Rendering of Crown‘s newly completed townhomes.

Ground-up development presents an inherent opportunity for distinctiveness, and Crown, in Montgomery County, has taken full advantage of it. The massive community of up to 2,250 planned homes is located on 182 acres of former farmland. It includes four unique and walk-able neighborhoods, a retail district, parks and, perhaps most impressively, a variety of home designs not available anywhere else in the county.

Currently, work is underway on the first phase of residential construction: 204 townhomes in the Crown West neighborhood (by builders KB Home, M/I Homes and Pulte Homes). About 50 of those homes have already been sold, and Crown recently celebrated both the opening of its first business, Downtown Crown Starbucks, and its very first residents.

As the temperature in the DC-area finally drops, prospective buyers will have the opportunity this weekend to tour five Crown West model townhomes—and partake in wine and beer tastings, live music and food trucks—at the upcoming Crown Fall Fest. The Crown Fall Fest will take place on October 19th between 1:00pm and 4:00pm. Visit the Crown website here for more information.

Still to come in the spring of 2014 will be the grand opening of the Downtown Crown neighborhood, featuring nearly 260,000 square feet of retail space and the Cadence at Crown apartment community, which will begin leasing in January.

Downtown Crown will feature al fresco dining and a range of restaurants, like Asia Nine and La Tagliatella, which are new to Montgomery County, and others like Ruth’s Chris Steak House and Chop’t. Crown Park, also in Downtown Crown, will host events like seasonal farmers markets and outdoor concerts.

Future phases of Crown West will include an additional 135 townhomes and 59 single-family homes. Once built, the Crown East and Crown Central neighborhoods will include hundreds more multi-family units, condo townhomes, traditional townhomes and single-family homes.

Rendering of Crown West.

Crown is located along Fields Road in the heart of Montgomery County, right off of I-270 at the interchange with I-370. Nearby landmarks are the Washingtonian Center (with shops, restaurants and movie theaters) and Shady Grove Adventist Hospital. Crown is also just minutes from the Shady Grove Metro station, which will be accessible via a community shuttle.

Parks and green spaces will soon connect the four Crown neighborhoods and will include underground filtration systems, rain gardens and sustainable storm water management features. Restaurants, shopping and services like LA Fitness (opening in December), Harris Teeter (opening in January) and Ruth’s Chris Steak House will be arriving at Downtown Crown in the coming months. Community amenities like pools, a climbing wall and an extensive clubhouse are in the works—and in addition to the shuttle to Shady Grove Metro, residents will have direct access to both Maryland and DC public transit with a future Corridor Cities Transitway stop planned in Crown Central.

Rendering of a townhome roof deck in Crown West.

The townhomes at Crown West range in price from $544,990 to $689,900. They measure up to 2,267 square feet, range from three to four bedrooms (with as many as two-and-a-half baths), and include features like rooftop terraces and oversized decks, two-car garages, gourmet kitchens and fireplaces.

For more information on the Crown community, please visit the website or sign-up for updates here.