After completing about 13 years of development,

After completing about 13 years of development, Kentlands is about to embark on its first redevelopment. One of the first traditional neighborhood developments (TNDs), Kentlands also includes a conventional suburban shopping district, originally designed with an underlying block structure to facilitate redevelopment in an urban form. The big-box Uptons department store that has sat vacant for four years will be demolished and replaced by about 300 apartments. Structured parking for residents’ cars will be largely hidden by apartments along the garage’s perimeter. The ground floor will also feature 10,000 square feet of retail. The store’s location on six acres behind the shopping center proved poor for retailing, says Susy Lee of Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company (DPZ), Kentlands’ planner. DPZ produced the apartment development’s initial design, whose exteriors were refined by John Reagan Architects of Columbus, OH. The Preston Partnership of Atlanta did the interior design. Once the City of Gaithersburg, MD, gives final approval, the developer, Archstone Communities, hopes to begin construction in late summer.