This Morning at ICSC

Retailers, developers, and brokers across the region were up early at National Harbor for the annual ICSC Mid-Atlantic jamboree. The deals are formulating, and we're on the floor at the Gaylord to cover every minute.

Moments ago at the annual Developer's Runway portion of the event, we snapped Federal Realty's Robin McBride and Tommy Mann, who gave an update on the firm's massive Pike and Rose project in Rockville. The first apartment residents will move in this May, while retailers will begin opening their doors later in the summer. Robin and Tommy report they're actively on the hunt for retailers at Pike and Rose's second phase, which they say Federal should break ground on this fall.

Perseus Realty's Bob Cohen (here with TD Bank's Marilyn Coolidge and CBRE's Lisa Stoddard) was touting his firm's Storey Park in NoMa, a JV with First Potomac. Bob says the partners aim to bring two things lacking in NoMa: retail and parks. And with the District allocating $50M last year to parks in NoMa and a location that "fills the hole in the donut" in the neighborhood, Bob says he's confident the partners will get there. Lisa and colleague Kristen Braun are handling Storey Park's retail leasing; ground is expected to be broken in June, Bob says.

Meladon Group CEO Don Wooden gave the lowdown on Cascades Overlook, his firm's mixed-use project near Dulles Airport in Sterling. The development, which sits across Route 7 from Northern Virginia Community College, served as a school and church site for 50 years. Meladon, currently in re-zoning, wants to turn it in to another live-work-play hotspot with 253 apartments and 135k SF of retail, to deliver by late 2015, Don says. (This winter should be over by then, so we can actually go outside and live-work-play.) The retail's already 65% pre-leased, including anchor Harris Teeter. Stay tuned for more ICSC coverage tomorrow.