The 22.5-acre “Downtown Silver Spring” mixed-use project in

The 22.5-acre “Downtown Silver Spring” mixed-use project in the Silver Spring section of Montgomery County, Maryland, is expected to get 245 housing units, starting in 2008. Another future component of the project is a civic building that will include a 5,000-person meeting space, two smaller meeting spaces, and a theater in the round. Residences in the overall 360-acre central business district of Silver Spring are increasing rapidly, thanks in part to easy access to the Metro rail system. The CBD has seen its housing stock grow by 1,225 units, or more than 20 percent, since 2000, says Gary Stith, director of the county-supported Silver Spring Regional Center. Currently, 969 housing units are under construction in the CBD, Stith says. Approximately $1.1 billion of investment, most of it private, is now in planning for the CBD, he notes.