Trammell Crow is asking the City of Gaithersburg to allow it to rellocate and consolidate approved office and retail space for its planned biotech development, The Labs at West Watkins. Located in the Watkins Mill Town Center, the two life sciences buildings would be larger than originally planned, allowing Trammell Crow to eliminate two other office buildings it had approvals for. For that reason, the company needs to reallocate the 62,494 square feet of retail and 100,950 SF of office space already approved for the two canceled buildings among these two biotech buildings, and three other future buildings.
The Labs at West Watkins is to be part of the long-delayed urban core of the Watkins Mill development, where there has been substantial residential development such as the Parklands community. Future streets that would connect to the Labs property are Town Center Boulevard, Commerce Street, Midtown Street, Grand Street and Parkview Avenue extended. All of these roads have yet to be constructed. Trammell Crow also notes that the replacement of the Corridor Cities Transitway rail line with a bus rapid transit route has made the required dedications of land on its property for the railway obsolete.
The Gaithersburg Planning Commission will review the requested site plan update at its meeting tonight, September 7, 2022 at 7:30 PM. City planning staff are not yet making a recommendation on the request to the commissioners at this early stage of review.
Renderings courtesy Trammell Crow Company
