Your Voice Shapes Our Community

 

On February 19 and March 13, dozens of people joined for community conversations about the future of the town center at Germantown. In addition to meeting our neighbors and Germantown supporters we discussed what we believed are important components for a successful town center and our vision for Germantown.

Did you miss the events? We still want to hear from you! Take our brief survey  to share your input. The survey is available in print in English, Spanish, Chinese, and French by emailing zdavis@ggchamber.org.

And, join us for our next community meeting on April 29th for another chance to be part of this dynamic process. 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS:

The next follow-up to our Community Visioning Workshops is scheduled for April 29th, from 6-8pm, hosted by The Upcounty Hub at the Upcounty Regional Services Center. The Germantown Town Center team at the Chamber alongside community partners will present the survey data and community workshop data, draft mission/vision/values statements based on that data, and will present potential logo ideas based on your feedback from the mood boards at the 3/13/25 meeting.

We will continue the early phases of the “branding” process at this meeting! We anticipate a “big reveal” in late May. We also are in the early stages of preparing for the evolving 2025 October-FEST at Germantown Town Center, tentatively scheduled for October 4! If you would like to be involved in that event, please email zdavis@ggchamber.org.

RSVP for the April 29th meeting:

GGCC website: Gaithersburg, MD Chamber Events

Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1302603124009

Email us: zdavis@ggchamber.org

 

 

BACKGROUND: 

In 2024, The County awarded GGCC a grant to determine the feasibility of a Business Improvement District (BID) or an Urban District (UD) in Germantown Town Center. With the funding, GGCC is charged with the following:

      1. working with the businesses in the Town Center to determine needs for services that could help the business community to thrive
      2. working with the businesses and community stakeholders to determine what the community would like to see in the Town Center
      3. working with the County government to determine geographic boundaries and potential funding models for the Town Center

Depending on budget availability, the grant to GGCC is renewable up to 3 years, at which point, we need to have determined the feasibility of a BID or UD and filed appropriate project applications.

 

In year one (May 2024-May 2025): GGCC started the feasibility project with the following:

      1. Personnel & Community Engagement: We hired a dedicated project manager for Germantown Town Center – Zeina Davis – who will work with business owners and stakeholders in the Town Center on various initiatives
      2. Placemaking: We brought back Oktoberfest to the Town Center, and over 4200 people attended (based on placer data); we supported other events in the Town Center, such as Celebrate the Seasons
      3. Branding: Through a competitive RFP process, we have hired two agencies to guide the community through a branding exercise, which will culminate in a new logo and brand design guidelines for the Town Center in Spring 2025.

Year #2 will focus on understanding the potential boundaries of a Business Improvement District for Germantown Town Center, building out a website to be used as a marketing tool for local businesses and the County, learning more about what services the businesses community needs to thrive and starting plans to implement those services, and implementing more fun placemaking events to bring new people to the Town Center area. We will also begin to explore various funding models by looking at BIDs and Urban Districts across the state and country.

In Year #3, we will continue implementing more placemaking events to bring new people to the Town Center, while also focusing on refining boundaries of a potential Business Improvement District for Germantown Town Center, determining potential funding sources, determining final feasibility, and filing proper requests to the county and state, should the community want to move forward.

 

RESOURCES:

Click here for a current year-one status update.

Click here for the status update presented after Oktoberfest

Visit Germantown Town Center on Instagram or Germantown Town Center on Facebook (new!)!  

 

PAST PUBLIC MEETINGS & EVENTS:

 

Special thanks to our friends from BlackRock Center for the Arts, the Noor Center, The Core Foundation, Unity of Gaithersburg, the Equity Center, the Upcounty Hub, We Art Fun, business leaders from the GGCC Board of Directors, as well as our partners from Montgomery County, for participating in our Chamber’s GTC Ad Hoc Committee to inform this process.

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