In March 2023 we attended the final two days of Lakeforest as it turned out the lights on 44 years serving the DC-Baltimore metro in Gaithersburg, Maryland. As the dust settled from the mayhem of its closing little more than 24-hours before, we were offered a postmortem chance to finish photography work, and tour some of the mall’s hidden spaces while the corpse was still twitching…

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A million square-foot regional center built by developer Alfred Taubman for a 1978 grand opening, Lakeforest included all the design hallmarks found at his other centers, and stands in stasis today as one of the better-preserved, lightly-molested examples. Among those tropes, the mall’s central Grand Court originally featured a sunken amphitheater and stage, backed by its elevator and surrounded by water features and lush greenery. All of which were floored over in a mild 2013 renovation.

The above birds-eye view of the Grand Court was taken through the surviving stage lighting, seamlessly blended into a drop ceiling designed to maximize acoustics from on-stage performances throughout the center. Of course, access means going on the roof and dropping into a void with a series of service catwalks between it and the ceiling, below. We were told to watch our step, parts of the roof are “spongy”…

Can confirm.

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Decades of financial hardship, a revolving door of ownership changes, the perception of crime caused by a few high-profile incidents, and a triple-whammy loss of anchor stores: JCPenney, Lord & Taylor, and Sears in 2019 all contributed to Lakeforest’s demise. That same year, the mall was sold to WRS Inc. Real Estate Investments out of South Carolina. WRS acquired the anchor pads and gained full control of the property three years later, setting the stage for rezoning the site toward a mixed-use redevelopment.

After languishing and bleeding inner shops during pandemic times, Macy’s closing announcement at the turn of 2023 started the clock on Lakeforest’s final days, which were announced mere weeks later at the January Gaithersburg City Council meeting. Macy’s exited the mall on March 19th. The mall itself turned out the lights at month’s end. Bits and pieces of it were auctioned that summer, while the building itself remains standing in purgatory at press time… rotting.

“If a mall dies in a forest and no one is around to hear it, did it make a sound?“

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A very special thank you to anonymous individuals who made this series possible!

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The [jonrevProjects] explore, document and preserve the places of your memories. If you enjoy our ad-free crimes of knowledge please subscribe for future stories and consider supporting this blog to help cover web, travel and photography expenses. As always, your readership and support is greatly appreciated!

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