Lerner Enterprises and the Tower Cos., owners of White Flint Mall, issued a release after Pike District was chosen last week saying they would retain the White Flint name as they proceed with redevelopment of the mall into a mixed-use town center project.

“White Flint will continue to create an authentic connection between the area’s past and future as it redefines White Flint and delivers the strongest sense of place for the community,” said Edward de Avila, Lerner vice president, in the statement.

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Alongside other White Flint landowners like Federal Realty Investment Trust — builder of the Pike & Rose development — Lerner and Tower are members of the White Flint Partnership, which decided on the Pike District name in concert with Streetsense, the Bethesda retail and branding firm. Pike District won out over candidates such as The Stem, Quartz District and The Rocksy.

Lerner and Tower are on board for changing the area’s name, with de Avila saying he is confident it will drive a rebirth in the area and that the owners of the mall “look forward to working together with the county to distinguish the Pike District as a vibrant economic development district.”

But as much as the developers in White Flint are working together to reshape the area, they are also competitors in their attempts to profit from it.

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At the mall site, Lerner and Tower plan to add dozens of new retailers alongside hundreds of apartments and, eventually, new office buildings. Federal Realty and other companies, among them JBG, LCOR and B.F. Saul are developing their own projects and will be vying for some of the same apartment renters and shoppers.

Perhaps the name Pike District will help drive so much demand from people who want to live, work and shop along Rockville Pike that all the projects will succeed.

But in the meantime, keeping the White Flint name for the mall site will allow Lerner and Tower to retain a brand that could distinguish their new project from everything being built around them. Other developers have shed the names of their older projects, with Federal Realty swapping Mid-Pike Plaza for Pike & Rose and JBG naming its development North Bethesda Market.

There’s the possibility for confusion, de Avila acknowledged, but the White Flint name has been around a lot longer than any of the others.

“We recognize that there was some confusion, which stemmed from the distinguished brand equity of White Flint and how it has extended beyond the mall property,” he said.