White Flint mall developers recently proposed a plan to replace the mall with five million square feet of parks, apartment buildings, offices, shops, restaurants, underground parking lots and a 300-room hotel.

Lerner Enterprises and Tower Companies, White Flint’s primary owners and developers, pitched the 25-year plan to the North Bethesda community in an open meeting Nov. 16. The county will put the plans through a two-year approval process before construction starts, project architect Mike Cohen said. The process may involve numerous stages of modification to the proposal, he added.

Different parts of the new development will open as soon as they’re built, Cohen said. The first phase of the project, which is about 40 percent of the development, will include 1,200 residential units and about 740,000 square feet of retail stores, as well as a two-acre central “piazza,” he said.

“The piazza is a very important component of the project,” said James Policaro, managing director of development for Lerner Enterprises. “It ties the community together.”

Lerner Enterprises is primarily managing the redevelopment process, but other companies that have a stake in White Flint are involved in the process as well, Policaro said.

Although the land surrounding White Flint is privately owned, the developers envision a new “town” with community areas making up 13.1 acres of open space.

Four acres of the space will be left open for plans for a new elementary school, which would accommodate the population growth caused by such a large project.

“This development is really all about turning an old shopping mall into a mixed-use development where people live, work, shop and play,” Cohen said. “So we’re looking at this as a different kind of place, a really new idea for development.”

Maps and illustrations of what White Flint might look like after the development will be available for public viewing after they’re submitted to the county, Policaro said.