For a lot of people who grew up in the area, Gaithersburg was a destination for exactly one reason: the DMV. Maryland’s MVA office at 15 Metropolitan Grove Road has been the place generations of teenagers nervously took their driving test — sometimes more than once before it stuck. It’s still there today, still the same kind of nerve-wracking rite of passage it always was.

The Mall That Defined a Generation — And Just Came Down

Lakeforest Mall opened in 1978, anchored by JCPenney, Sears, Woodward & Lothrop, and Hecht’s, and was the largest indoor mall in the county at the time. It even had an ice rink, later replaced by a movie theater. Lakeforest held on far longer than most malls of its era, but the decline followed the same arc — anchors closing one by one through the 2010s, until the mall shut its doors for good on March 31, 2023, after 45 years. Demolition began in April 2026, and the site is now slated for a .2 billion mixed-use redevelopment — retail, housing, and transit access on the same 100-plus acres.

“This is a significant step to moving us toward the finish line,” Gaithersburg Mayor Jud Ashman said at the demolition ceremony. “On behalf of our whole community, I want to say hallelujah — let the redevelopment begin.”

Rio: The Lake, the Shops, the Reason Everyone Still Goes

Rio Lakefront — officially the Rio Washingtonian Center — was Montgomery County’s first major lifestyle center, and it’s still one of the best reasons to spend an afternoon in Gaithersburg. Built around a real lake, with a boardwalk, restaurants like Silver Diner and True Food Kitchen, and big-box anchors including Target, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Kohl’s. A Landmark Theatre rounds it out for movie nights. Just down the road, Life Time at 10121 Washingtonian Boulevard adds a genuinely upscale fitness option — indoor and outdoor pools, basketball courts, a full spa.

Kentlands: The Walkable Town That Started a Movement

Kentlands isn’t just a nice neighborhood — it’s a genuinely significant piece of American urban planning history. Built starting in 1988 by developer Joseph Alfandre, in partnership with Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk — the same architects behind Seaside, Florida — Kentlands was one of the first New Urbanist communities in the country: walkable streets, mixed housing types, front porches, and a real Main Street. Time magazine named it one of the best designs of 1991.

The community includes the restored Kentlands Mansion, built in 1900, now used as a public events venue and art space. For residents, the clubhouse, pool, tennis courts, and a network of lakes and walking trails give it a genuinely resort-like feel — the kind of place where you can walk to a pool, a restaurant, and a bookstore without ever needing a car.