On the Helen's Facebook page, a Friday post said the restaurant likely won't be ready for a holiday opening in December. However, it said they may consider hosting a pre-opening holiday party for eager fans of Helen Wasserman's former DC catering business. Stay tuned.
The permitting process may have resolved the question of what to call the White Flint area, however. Some consider the area Rockville, and others call it North Bethesda. Competing developers are hopeful for a resolution to the battle, or a third name altogether. But Montgomery County's permitting department says 11120 is a Rockville, MD address. Given that Addie's was south of the area now being redeveloped, by that definition, all of White Flint along Rockville Pike would also be Rockville as well.
That debate won't be solved here, but the "White Flint is really Rockville" faction can certainly use such official documents to support their case.
Photo courtesy of Helen's/The Bar Facebook page
3 comments:
White Flint is not "Rockville." Unlike Bethesda, and "White Flint" Rockville is an incorporated city with official boundaries. The southern boundary is roughly along Twinbrook Parkway.
According to the Census Bureau which designates unincorporated places using the most prevalent name, the "White Flint" area is part of the North Bethesda CDP as of the 2010 Census.
Using a postal address to define an area is a very inaccurate method, since USPS uses post offices and zip codes to designate "cities." Historically, White Flint/North Bethesda used Rockville and Kensington mailing addresses even though it is clearly part of neither. However, very recently it seems that "North Bethesda" has been replacing Kensington for some properties (including WF Mall).
Incongruencies between the boundaries of cities/populated areas and those of postal city/zip code are quite common. According to the post office heavily built up areas such as Aspen Hill (split between Rockville, Silver Spring, and Wheaton) and Tysons Corner (divided between Vienna and Mclean) don't even exist.
As for what the area included in the White Flint sector plan should be called, I think "White Flint" would be most appropriate. "North Bethesda" would be my next choice, but I think it would be better if that name were used exclusively for the triangle between the Beltway and I-270 spurs (where Westfield Montgomery and the Rockledge office park are located) and maybe the area around the Grosvenor Metro.
"North Bethesda"and "North Potomac" are terms invented by real estate developers a few years ago to raise property values on their projects. Where was North Bethesda 30 years ago? It didn't exist.
I say go with the post office on this one, as they have nothing to benefit from any renaming. North Potomac is a 2087x zipcode = Gaithersburg, while North Bethesda is a 2085x zipcode = Rockville.
We really need to keep White Flint as the name of the area around the Metro (including the former mall and the Pike & Rose area). Unless we're changing the name of the Metro stop, you're just gonna confuse folks.
There's nothing wrong with the name White Flint. Lerner doesn't own a copyright on it. The other names floated like Pike District aren't descriptive enough. The "Pike" runs all the way from the NIH to downtown Rockville.
North Bethesda is acceptable to describe the larger area north of Bethesda.
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