The owner of a local magic shop has pulled a rabbit out of his hat.
After months of negotiations with Montgomery County officials, Barry Taylor said yesterday he will move Barry’s Magic Shop to Rockville.
“I’m sure we’ll see magic happen here in Rockville just like it happened in Wheaton,” Mr. Taylor said.
Mr. Taylor and his wife, Susan Kang, signed a $260,000 settlement agreement with Montgomery County Monday.
In return for vacating their current location on Georgia Avenue, which the county wants to demolish as it redevelops Wheaton, the county will cover the business’s increased rent, remodeling and moving costs.
“Sometimes small businesses fall through the cracks” during redevelopment projects, said Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett.
The store will move from its current location near the Wheaton Metro station to the intersection of Nicholson Lane and Rockville Pike, about two blocks from the White Flint station.
The 4,000-square-foot property above Spas East was the Kung Fu-Tai Chi karate school until about two weeks ago.
Attorney David Winer said he spent the past three months pursuing a different location but called and found out Kung Fu-Tai Chi was closed.
The announcement came unexpectedly as Mr. Taylor and Mrs. Kang fought with Montgomery County officials last year for sufficient funds to relocate their store.
In May, Montgomery bought the property that is home to Barry’s Magic Shop, the only magic shop in the area.
The county wants to demolish the building to build a sidewalk connecting the shops on Georgia Avenue with those on Triangle Lane, west of Georgia Avenue.
The idea for the sidewalk began with county officials in 1994.
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