W. Thomas Curtis could be considered a pioneer.
Curtis was among the first residents of King Farm, in 1999, when there were still acres of vacant fields left from a closed dairy farm.
“I remember all the dust,” says Curtis, a financial planner. “It was being kicked up by the all the construction crews. We’d have to clean the front porch almost every day.”
From its dusty, agrarian beginnings, the planned 430-acre community now has 3,200 single-family houses, townhouses, condominiums and apartments, with about 8,000 residents. In addition to 3 million square feet of office space and a Sheraton hotel, there is also 125,000 square feet of retail space in the Village Square.
“The whole area has matured,” Curtis says. “Even the little twigs planted during construction are now trees.”
Diverse community: Construction in the planned, mixed-use community began in 1997, the year after it was annexed into the city of Rockville.
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The community has a civic board called the King Farm Citizens' Assembly, and the Board of Trustees manages the community with a management staff employed by the Assembly. An activities director helps organize community events, including movies on the lawn in the summer, concerts and seasonal festivals.
“There’s something for everyone,” says Gail Sherman, president of the King Farm Citizens’ Assembly.
Residents like the mix of housing types, too, Sherman says.
Porches are big, but yards tend to be small. It’s perfect for people who like to socialize and relax outside but without a high-maintenance landscape, says Curtis, who has a six-bedroom, four-bath single-family house.
“It’s an intimate atmosphere,” says Curtis. “Unlike a lot of neighborhoods, people know their neighbors and talk to them.”
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Curtis also likes the racial and ethnic diversity. His neighbors hail from Pakistan, China, Ireland and Argentina.
The mix of ages, from retirees to young families, is also appealing, Sherman says: “It’s very diverse.”
Remembering the rural past: In the Village Square, there is a Safeway and a number of other businesses, such as dry cleaners and restaurants, including Fontina Grill and Dough Roller.
King Farm also has a large retirement community, Ingleside at King Farm.
In addition to a community center, two community swimming pools and numerous pocket parks, there are two large parks.
One park, Mattie J.T. Stepanek Park, is dedicated to a peace advocate and former resident who published seven books before his death at the age of 13. President Jimmy Carter and Oprah Winfrey spoke at Stepanek’s funeral, and Winfrey attended the park dedication in 2008.
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The remnants of King Farm’s rural past are in a seven-acre parcel with several barns called King Farmstead Park. (Some of the buildings have fallen into disrepair, and Rockville officials are working on a plan for the property.)
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New development: Only a few open parcels remain in King Farm, says Susan Swift, Rockville's director of community planning and development services.
An additional 129 townhouses are to be built on Piccard Drive at the west end of King Farm Boulevard by the Vienna, Va.-based Penrose Group. The project has been approved and is in the final design stage, according to Swift.
Numerous other developments are in the works: Bainbridge Shady Grove, a 400-unit complex across Route 355 (Frederick Road) from King Farm, is scheduled to be completed this spring. About 550 of the 840 units at Gables Upper Rock Apartments near Interstate 270 are either occupied or under construction. And two other projects that would consist of more than 1,300 apartments and 700 townhouses are planned near the Shady Grove Metro station.
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King Farm civic leaders are monitoring the development plans with an eye on traffic effects.
The first phase of the long-planned Corridor Cities Transitway (CCT), a nine-mile route from the Shady Grove Metro station to the Metropolitan Grove MARC station with a bus rapid-transit line, is to run through King Farm. The project is in the design stage, with construction to begin in the spring of 2018, according to the Maryland Transit Administration.
Some residents oppose the placement of the project and question its value, saying it will take longer to ride the bus than it would to drive.
Living there: The main boundaries are Frederick Road — Maryland Route 355 — to the east, West Gude Drive to the south, I-270 to the west (Piccard Drive runs along the west, but then curves around through King Farm to the north) and Shady Grove Road to the north.
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Over the past 12 months, eight single-family homes, 39 townhouses and 37 condos have been sold in the area, according to Martin Green, associate broker at Re/Max Realty Services in Rockville. They ranged in price from $939,000 (for a five-bedroom, six-bath single-family house of more than 5,000 square feet) to $299,000 (for a two-bedroom, two-bath condo with just under 1,000 square feet.) There are nine homes — one single-family, three townhouses and five condos — under contract, he said.
Currently, Green said, there are 12 properties for sale, ranging from a $345,000 two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo to an $825,000 five-bedroom, four-bath, single-family house with new stainless steel appliances.
Homeowner association fees range from about $60 to $100 a month, says Sherman.
Transit: Part of King Farm's appeal is its easy access to major commuter routes, including Interstates 270 and 370 and the Intercounty Connector. And the focus on mass transit was also one of the guiding principles when the community was developed.
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Many residents commute to the District. The Shady Grove Metro station is within walking distance, but there’s also a shuttle bus that runs throughout King Farm to the station.
“It’s very convenient,” says Curtis. “It’s a wonderful community.”
Schools: College Gardens Elementary, Rosemont Elementary, Julius West Middle School, Forest Oak Middle School, Gaithersburg High School, Richard Montgomery High School. There are two future school sites in King Farm.
Crime: In 2013, the most recent year for which statistics are available, there were no murders, six rapes, 57 robberies and 46 aggravated assaults. Overall, crime decreased slightly (by 9 percent) from the prior year, according to the Rockville police.
Laura Barnhardt Cech is a freelance writer.
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