UNION JACK'S MAY BE UP FOR SALE IN BETHESDA, COLUMBIA, ANNAPOLIS

EXCLUSIVE

Bethesda's popular British pub may be up for sale, and the new owner would be free to change its theme away from the UK. While I've been hearing rumors from sources regarding the future of Union Jack's on St. Elmo Avenue for several months, I spotted a Craigslist ad that certainly raises questions.

The rub is that the public will not likely know of the sale until it happens; the seller is requiring confidentiality agreements to keep the sale private. However, the ad gives away enough detail to suggest the Union Jack's in Bethesda, Columbia and Annapolis are all up for sale.

First, the chain happens to have locations in all three towns. Second, Union Jack's has billiards and darts, as mentioned in the ad. "Game watching?" Check. "Late night DJ?" Check.

Is there any other chain bar meeting that description, with locations in all three locales? There is definitely no official announcement regarding the sale. But the writer of the ad gave us TMI to keep it secret.

The asking price for the 3-unit business is $2.75 million. And the ad says "Buyer can develop his/her own concept," so it would be up to the new owner whether the British theme stays or goes.

A Ballston location already closed earlier this year. But a new Union Jack's is still planned to open at Washingtonian Center in Gaithersburg.

The Bethesda location is ample in size, and in a great spot, with the Bainbridge Bethesda luxury apartment tower coming online early next year. Its space was formerly known as The Shark Club.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY BRT: A BOONDOGGLE WE CAN'T AFFORD

Bus Rapid Transit System Will Still Cost

Bethesda Residents $1000+ a Year!

Another Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row Exclusive!!!

A month later, there still has been no public dialogue, no release of credible data supporting ridership and time savings, and no credible finance plan for the boondoggle its few dozen supporters call Montgomery County BRT.

One other thing hasn't changed:  the financing plan put forward by the BRT committee will still cost many Bethesda residents $1000 or more per year in new taxes.

Supporters are trying to lowball the numbers by using real estate values that would pass for "affordable housing" in the county, when calculating residents' estimated BRT tax.  Rents will also increase.

Worst of all, the BRT system proposed is simply an ideological, political and vanity project run amok.

Wait, the worst of all is that no reporter, politician or other public voice has criticized or critiqued the BRT plan, its performance and ridership projections, real-world application, and financing.

If you would finally like to hear the other side of the BRT story, read this article  I posted last month, which is the only critical evaluation of BRT in Montgomery County ever put forward and published.  It's a shame that this week we are simply getting more reworked press releases posing as "articles."

Ever noticed that none of the BRT articles ever include the phrase, "Critics of the proposal say that ______."  That's apparently by design.  You the public are to believe that BRT is inevitable; it's just a question of how we're going to pay for it.  Scary stuff.  All this talk for two years, and not one public hearing or charade... I'm sorry, charette.

They mean for working families to finance the BRT boondoggle, but less than 20 people in a county of nearly a million will design and pass the project nearly by fiat.  Are you as dumb as they think you are?  No.  And that's why we'll be lucky to have one public hearing, once this is all a predetermined done deal.

It's outrageous.  And as I argued in the linked article, it will also take funds from our already struggling Metro system.

There are many smart people on the BRT committee.  And that's why their proposal assumes no federal funding.  They're smart because this BRT project has zero chance of qualifying for federal funds in its current form.  USDOT guidelines outright forbid awarding funds to wasteful projects like this.

If BRT was competing with the Rockville Freeway for federal funds, the Rockville Freeway would win, hands down.   Why?  It meets an actual and quantifiable need for a corridor between White Flint and Columbia, two exploding employment and housing hubs.

More significantly, for a fraction of the cost, the Rockville Freeway would move more commuters each day than the entire BRT system.  That is an incredible statistic.  And one that is the deciding factor in awarding federal funds.

Media hype aside, how bad is this BRT plan?

It's Yugo-meets-New Coke-meets-John Carter bad.  Now that's bad.

We need to get real and focus on improving capacity of our existing Metro, Metrobus and Ride On routes in the county.  And building our long- and intentionally-delayed master plan highways.

The future of transportation is multimodal.  And expensive.  We simply can't afford the BRT boondoggle.

ROCKVILLE FREEWAY

UPDATE

Fellow supporters of the Rockville Freeway:

Several developments favoring construction of this long-delayed, 6-lane highway connecting the Montrose Parkway east of 355 to the ICC near Indian Spring Country Club have occurred.

The biggest news is the oversized town center known as Twinbrook Metro Place. A development equal to or larger than Rockville Town Center itself, the project includes no highway improvements to ameliorate the traffic it will generate.

There is much dispute about whether the developer's plan to get a waiver for reduced parking will result in overflow vehicles parking in other nearby retail centers. The model used by so many developers today, is that spaces will vacate after 5:00, and restaurant diners and bar revelers will then fill them. In other words, as office drone A backs out of his parking space, Lounge Lizard A is tapping his steering wheel impatiently, ready to pull in for his bottom shelf margarita and so-so chicken sandwich at the Mixed Use Mixed Grill. Does this theory translate to reality? Not in Bethesda.

Height is another concern. While it makes sense to have tall buildings near Metro stations, not all Metro stations are in 360 degree urban surroundings. Twinbrook Metro, and this proposed development site at 1592 Rockville Pike, are backed primarily by homes in Twinbrook on Rockland, Lewis and Vandegrift Avenues, and Lemay, Holland and Halpine Roads.

It is not appropriate to have buildings of 15 stories looming over single-family homes. At the same time, Rockville's Mayor and Council gained a "concession" by the developer to make it 14 floors at last Monday's meeting. It seems if you're going to 14, one more floor won't make much of a difference.

Granting these parking and height concessions now makes them standard for every other future development within the Metro station's eligible proximity. Ultimately, this is the result not of a scheme by the developer, but of Rockville's recently-updated (and supremely developer-friendly) zoning code.

A Responsible Growth zoning code, and planning principles, would have acknowledged reality, and made clear that Twinbrook Metro will never have the density of a downtown DC stop. Unfortunately that didn't happen.

In totality, this and similar projects will overwhelm the Pike and other nearby roads. Only with the Rockville Freeway in place can adequate traffic capacity be provided in the 355 corridor.

Unlike the recent JBG announcement of its second White Flint project, Twinbrook Metro Place offers no unique architecture or sense of place, either. But the bottom line is, if you are bringing this many cars to Rockville Pike, the developer and the city have an obligation to provide the infrastructure required to support that growth.

With a second JBG project at White Flint, thousands of new units at the soon-to-be demolished White Flint Mall, the County Council trying to add apartments to the proposed Walmart site on Rockville Pike, and the Mid-Pike Plaza mini-Manhattan on the way, Twinbrook Metro Place only increases the pressure to build the Rockville Freeway. Without it, 355 simply cannot manage the coming volume requirements for traffic.

Finally, the council has tentatively tabled funding for the Montrose Parkway East. Like the existing Montrose Parkway, the extension will primarily use the existing right-of-way meant for the Rockville Freeway.

Stopping that project is good news. The Montrose Parkway is too narrow at 4 lanes, and its speed limit is too low. But worst of all, instead of building an interchange at Veirs Mill Road (as the Rockville Freeway would), Montrose Parkway East diverts from that route and connects to Veirs Mill across from Aspen Hill Road.

This alignment is a catastrophe. First, it means more land seizures from owners who had no way to know this would happen. The Rockville Freeway's long designated path requires virtually no demolitions of homes or other property.

Second, going forward with the parkway means having to pay for an intersection, but then building a ramped interchange anyway when the Rockville Freeway is built.

Third, we'd be making the same mistake again: 4 lanes when six are needed, and a silly parkway design rather than an interstate-standard highway. Why in the world is Montrose Parkway like that, when Montrose Road is six lanes, and has interstate-style sound barriers?

Fourth, the Parkway would dump eastbound traffic into the residential neighborhoods of Aspen Hill. In contrast, the Rockville Freeway would take cars closer to their ultimate destinations in Howard County, Baltimore and eastern Montgomery County.

The parkway delay is the perfect time to reassess the mess, and plan to build the Rockville Freeway instead. There is no other way to provide the capacity needed along Rockville Pike, Randolph Road, Edmonston Drive, Veirs Mill, Connecticut Avenue and Georgia Ave.

The Rockville Freeway will connect the burgeoning employment and residential hubs of White Flint and Columbia.

If it is built!