Board to Consider Proposed Town Square Grocery's Beer and Wine License Today

Ellwood Thompson’s Local Market goes before the county’s Board of License Commissioners today for a hearing on an application to sell beer and wine in a proposed grocery store in Rockville Town Square. 

If granted the license, the Richmond, VA-based store would clear a hurdle that has kept previously proposed supermarkets from opening in the space at 225 N. Washington Street.

The Rockville City Council on Tuesday sent a letter in support of the license to the board.

The beer and wine license would allow the store to offer “an extensive selection of organic wines and micro-brewed beer varieties,” the council wrote. “It also allows for popular events such as weekly wine tastings and introductions of new products from local breweries. The support this store will provide to local famers and other local businesses can benefit Montgomery County.”

A copy of the letter can be found to the right of this article.

City Manager Scott Ullery announced on May 23 that .

The inability to secure a license was a factor that kept The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, Inc., of Montvale, NJ—better known as A&P—from opening in Town Square.

After signing a 20-year lease in 2007 for 34,000 square feet of space, the grocery chain announced in March 2010 that it would not open a store. A&P announced in December that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

City officials and residents alike have long tied the long-term success of the city’s fledgling district of retail and condominiums to the ability to secure an anchor grocery store.

Ellwood Thompson's would “join the Rockville Memorial Library as a key Town Square destination and desirable neighborhood amenity,” the council wrote in its letter to the licensing board.

Last month, Mayor Phyllis Marcuccio wrote a letter to the county’s Department of Liquor Control in support of the application, saying that it may be “the last hurdle” to the store locating in Rockville, The Gazette reported.

The license is “not the end-all, be-all” for opening a store in Town Square, Paige Bishop, marketing director for Ellwood Thompson’s, told The Gazette.

The hearing is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. in the first floor auditorium of the

Federal Realty assumes management of Town Square

The City Council on June 20 voted unanimously to approve an interim agreement that is the first step of turning management of Rockville Town Square Plaza and the surrounding areas—except for the streets—over to Federal Realty Investment Trust.

Under the agreement, Street Retail, Inc., a unit of Federal Realty, took over management of the common areas on Friday.

The agreement will save the city $38,000 in maintenance costs in fiscal 2012. The city has suspended collecting taxes from two special taxing districts in Town Square, which brought in $930,000 in revenue annually.

The city will still operate and maintain the Town Square Plaza fountain. A long-term agreement is being negotiated.

Annexation on deck at the City Council

The Rockville City Council is on a three-week recess. The council next meets on Monday.

The agenda for Monday’s council meeting has not yet been posted, however, notice is posted on the council's website saying that the agenda will include two public hearings on a proposal to annex parcels at East Gude Drive and Southlawn Lane and rezone several of the parcels. BP Associates Limited Partnership owns the property, which includes a retail center known as the Burgundy Park Center.