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So far, the capital infusion appears to be well worth it, Stith said. More people and more stores are moving in. The office vacancy rate is at an all-time low: about 3 percent, compared with 39 percent in 1995. About 1,125 new residential units have been built and about 470 more units are under construction, Stith said. More than 33,400 people live within a mile of downtown Silver Spring, according to county data.

The revitalization effort has exceeded expectations, said Bruce H. Lee, president of Lee Development Group, a Silver Spring company that owns property along Colesville Road. Every day, he said, he sees people on the streets, going to restaurants and shopping — a marked difference from the empty spaces and sidewalks of a decade ago.

Lee said many people now live and work in Silver Spring, something that many residents and business owners couldn’t envision years ago.

Previous plans for the downtown had focused on making the area a regional draw. But the idea for the current town center focused on retailers such as Whole Foods and Borders Books and Music that would be patronized by local residents, said Silver Spring’s Richard Jaeggi, who has been involved in the area’s development for about 10 years.

‘‘Clearly it’s been demonstrated that people are using them,” Jaeggi said of the stores.

New merchants and restaurants are still coming, including a brew pub that will open in the former quarters of the Silver Spring Fire Department on Georgia Avenue.

What he hears from his tenants, Lee said, is that people are happy with the restaurants, but would like to see stores such as a Hallmark card shop.

‘‘They’d like to see the additional infill retail,” Lee said.

In addition, many residents hope that areas outside the downtown’s core will reap the benefits of its success. Some stores farther south on Georgia Avenue may be somewhat lost in the shuffle, Jaeggi said.

‘‘... On the periphery, you can also see how little [redevelopment] has carried over to those businesses,” he said. ‘‘It’s hard to know if that’ll be a function of time or not.”

Business begets business

As more businesses come to the downtown and experience success, other businesses are likely to consider that success when leasing or buying space.

‘‘I think Silver Spring is developing a better critical mass of businesses and therefore a better critical mass of potential customers,” said Jane Redicker, president of the Greater Silver Spring Chamber of Commerce.

It is a far cry from the downtown Silver Spring of the 1980s and 1990s, when the economy was depressed and many stores and restaurants were forced to close, Stith said. After several failed attempts to revitalize the area, with plans of mega-malls spanning Georgia Avenue and Colesville Road, developer Foulger-Pratt Co. of Rockville came up with the town center concept in place today.

Foulger-Pratt partnered with Peterson Cos. of Fairfax, Va., Argo Investment Co. of Rockville and Montgomery County to create a new space and attract retail and restaurants. The county also lured the American Film Institute next to a refurbished Silver Theatre, and used tax incentives to attract Discovery Communications, which built its multi-story world headquarters nearby. Its employees can often be seen on the streets.

‘‘I think that once [the American Film Institute] came to Silver Spring, that’s what attracted the attention of Discovery,” Lee said. ‘‘And that has helped put Silver Spring on the map.”

Even one of Maryland’s most successful biopharmaceutical companies has banked its future on downtown Silver Spring. United Therapeutics, with 2006 revenues of $160 million, opened a $32 million headquarters and drug manufacturing plant there in June.

The 50,000-square-foot, four-story facility is the first phase of the drugmaker’s planned expanded campus and headquarters in Silver Spring.

The area is attractive to businesses because of its amenities, Redicker said. There are plenty of places for people to eat, a growing number of stores and easy access to Metro and other forms of transportation.

Additionally, Lee said National Public Radio, now in Washington, D.C., is considering Silver Spring, something virtually unthinkable a decade ago.

‘‘We used to never be able to get that kind of attention from good commercial brokers,” he said.

Still work left to do

A building for Easter Seals, a nonprofit that helps children and adults with disabilities, is being constructed at the corner of Spring Street and Georgia Avenue. Several condominium projects are still planned for south Silver Spring, and work is still being done on the Silver Spring Gateway, a residential development on East West Highway. Construction on a new library is also expected to begin within the next few years, Stith said.

The Birchmere, a nationally known concert hall in Alexandria, Va., plans to open a second location on Colesville Road. It is expected to be a regional draw and officials hope those patrons will stay to eat and shop.

Two of the largest components of the downtown still to be built are the Paul S. Sarbanes Transit Center at the Silver Spring Metro station, and the Silver Spring Civic Building and Veterans Plaza at the corner of Ellsworth Drive and Fenton Street.

The $75 million transportation hub will also include residential space, retail and a hotel. About 60,000 riders pass through the center daily. Officials project it will have more than 100,000 daily users in the next 20 years.

The civic building, Stith said, will provide a community gathering place, promised after the county demolished the Silver Spring Armory to make room for redevelopment.

Plans for an ice rink and pavilion outside the building are again under debate by Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission staff because of the unexpected draw of the artificial turf on the site.

Many say the discussion over that space is a sign of Silver Spring’s evolving downtown. Some see the ice rink and pavilion as community amenities, while others see them as just another lure for retail developers.

‘‘We never had a process to fully determine what people do want,” Jaeggi said.

What’s new, what’s coming

In the past, some smaller, longtime merchants have complained that the revitalization drove up rents and threatened their businesses. But new retailers and restaurants are flocking to the rejuvenated downtown.

Pieces, a clothing boutique, recently opened on Georgia Avenue in the former storefront of Bell Florist.

Olazzo, an Italian restaurant in Bethesda, plans to open a second location at the former Half Moon BBQ site on Georgia Avenue.

Hook & Ladder Brewing Company plans to open a restaurant at the former fire station on Georgia Avenue.

Pacers, a store that sells running shoes and clothing, is coming to a space in the Town Center Garage at the corner of Fenton Street and Roeder Road.

And Fuddrucker’s, a national hamburger franchise, is slated to open in the Town Center Garage next month.