SILVER SPRING, MD-The Peterson Cos. has secured fashion retailer H&M to fill much of the space left by the departed Borders at its Downtown Silver Spring mixed-used development located, as the name of the project suggests, in Downtown Silver Spring. The chain is taking 18,000 square feet, leaving the center’s ownership—which also includes Foulger-Pratt and ARGO Investment Co.—to fill an additional 7,000 feet left by Borders when this location closed its doors at the end of 2011.

Thanks to the center’s location and flourishing foot traffic, the owners had little problem attracting tenants, Taylor Chess, senior vice president, retail leasing for Peterson, tells GlobeSt.com.

In fact, he says, H&M was not the best offer it received in financial terms, but it was the best fit in terms of tenant mix. “We were holding out for what we felt would be the most dramatic and dynamic retailer,” he says. The difference between the highest bid and H&M’s guaranteed rate, on a square-foot basis, is about 20%, he says.

Chess adds that Downtown Silver Spring is hopeful that H&M’s store sales will help fill in the gap. “We’re betting on their ability to perform because we have a good feeling about the market in general and this retailer in particular.” H&M will open in September 2012, bringing the center’s occupancy to 93.

Chess acknowledges the new lease, especially coming so quickly after the Borders departure, is still an exception in the greater DC area. “We have other mid-sized boxes in Gainesville and Fairfax, VA, that we have had trouble leasing,” he says.