More Than Java Cafe closes downtown Bethesda location

More Than Java Cafe has closed in the Brightview Bethesda building at 4907 Rugby Avenue in downtown Bethesda. Signage has been removed from the exterior of the cafe, but furnishings and equipment remain inside the space. More Than Java's Laurel location is still open for business.

More Than Java Cafe opens in downtown Bethesda

More Than Java Cafe has opened its latest suburban Maryland location in downtown Bethesda. It is located in the ground floor of the Brightview Bethesda apartment building, located at 4907 Rugby Avenue. More Than Java Cafe has an existing Bethesda location by Montgomery Mall and Home Depot.

Signage installed at More Than Java Cafe in Bethesda

Signage has been stenciled on the front windows of More Than Java Cafe, which will be located in the ground floor of the Brightview Bethesda assisted-living apartment building at 4907 Rugby Avenue. The building itself was scheduled to welcome its first residents over the past week.

This will be More Than Java Cafe's second Bethesda location, with the first already open at 10411 Motor City Drive, near Home Depot and Montgomery Mall. As the name implies, it is more than a coffee shop, featuring a wide variety of breakfast and lunch items and baked goods.

Bethesda construction update: More Than Java Cafe, Vivant Salon (Photos)

The Brightview Bethesda assisted-living apartment building's ground floor retail spaces leased up quickly, even more rapidly than many other post-Great Recession luxury apartment buildings in town. Vivant Salon looks like it's about to open. More Than Java Cafe has made significant progress, including installation of its main coffee bar counter, and counter.

More Than Java Cafe

Vivant Salon

Brightview Bethesda installs sign, signs another retail tenant

Who would have thought an assisted living apartment building would lease up its ground floor faster than many of the luxury residential towers have in downtown Bethesda? The high number of visitors expected to pass in and out of the Brightview Bethesda daily likely is a factor in attracting tenants here. Just days ago, I reported the signing of More Than Java Cafe as the first Brightview ground floor occupant. Today, I can report a second tenant on board, Vivant Salon.

Both retail spaces are now under construction. Meanwhile, the official signage for the Brightview Building itself was installed yesterday, and signage for the residential parking entrance was placed over the garage door. It's intriguing that they are also adding the label of "Woodmont" to the building, either to note the Woodmont Triangle neighborhood, or perhaps in expectation of future projects in Bethesda.

More Than Java Cafe to open downtown Bethesda location

The new Brightview Bethesda assisted living apartment building has its first retail space tenant. More Than Java Cafe will open a new location there, at 4907 Rugby Avenue. The local coffee shop chain has existing locations near Montgomery Mall at 10411 Motor City Drive, and in Laurel.

There is at total of 2957 SF of retail space in the ground floor of the Brightview Bethesda. Developer Shelter Group had hinted from the beginning that they had hoped to attract a cafe to the ground floor.

Rugby Avenue public art installation completed (Photos)

The LED public art feature on the facade of the Brightview Bethesda senior living apartments at 4907 Rugby Avenue in downtown Bethesda is now fully installed and activated. It features a screen at the bottom of the column that is currently advertising sign contractor Gable, which is based in Curtis Bay, Maryland and has provided signage for many high-profile commercial properties across the state.

Brightview Bethesda public art partially activated on Rugby Avenue (Photos)

A public art installation on the facade of the new Brightview Bethesda assisted-living apartment building was far enough along to be partially activated last evening. The LED light strip features a vertical series of art panels. Below the photos of the lit piece are pictures of when it was being installed over the last few days. You can see a close-up view of the electronics behind the art panels in several of those images. Brightview Bethesda is located at 4907 Rugby Avenue.

Brightview Bethesda nears finish line in Woodmont Triangle

Construction of the Brightview Bethesda, an assisted living apartment building at 4907 Rugby Avenue, is in the home stretch as far as the exterior goes. When complete, Brightview Bethesda will house 113 units, with independent living, assisted living, and memory care residential options.

Shelter Group is the developer, and Donohoe is the construction contractor.