GAITHERSBURG, Md. — Gaithersburg’s Lakeforest Mall doesn’t look like much these days, but in its heyday, Suzie Ward and Toni Hudson say it was a sight to see.

“They had an elevator and you could see all of the floors,” Hudson recalled. “People and parents would come and bring their little kids and they would play all over, it was the place to go.”

Lakeforest Mall first opened its doors in 1978, serving as both a staple of the local economy and a community meeting space for the next 45 years until it finally closed in March 2023.

The mall was a crown jewel of Montgomery County shopping.

Not only was it the largest mall in the county when it opened, it was also one of the first malls in the country to have an indoor ice-skating rink.

On Monday morning, state and county officials gathere

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