Downtown Crown

Specialty furniture brand Lovesac is planning to open a new location in Gaithersburg’s Downtown Crown. The company’s name comes from the brand’s original Durafoam-filled bean bags called Sacs and will be located at 111 Crown Park Ave, next to LA Fitness in the space that was formerly home to Couture Bridal of Maryland (which is now located at 322 East Diamond Ave in Gaithersburg).

Stamford, Connecticut-based Lovesac was founded in 1998 and first came to the area when it opened its Montgomery mall location in 2017. The retailer specializes in a patented modular furniture system called “Sactionals.” Sactionals combine both multiple “seats” and “sides,” as well as custom-fit covers and accessories that allow patrons to configure different styles of seating. Sactionals can fit most spaces, no matter the size or layout, because patrons can add, subtract and arrange pieces in an infinite number of ways. There are more than 250 available fabric options and more than 150 available covers that are machine washable, according to the company’s website.

20 acres of Gaithersburg’s Crown Farm was sold to JBG Rosenfeld Retail and the Bozzuto Group for $28 million nearly 10 years ago, in July of 2012. According to documents from what was then Crown Farm Community, this purchase included approximately 11 percent of Crown Farm’s 180 acres, for the development of Downtown Crown, “a mixed-use project slated to include a Harris Teeter-anchored retail center and nearly 540 apartments.” JBG Rosenfeld Retail purchased the property to build 260,000 square feet of retail. The Bozzuto Group purchased the multifamily development rights to build 538 apartments above the retail.

Located in Gaithersburg,  just west of Interstate-270 and the Intercounty Connector, Downtown Crown is considered the “retail heart” of Crown—a 182-acre master-planned community that was to consist of “more than 2,200 new homes and apartments, acres of parks, trails and a future transit stop for the Corridor City Transitway.” The community plan also incorporated a high school and a Corridor Cities Transit station for a light rail or bus line that would connect Gaithersburg with Clarksburg. Construction began later that summer for the plans that included the previously mentioned Harris Teeter, an LA Fitness, and a Starbucks. In October, the following restaurants were announced for Downtown Crown (not all ended up opening):