collaboration you have with good retailers that want to see the neighborhood as a whole succeed," Hughes said. "Those options drive the traffic to the neighborhood, but what gets people to lease and what keeps people in the buildings is the sense of community they get."
Schwartz, Walsh and Hughes will join Federal Realty's Chris Weilminster for a Pike & Rose case study at Bisnow's Metro D.C. Retail event on July 20 at The Hamilton Live.
