Christmas break-in at Safeway in Bethesda

Montgomery County police responded to a burglar alarm at the Safeway store at The Shops at Sumner Place in Bethesda on Christmas night. The store, which would usually be open at that hour, was closed for the Christmas holiday. Officers were dispatched to the scene at 9:22 PM. Upon arriving at the supermarket, they found evidence of forced entry.

UPS Store to open at The Shops at Sumner Place in Bethesda

The Shops at Sumner Place has finally found a tenant for the long-vacant space at 4611 Sangamore Road, which was previously home to Simon Says Yoga. The UPS Store has leased the storefront, which is between Starbucks and ATI Physical Therapy. If you are not familiar with The UPS Store from its Kenwood Station and downtown Bethesda locations, it offers shipping, shredding, printing, and fax services; passport photos; personal and business mailboxes; and notary services. Simon Says Yoga has previously moved to a new location at 7307 MacArthur Boulevard, in the Glen Echo Shopping Center.

Photo courtesy The UPS Store

Pickpockets strike at Bethesda restaurant, salon

Montgomery County police responded to a pickpocket incident in North Bethesda Wednesday evening, July 12, 2023. The pocket was picked at a restaurant in the 10200 block of Old Georgetown Road at 7:51 PM. Two hours earlier, a pocket was picked at a salon in the Shops at Sumner Place. Watch your wallet!

Apartments at Sumner Place plan unveiled in Bethesda (Photos)

W.C. & A.N. Miller has revealed its plan to redevelop part of the parking lot at its Shops at Sumner Place property at 4701 Sangamore Road in Bethesda into an apartment building. The Apartments at Sumner Place would be 5 stories and 57' tall, and house 132 rental apartments, 20 of which would be Moderately-Priced Dwelling Units (MPDUs). Parking would be provided in an underground parking garage at the rear of the building (facing the Sumner Village condos). Amenity common areas in the building might include a fitness center, party room and an outdoor terrace. 

A new curb cut will be added to Sentinel Drive beyond the existing one, near the property line with Sumner Village. It will be used for loading dock access. From the renderings shown, the building will block the view of the shopping center from the units in Sumner Village that will be directly behind it. 

W.C. & A.N. Miller also revealed that it has future plans for the part of the parking lot along Sentinel Drive where a drive-thru ATM is currently located. A rendering shows that area being replaced in the future by a new retail building, a daycare facility, and a playground. A second pad site retail building facing the new Apartments at Sumner Place across the main driveway through the parking lot is also shown for a future phase. It would take some of the parking currently used by Safeway customers.

Phasing plan showing future retail
buildings, daycare facility and playground
(far left and center)

As I reported last week, a required public meeting on the proposal will be held tonight, April 13, 2023, at 7:00 PM at Capital Workspaces (located over the Safeway at The Shops at Sumner Place) at 4701 Sangamore Road, Suite 100N. A Montgomery County Development Review Committee meeting on the plan is scheduled for April 25. W.C. & A.N. Miller currently hopes to formally submit its Preliminary Plan and Site Plan for the project to Montgomery County in June or July.

A public hearing on the plans would be expected to be held by the Montgomery County Planning Board in October or November 2023. There is not yet a timeline for the groundbreaking or delivery of the project.

Images courtesy W.C. & A.N. Miller/Faik Tugberk, Architects Collaborative

Apartment building proposed for Shops at Sumner Place in Bethesda

W.C. & A.N. Miller can't wait any longer for the Purple Line. The longtime developer and landowner of The Shops at Sumner Place shopping center (a.k.a. Little Falls Mall) at 4701 Sangamore Road in Bethesda is proposing to redevelop part of the property as an apartment building. According to a sign posted on the property yesterday, The Apartments at Sumner Place would be 45' tall, and house 132 apartments, up to 20 "live/work units," and "amenity open space." 

The sign does not specify what additional parking facilities would be provided for tenants of the new apartments, nor the specific location of the proposed building on the site. A section of the large parking lot that is currently used for vehicle storage by W.C. & A.N. Miller and other authorized tenants includes a vacant building that was formerly a PNC Bank. The shopping center is surrounded by other multifamily housing developments on three sides, including Sumner Village and Sumner Highlands, and the Intelligence Community Campus is across the street on Sangamore Road. 

Sign posted on the property
(please click to enlarge)

A required public meeting has been scheduled on the proposal for Thursday, April 13, 2023 at 7:00 PM at Capital Workspaces (located over the Safeway at The Shops at Sumner Place) at 4701 Sangamore Road, Suite 100N. In a rare move for the pandemic era, no virtual meeting URL is mentioned on the sign. However, the sign does give a URL where the presentation materials will be available starting April 10, and gives an email address you can contact for "virtual options."

Currently underutilzed area of the 
Sumner Place parking lot indicated
in red (former PNC Bank at center-left)

By moving forward now, the additional density the Purple Line would allow will not be there to take advantage of with this project. While the theoretical justification for going to Sumner with the light rail line would have been the major employment centers of the ICC campus and Sibley Hospital, I am curious if the behind-the-scenes discussion is turning against extending the Purple Line in that direction. Every inch of the Purple Line extension beyond downtown Bethesda will be a fierce political and legal battle. After all the smoke and courtrooms clear, and the extension were actually built, I firmly believe it would be 2050 or later.

Vacant PNC Bank building

Much "YIMBY Astroturf" discussion in recent years has debated taking the Purple Line to River Road to urbanize the Westbard area, but then having it run out River Road to the Capital Beltway, and then to Tysons over the American Legion Bridge. We do know for certain that the Montgomery County and Maryland state governments have taken several drastic traffic-engineering steps along that stretch of River Road in recent years that clearly indicate their (and developers') perverse desire to redevelop the churches, Kenwood Golf & Country Club, schools, State Highway Adminstration depot, and American Plant site between Kenwood and the Beltway into multifamily housing. That is a greedy and damnable effort you can expect to persist regardless of the Purple Line's future route. But one reader recently suggested something in the comments I hadn't thought of: Is the Montgomery County government's fever to capture half of Little Falls Parkway really about securing that space for the Purple Line to run down the parkway to River Road? 

F45 Training sets opening date in Bethesda

F45 Training has set an opening date for its new South Bethesda gym at 4611-K Sangamore Road, in the Shops at Sumner Place. The facility will open on January 21, 2023. There will be live music, food trucks, juices and smoothies, giveaways and raffles. If you want to get inside sooner for free workouts, Founding Memberships are still available at a special low rate.

F45 Training opening soon in Bethesda

F45 Training is advancing quickly towards a grand opening at 4611-K Sangamore Road, at the Shops at Sumner Place in Bethesda. The new gym has faced a long delay since it was first announced back in February. As of yesterday, the window coverings have been removed, revealing workout equipment in place.

The permanent sign has now been installed above the storefront, and last night, it was lit. F45 has also been added to the main Shops at Sumner Place sign on Sangamore. The Mark Wahlberg-endorsed gym is replacing Sumner Fitness at the high-traffic shopping center.

Signage installed at Westwood Pet Center in Bethesda (Photo)

The sign is up at Westwood Pet Center's new Bethesda location at 4611-H Sangamore Road, in the Shops at Sumner Place shopping center (a.k.a. Little Falls Mall). Last night, it was lit after dark. The interior fit-out of the store continues behind window covers. Westwood Pet Center closed at the Westwood Shopping Center in 2021, after 42 years.

Westbard window smash burglaries in Bethesda: It's worse than we thought (Photos)

The rash of burglaries in southwest Bethesda early Friday morning was more extensive than has been confirmed publicly by Montgomery County police. In addition to the confirmed forced entry at the Montgomery County government liquor store at the Westwood Shopping Center, Bethesda Market at the Shops at Sumner Place and the Exxon station on MacArthur Boulevard near the D.C. line, at least two other businesses were broken into at the Westwood Shopping Center.

Windows are boarded up at Westbard Hair Studio at 5430 Westbard and the newly-opened Shouk at 5436 Westbard, both in the Westwood Shopping Center. I have heard an unconfirmed report that the nail salon next to Shouk was also hit, but windows were intact there Saturday evening, so there is no evidence of burglary as of this writing. It's interesting that they chose a hair salon and restaurant, when the Voorthuis store right there would presumably have expensive frames that could be bagged up quickly for a much bigger score.

The number of businesses broken into suggests that whoever carried these crimes out was confident in a slow police response to burglar alarms. It would take a substantial amount of time to enter at least three businesses and steal property. The burglar(s) were then comfortable in moving on to other commercial areas nearby. All of which again underlines the lack of police resources in Bethesda, as was also proven by firefighters repeatedly asking the police department for assistance with traffic control at a fire scene on Westbard last fall, and waiting over 20 minutes for police to respond to the request.

Two southwest Bethesda liquor stores, gas station burglarized in 65 minutes

Three businesses in southwest Bethesda were burglarized in just over an hour early yesterday morning. The Montgomery County liquor store at the Westwood Shopping Center was broken into at 2:17 AM. Twenty-seven minutes later, Bethesda Market Beer Wine & Deli was burglarized. At 3:22 AM, the Exxon at 6100 MacArthur Boulevard was hit. Montgomery County police found evidence of forced entry at all three businesses, which are in close proximity to each other near the D.C.-Maryland border.

ATI Physical Therapy opens in Bethesda

ATI Physical Therapy has opened at 4611-G Sangamore Road in the Shops at Sumner Place in Bethesda. The Illinois-based occupational therapy chain specializes in work-related injuries, sports medicine, and home health. It replaces Weight Watchers at the former Little Falls Mall. Screenings and appointments can be scheduled online (although the website hasn't been updated, and still says, "Coming Soon!"

F45 Training to return in Bethesda at Shops at Sumner Place

The Shops at Sumner Place has been busy filling vacant storefronts in recent weeks, reaching lease agreements with ATI Physical Therapy and Westwood Pet Center. Their latest signing will bring a bit of star power directly from Hollywood to the former Little Falls Mall in Bethesda. F45 Training will open a gym in the retail center at 4611-K Sangamore Road. The Australia-based fitness chain has the financial backing and endorsement of actor and entrepreneur Mark Wahlberg.

F45 will take over the space recently vacated by another gym, Sumner Fitness. A previous F45 location at 4800 Auburn Avenue closed last summer, and the franchisee had expressed hope that it would reopen in a different spot. It looks like they've found it at Sumner Place. F45 recently opened a new gym in downtown Silver Spring, as well.

Photo courtesy F45 Training

ATI Physical Therapy to open clinic at The Shops at Sumner Place

ATI Physical Therapy will open a Bethesda clinic at 4611-G Sangamore Road, in the The Shops at Sumner Place. The Illinois-based occupational therapy chain specializes in work-related injuries, sports medicine, and home health. ATI was founded in 1996 in Willowbrook, Illinois, and now has hundreds of locations and over 6000 employees. The Bethesda clinic will be in the space most-recently occupied by Weight Watchers.

Westwood Pet Center to return in Bethesda

When Westwood Pet Center closed after 42 years in Bethesda at the Westwood Shopping Center in 2021, it looked like the end of a valuable resource for pet owners in the area. But a new beginning is almost here for the venerable pet store at the nearby Shops at Sumner Place, a.k.a. Little Falls Mall. Westwood Pet Center will be reopening there soon at 4611-H Sangamore Road, in the storefront recently vacated by Edible Arrangements. The store's website is still offline as of this writing, however.

Edible Arrangements closes at Shops at Sumner Place in Bethesda

Edible Arrangements has closed at 4611 Sangamore Road in the Shops at Sumner Place. The space has been cleared out inside, and paper placed over the windows. Edible Arrangements was in operation since 2004, and was not a business that should have been affected much by the pandemic, as it primarily just delivered gift baskets. 

Paper has recently also been placed over the windows of the former Weight Watchers space, which closed this past spring. That makes two prime storefronts available at the mall. A Roy Rogers and GameStop would be nice.

Hair salon, barbershop for sale at the Shops at Sumner Place in Bethesda

The Kevin Murphy Flagship Salon and barbershop at the Shops at Sumner Place on Sangamore Road in Bethesda are both on the market for sale. Asking prices for each are $250,000 and $90,000 respectively, according to the online sales listing. The owner of both also has a nail spa franchise at this location, and has decided to sell the hair businesses in order to concentrate on expanding the nail salon to additional locations. A new owner of the hair salon would have the option to continue as a Kevin Murphy franchisee, and the leases for both spaces run until October 1, 2028.

Chase Bank drive-thru ATM under construction at Shops at Sumner Place

It's been two years in the making, but a new drive-thru ATM for Chase Bank is finally under construction at the Shops at Sumner Place in Bethesda. The drive thru is located on the Sentinel Drive edge of the parking lot, near where a USPS mailbox used to be by the staircase down from Sentinel. You can already see the Chase logo on the initial structure that is now in place.

Weight Watchers closes in Bethesda

Weight Watchers, or "WW," as it has been known recently, has closed at 4611 Sangamore Road at The Shops at Sumner Place in Bethesda. The weight management studio had been temporarily closed during the pandemic. Now the space has been cleared out and signage removed.

Gregorio's Trattoria opens in Bethesda

Gregorio's Trattoria has opened at 4611 Sangamore Road at the Shops at Sumner Place in Bethesda. The Italian restaurant is located next to CVS Pharmacy, in the former China Pavilion space.

Piccoli Piatti, Gregorio's Trattoria target opening dates in Bethesda

Wildwood Shopping Center

Piccoli Piatti at Wildwood Shopping Center and Gregorio's Trattoria at The Shops at Sumner Place in Bethesda have both been in the works for around a year. Both have now applied for liquor licenses from Montgomery County. Piccoli Piatti, which will feature a menu of pizza and light Italian dishes, now estimates a September opening. The equally-Italian Gregorio's is now aiming for an October opening, and will be open 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM seven days a week.

The Shops at Sumner Place