New Dining Terrace, Theater to Debut at Westfield Montgomery Mall

From Montgomery Community Media:

Officials with Westfield Montgomery Mall recently showed off the $90 million renovation project that includes a soon-to-open dining terrace with casual food options, a family lounge and a 16-screen ArcLight theater.

“What we really invested in is trying to give the Bethesda shopper and D.C. consumer that first-to-market. The consumer here is very into foods and fresh-to-market concept. What we never had here before is the stance we are a food, fashion, fun destination where you can get some great shopping in and go to an amazing eatery and see an amazing independent film or blockbuster at ArcLight,” said Diego Gonzalez-Zuniga, marketing manager for Westfield Montgomery.

Some of the new restaurants headed to the North Bethesda mall as part of the renovation effort include:

· Blaze Pizza- open now

· Cava Mezze Grille- opening in November

· Crave- opening in November

· Lobster Me- opening in October

· MET Bethesda- opening in October

The Westfield Corp. company recently launched an app called Dine on Time being tested at its West Coast properties that allows people to pre-order from the mall eateries for pick up or delivery. But don’t look for it here just yet.

“We are looking at it here in Montgomery, but we are testing it first on the West Coast,” Gonzalez-Zuniga told MyMCMedia.

What can save shoppers time is a new park assist system located on the third-level parking garage on top of the dining terrace wing. Westfield is installing the parking system that shows available spaces in this section of the mall first, but may expand the system to the other parking garage areas.

A highlight of the renovation project at the mall is the ArcLight Cinema, opening in October, that will offer reserved seating, a cafe and bar, and question-and-answer sessions with producers and directors, according to Gretchen McCourt, executive vice president of ArcLight Cinemas.

The theater will show independent films as well as blockbuster showings. Theater sizes range from 100 to 300 seats. Ticket prices are expected to run about 20 percent higher than average theater prices, McCourt said.

»Screenshot of renovated dining area at Westfield Montgomery Mall, courtesy of Montgomery Community Media.