Ellsworth Place is a 350,000-square-foot (33,000 m2), six-story, enclosed vertical power center in downtown Silver Spring, Maryland. It opened as City Place Mall on April 2, 1992,[1][2] and is located at the intersection of Fenton Street and Colesville Road (U.S. Route 29). Dave and Buster's opened in November 2016.[3]

Ellsworth Place
Map
Location8661 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S.
Opening dateApril 2, 1992
OwnerGBT Realty
No. of anchor tenants8
Total retail floor area350,000 square feet (33,000 m2)
No. of floors6
Public transit accessBus transport Ride On bus: 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 20, 22, 28
Bus transport Metrobus: F4, Z2, Z6, Z7, Z8
Websitewww.ellsworthplace.com
Atrium from which five of the levels can be seen

The shopping center is located in downtown Silver Spring, which underwent densification and renovation from around 2005 through 2020, resulting in a retail, dining and entertainment hub for the Washington metropolitan area.[4][5] Ellsworth Place anchors include a two-story Burlington Coat Factory, Nordstrom Rack, Dave & Buster's, (as of August 2022) DSW,[6] Five Below, Marshalls, Michaels, Ross Dress for Less and TJ Maxx. An initial redevelopment in the early 2000s saw the addition of a row of street-level shops, including PNC Bank, MOD Pizza, Chipotle Mexican Grill, and Ben & Jerry's.

History

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Main Entrance at the corner of Colesville Rd. and Fenton St.
 
Exterior rendering from Fenton Street and Colesville Road, showing it renamed as 'Ellsworth Place'

The building that houses the mall was formerly a Hecht Company department store, the first suburban Washington, D.C., branch of that company, which opened in 1947; the downtown Silver Spring Hecht's closed when the Hecht's at Wheaton Plaza opened in 1987. (The mall is an expansion of the original Hecht's building.) From its start, the mall included "upscale" discount stores, including original tenants Nordstrom Rack and Ross Dress for Less.[7] The mall also included an AMC movie theater on its fifth floor, but it closed shortly after a 20-screen Consolidated Theatres (now Regal Theaters) opened directly across Ellsworth Drive from Ellsworth Place. In 2005 then up-and-coming artist Rihanna performed a free concert at the mall, on a temporary stage built over the center court fountain. The event was sponsored by radio station Hot 99.5, and was in support of her debut album Music of the Sun, with proceeds donated to victims of Hurricane Katrina.[8]

References

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  1. ^ "City Place Grand Opening Today," The Washington Post, Apr 2, 1992, p. M5.
  2. ^ "Silver Spring Mall Calls Shoppers Back Home," by Retha Hill, The Washington Post, Apr 3, 1992, p. 1.
  3. ^ "Dave and Buster's Coming to Ellsworth Place". Silver Spring, MD Patch. 10 November 2015. Retrieved 2016-06-02.
  4. ^ "After 15 years, Downtown Silver Spring is getting a big update".
  5. ^ "A Slow, Sure Bloom After the Boom; Developments in Silver Spring Gain Momentum After Years of Planning," by Neil Irwin, The Washington Post, Jun 24, 2002, p. E4.
  6. ^ "DSW targeting an early fall opening at Ellsworth Place in Silver Spring
  7. ^ "For Silver Spring Mall, Downtown Is No Paradise; City Place Hanging On, but Still Battling for Business," by Charles Babington; Louis Aguilar, The Washington Post, Jun 12, 1994, p. B1.
  8. ^ http://silverchips.mbhs.edu/story/5876 "Rihanna performs at free concert in City Place Mall," Silver Chips Online, Nov. 12, 2005
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38°59′47″N 77°1′37″W / 38.99639°N 77.02694°W / 38.99639; -77.02694