Macy’s announced at the beginning of January that it will be closing its Bloomingdale’s store in White Flint Mall this spring, as well as three others across the nation.

According to Macy’s official website, Bloomingdale’s, which is owned by Macy’s, Inc., is closing because White Flint Mall is an underperforming location. Macy’s plans to open new and updated Bloomingdale’s stores across the country.

“Now I won’t have as much of a reason to go to White Flint,” said junior Victoria Study, a frequenter of Bloomingdale’s. “I’ll spend less time there.”

In order to make the White Flint area a more popular destination, the Montgomery County Council approved an outline called the White Flint Sector Plan to redevelop the region. According to the website for the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC), an agency responsible for park systems and land use in Montgomery and Prince George’s County, the plan calls for the construction of a 5.2 million acre residential and retail center along Rockville Pike.

“This area will have a new street grid, urban parks and open spaces, new public facilities, including a recreation center and urban library and a redeveloped Rockville Pike with street trees and Bus Rapid Transit,” said Nkosi Yearwood, an area planner and staff contact for M-NCPPC.

According to Nov. 14, 2011 meeting notes from the White Flint Sector Plan Implementation Advisory Committee, although most of White Flint Mall is scheduled to be demolished to make room for other developments, Bloomingdale’s and Lord and Taylor were originally scheduled to remain in their current location throughout the construction.

However, according to Yearwood, both retailers own their buildings and can make changes to their individual redevelopment plans.

According to the M-NCPPC website, the redevelopment of the new area will take up to 30 years to complete and will be more complex than previous construction projects in the surrounding area.

“Several properties are large, so the development cycle and activity will take years to build out,” Yearwood said. “In addition, White Flint will require a series of new streets to support the density, unlike Bethesda or Silver Spring where new development occurred without new roadways.”

According to Yearwood, the first changes the public will see include construction at Mid-Pike Plaza and at the intersection of Nicholson Lane and Rockville Pike.

“The White Flint Sector Plan created a framework that will begin transforming White Flint, over the next 30 years, into an urban place,” Yearwood said. “The Sector Plan work is complete. Now it’s all about implementation.”