The thousands of residents expected to live at Montgomery County’s planned Viva White Oak development are set to have a wholesale retailer with a cult following in their backyard.
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Costco signed a 162K SF lease with MCB Real Estate for its planned development on 280 acres next to the Food and Drug Administration headquarters, the developer announced Monday.
“VIVA White Oak is positioned to become the region’s premier retail destination, anchored by brands that move markets,” MCB principal Drew Gorman said in a release.
“This announcement shows that national retailers and regional anchors, and high performing restaurants know the value of this location and that this project is a smart investment for long-term value,” he added.
Costco has three other locations within a 10-mile radius of the site, the release said, noting that this shows the company's confidence in the region's long-term consumer demand.
The deal comes less than a week after Baltimore-based MCB received unanimous approval from the Montgomery County Council to create a special development district that paves the way for the county’s first tax increment financing deal.
The project, expected to cost $2.8B, is planned to include 5,000 residential units and 3M SF of retail and office space, with a focus on life sciences industries.
MCB can receive up to $420M through the TIF deal, Bethesda Today reported last week, citing a Montgomery County fiscal report released in October.
Plans to redevelop the underutilized Silver Spring site into a life sciences-centered mixed-use district date back to 2011, with another developer, Percontee Inc., at the helm.
MCB has been on board since 2023, when it entered into a contract with Montgomery County.
In September 2024, the developer submitted an early-stage “sketch plan” outlining more than 12M SF of development potential.
The county still has to issue the TIF bonds. The Montgomery County Council is set to consider a resolution for the bonds this summer, MCB said in a separate press release on the council’s TIF resolution last week.
