Lines outside of a Bethesda Row establishment? And one that isn't named Georgetown Cupcake?
People of all ages jammed the just-opened Max Brenner Chocolate Bar on Woodmont Avenue Friday night. A line stretched out the door.
Click the photos to enlarge:
Welcome to The Dark Side of White Flint, a frank and candid examination of the not-so-wonnerful, wonnerful, wonnerful side of urbanizing the suburbs.
Click here to read Part 13, and follow links through the whole series.
PART 14
Businesses continue to close en masse at dying White Flint Mall. For those just joining us, mall owner Lerner pulled the plug on fully-leased and popular White Flint Mall so that it could redevelop the property as an urban town. Phase one of the mall demolition is complete. Only P.F. Chang's, Cheesecake Factory, and Dave and Busters remain of the major restaurants that used to draw crowds. Some small businesses, and the movie theater remain open. Anchor Lord and Taylor is still open, and is the only business that will remain after the final demolition is complete. The popular department store has filed suit against Lerner for breach of contract, saying that the demolition and urban-style redevelopment is not allowed under the agreement it signed.
I have more closures to report.
T-Mobile will close forever tomorrow, August 4.
It's neighbor, menswear specialist Bruno Cipriani, will stay 30-45 days longer at White Flint, and then move to a new location at 5500 Wisconsin Avenue, according to an employee.
Everything around T-Mobile and Bruno Cipriani is abandoned and vacant.
The Jewelry Design Co. closed this week, and will open at a new location next week: White Flint Station, at 11614 Rockville Pike, across from the White Flint Metro station.
Finally, the nice food court known as The Eatery has been abandoned. Restaurants that closed there include Sbarro and Texas BBQ Factory. As you can see, the room is clean and in good shape, but no more food is being served. Trash bags cover the former Sbarro. Patrons are being directed to the aforementioned big restaurants at the front of the mall.
It's all quite odd when you consider that Tysons Corner is keeping its mall(s), and simply added the sort of upscale restaurants coming to new developments in White Flint to the mall, rather than demolishing it.
Welcome to the Dark Side.
Brothers Sew & Vac has moved into its new location in the ground floor of the Landow Building, along St. Elmo Avenue. And, yes, they brought "Grandma" along.
If you live in the Woodmont Triangle, and your vacuum cleaner just fizzled out for the last, you may be in luck - "sales and service" in walking distance. Assuming you're going to lug that thing along the sidewalks.
You've been hearing about the new Max Brenner Chocolate Bar that just opened this week at Bethesda Row.
But just what, exactly, do they serve?
Here's the Max Brenner menu (although there are some additional prepackaged gift items and fresh bakery goods that don't appear on this menu).
Click to enlarge:
The distinctive building currently occupied by The Parva lounge and restaurant is now on the market for $2,299,000. But even if it is sold, The Parva will still remain there for at least 3 more years.
With two stories and 4546 square feet of space, the restaurant property at 7904 Woodmont Avenue could eventually be a prime piece of mixed-use redevelopment property. To achieve that, however, would likely require joining the plot with the adjoining structure that holds BGR and Jetties.
The Parva still has 3 years on its lease, and they could always sign an extension after that. My guess is the next owner might be willing to give the lounge a short term lease, if no viable redevelopment project is on the table in 2016. According to the seller, the current Parva lease is at a below-market rate.
Let's hope The Parva stays, as the building and renovated interior add much of the South Beach atmosphere to the lounge. We really need more Latin American restaurants and nightspots, not less, in downtown Bethesda. The Parva is currently the only club in Bethesda that regularly offers VIP table service. BlackFinn has offered it on Thursday nights in the past, and the first establishment to provide it - Relic - went out of business.
The Parva also has a diverse menu, featuring dishes from Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina and Peru.
And it is one of the few spots around town that shows any life after midnight. In my opinion, it's a business that has a lot of potential to continue to grow.
Fortunately, there isn't likely to be any change in the near future.
The latest word is that 100 Montaditos will open in September at Bethesda Row.
Previously, the Spanish sandwich emporium was said to be opening in August, and June before that.
Patience is a virtue.
Stop by Veterans Park until 8:00 tonight to hear this week's artist in the Bethesda Urban Partnership summer concert series, Sahel.
The band's music features the sounds of Zouk, Mbalax, samba, reggae and salsa.
Veterans Park is at the corner of Woodmont and Norfolk Avenues in downtown Bethesda.
Max Brenner Chocolate Bar had its Grand Opening at Bethesda Row yesterday, and plenty of folks came in to try a completely new concept for Bethesda and Montgomery County.
Here are some moments from opening day (click photos to enlarge for more detail):
Future luxury apartment tower 7770 Norfolk, on Norfolk Avenue, is promising "modern apartment living" on banners featuring oversized color photos of living large in Bethesda. Developer JBG installed the ads around the perimeter of the 7770 construction site yesterday.
In contrast to more generic marketing, the images capture real moments around Bethesda, not just stock photos of young hipsters at a wine bar.
You might not be surprised to find images of Bethesda Row on the banners. But my favorite photo gives a Kodak shout out to 7770's neighbor across Veterans Park, Fairmont Plaza. It was taken inside the sometimes-underappreciated pastry shop on the condominium's ground floor, Tout de Sweet. I thought that was a nice touch.
After all, 7770 is right on the street many expect to become the next Bethesda Avenue, when the Woodmont Triangle is substantially redeveloped over the next decade. In the future, "Old Town Bethesda" will likely have the same cachet as Bethesda Row, so it's only fitting that 7770 show some neighborhood pride right off the bat.
DX Salon and Spa is opening at 7811 Old Georgetown Road in downtown Bethesda.
Despite the light rain last night, workers installed a sign over the vacant storefront. The website mentioned on the sign was not yet operational as of press time this morning.
