Pike District It Is!

Posted on December 10, 2014 by Rebecca Hertz

6 Comments

After years of constant debate about creating a new, exciting, and unifying brand for the White Flint area, we have finally come to a decision!

Yesterday, at the White Flint Downtown Advisory Committee monthly meeting, Streetsense, a marketing and branding firm, announced the community’s choice for new name for the sector: Pike District. Both the White Flint Partnership and the White Flint Downtown Advisory Committee have expressed their full support of this chosen name.

Streetsense held a public charette back in September to discuss 10 possible names for the district, which were given by community members through focus groups, surveys, and one-on-one discussions. At the charette, individuals ranked each name on a scale from -5 to +5. Pike District came out on top as the favorite among community members who attended the charette. Sarah Wright, from Streetsense, mentioned that Pike District was “clear” and “straightforward,” while providing a sense of location in the name. These are all elements that really resonated with the community.

It is important to note that this new name will not change any postal addresses or community names in the sector. The idea behind the re-branding is to tie all the various developments together under one commercial district name to market the region. Like Silicon Valley in California or Penn Quarter in DC, we want a name that is both appealing enough to attract new retailers to the area while still speaking to the authenticity of the sector, which will allow community members to keep their connections to the district.

The question now is what next? The White Flint Partnership will work on creating a logo and brand involving the Pike District name. In addition, the website for the Pike District is slated to launch by the end of the December or early January. We are really excited for this website and hope it will be a great tool for our community members. Stay tuned for more information about these developments as they occur!

6 Responses to Pike District It Is!

Mark says: December 10, 2014 at 9:09 am

A new name? Why the heck does the White Flint area need a new name? It’s got a name, White Flint! “Pike District” is dumb, Are we living in a fisherman’s wharf now?

Naldo says: December 11, 2014 at 2:12 am

So Pike District, is the slang name, while North Bethesda, the city remains… That’s don’t make any sense, whatsoever. Just change the whole thing…SMH!

virginia Levy says: December 12, 2014 at 9:26 am

Just a friendly note to express our disappointment with the chosen name. It sounds cold and uninvinting, like a police report denomination. Besides, it does nothing to really identify our area: for visitors, “pike” does not say much, as it could be Columbia Pike, Old Columbia Pike, Leesburg Pike – or any other Pike you can pick from a map. On the other hand, White Flint is a well-known, relatable and historic name, as well as the Metro Station and the former Mall.

Laura says: December 12, 2014 at 10:14 am

I moved to this area 20 years ago because of the White Flint reputation. I agree that this is a poor choice for a name.

Laurel Noble says: December 12, 2014 at 1:54 pm

Pike District isn’t the name of a place or town. Towns are made up of districts. What are they thinking? Imagine Bethesda being named Bethesda District. Makes no sense at all. This name is a disappointment. What was wrong with White Flint? And what will happen to the name White Flint now? Is it to be Pike District Metro Station? And is our pie in the sky White Flint Town Center now to be called the Pike District Town Center? Awful. White Flint sounds classy and different. Pike District sounds down-market, cold, more suited to a tiny remote village in Alaska with a fishery. Not a soon to be booming, desirable, and upcoming area (so they tell us).

Michael Springer says: December 15, 2014 at 6:46 am

I agree with most of the negative comments above. Does Pike District stretch from Bethesda to Rockville? Is this supposed to identify a locale, place, area? Is this the most non-discriptive, flat, unimaginative name imaginable for the White Flint Sector? My guess is this moniker will not survive.