Across the country, a spokesperson for the International Council of Shopping Centers says, there are some 26 centers projected to open for 2006. Specifically in the DC-area, two slated to open this year and next: the Potomac Town Center and the Streets Of Albermarle in Charlottesville, VA.

A spokesman for Montgomery Count's Department of Economic Development says that the county has been at the forefront of this movement. "The Kentlands development (in Gaithersburg, MD) was among the first to offer a town center, mixed use type-development in the region." It went on to win numerous awards and spawn additional growth, he says.

There are others in the pipeline in the county, including a project in Gaithersburg that won approval from the County Council last week to annex a 180-acre Crown Farm property parcel as part of the development. The project's developers include KB Home, Centex Homes, Lebling Development and investor Aris Mardirossian. The project calls for 2,250 residential units and 320,000 sf of retail space. Another example is Madison Marquette, which just announced plans to expand the Festival, a 500,000-sf retail center in Waldorf, MD, into a larger lifestyle development project it is planning to build at that location.