Silver Spring's Argent Could Return By Year's End

• July 23rd 2010

by Will Smith

Just over a year ago, Silver Spring’s newest condo, the 96-unit Argent, held its grand opening. The building was well-located at 1200 Blair Mill Road (map), just a five-minute walk to the downtown Silver Spring Metro and ten minutes to that area’s many shops and restaurants. But unfortunately for the project, spring 2009 was one of the worst times in modern history to deliver new condominiums. A few months passed, and Argent had a hard time selling units. In August, the project halted sales, and by the beginning of this year the developer Perseus Realty had returned the building to the bank.

Since then Argent has sat empty as the bank looked for a buyer. There are signs that a sale might happen within the next couple months, which could mean the project is reintroduced to the market later this year or early next. But the exact fate of the building won’t be clear until the lender actually sells it and the new owner announces its plans. It is also unclear whether Argent would come back as condos or as apartments, or even if it would still be called Argent (probably not).

The story is reminiscent of The Dumont condominium in Mount Vernon Triangle, which also delivered at a bad time, couldn’t sell enough units, was ultimately foreclosed upon, and sold to a new buyer. The buyer, Equity Residential, converted the project to apartments and rechristened it 425 Mass. Since its relaunch this spring, the lease-up has been brisk, and the project’s woes appear to be behind it.

Hopefully for Argent, its fate will also improve under new ownership.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/silver_springs_argent_could_return_by_years-end/2292.