More "coming soon" signage has been posted in the windows of the future West Elm storefront on Rose Avenue at Pike & Rose. The modern furniture and decor retailer is expected to open this fall in the Pinstripes building. As you can see, they are now hiring, as well.
Interestingly, on a recent weekend night (not the same evening these photos were taken), the crowd at Pike & Rose exceeded the number of people out around Bethesda Row in downtown Bethesda. The loss of the Regal Cinemas Bethesda 10 and Barnes & Noble have been truly devastating, just as I warned the Montgomery County Council and Planning Board, both of which declined to require a replacement cineplex despite having the authority and responsibility to do so.
51 comments:
So you would have somehow required Federal Realty to give Barnes and Noble a rent reduction so they could stay in a three story 36,000 SF space in Bethesda? Even as they are closing or reducing stores across the country. You believe that your warning to the council could somehow avoid this result? You are suggesting that Federal Realty should loose money, or MoCo should subsidize Barnes and Noble to stay? I’m not sure what you are suggesting could, or should, have been done.
“the crowd at Pike & Rose exceeded the number of people out around Bethesda Row in downtown Bethesda”
Is that anecdotally or did FRIT release numbers?
I do agree the lack of a theater is really missed, but it seems the skyrocketing cost of living in downtown Bethesda, traffic and perceived lack of parking, as well as the over abundance of options for people to find entertainment (Pike and Rose, Downtown Crown, Rio, Rockville Town Square, etc.) has made it easier for people to go out locally closer to where they live.
Also DC is now a viable option for youth living that it just wasn’t as appealing before. So Bethesda is no longer the long our spot it used to be.
"Interestingly, on a recent weekend night (not the same evening these photos were taken), the crowd at Pike & Rose exceeded the number of people out around Bethesda Row in downtown Bethesda."
Interestingly, Robert Dyer ignores the fact that Federal Realty, developer of Pike & Rose, also owns Bethesda Row, and is letting that property, along with Rockville Town Center, Congressional Plaza and Montrose Crossing, wither on the vine while they devote all their attention to Pike & Rose.
Montrose Crossing is also about to lose their Barnes & Noble superstore, to be replaced by a much smaller store in Congressional Plaza, that does little to fill all the vacant space at that shopping center.
7:04am DC has always been there, so I don't see it being the main factor in the decline of downtown Bethesda nightlife.
There is a case to be made that folks who used to come south from Rockville, Gaithersburg and Germantown have better options in their backyards now.
Same for Wheaton and Silver Spring folks who both have new or renovated movie theaters.
The other factor is jobs. People will live where they work so no one is going to take a job in Virginia and live in Montgomery County if they can help it. Not a great commute by car.
7:04: D.C. has always been a viable option for nightlife. The difference today is, the County Council tanked nightlife in Bethesda with their Nighttime Economy Task Force, which led to the closure of at least 16 nightspots.
7:01: Barnes & Noble is a separate issue from the theater, which is what I testified before both bodies about. However, it's becoming clear that the loss of foot traffic - and therefore, revenue - makes the B&N decision look like a bad one. Getting less rent in exchange for drawing a larger crowd is definitely a smarter strategy.
"the County Council tanked nightlife in Bethesda with their Nighttime Economy Task Force,"
Exactly how did the Task Force do that?
What specifically did they change/implement to tank the nightlife?
How stable was Bethesda nightlife before the Task Force?
The media always listed the nightlife Task Force as an "accomplishment", while providing no evidence anything was accomplished.
I wish it had been successful- we'd have less dark corners and storefronts around the donwtown.
"Barnes & Noble is a separate issue from the theater, which is what I testified before both bodies about. However, it's becoming clear that the loss of foot traffic - and therefore, revenue - makes the B&N decision look like a bad one. Getting less rent in exchange for drawing a larger crowd is definitely a smarter strategy."
Odd that you do not mention Federal Realty in this paragraph.
"The media always listed the nightlife Task Force as an 'accomplishment', while providing no evidence anything was accomplished."
Which "media" did this?
"However, it's becoming clear that the loss of foot traffic - and therefore, revenue - makes the B&N decision look like a bad one."
Assuming Barnes & Noble wanted to stay and, even with a "possible" rent reduction wanted to still operate in the red.
"Increase the number of taxi stands"
It is safe to say the Bethesda row area restaurants would have loved if Avengers Endgame, Spiderman, Lion King, Toy Story, etc were actually playing in downtown Bethesda.
Imagine all the additional foot traffic and business generated by the biggest movie ever and all the other family friendly films.
Parents taking their whole family to watch kiddie movies are not going to be eating at Mon Ami Gabi.
Theater receipts are down over 10% already this year.
Winter 2019 revenue hit a 8-year low in U.S.
Bethesda is just too expensive for middle-income people. The "boomers" don't go to bars so much. I go to DC for restaurants and films; ironic how the Red Line makes that easy. The Bethesda station is where I catch the train to go away from Bethesda for the evening!
Again, how would you have somehow compelled B&N to stay? Rent subsidies? Gunpoint? They are a business that had to downsize, or close stores in high rent districts to survive. If a MoCo rent subsidy existed for failing brick and mortar businesses, like how Rockville propped up the failing market in Rockville, you would scream socialism. Businesses are in business to stay in business, or they go out of business. Deal with it.
"AMC Stock Is Soaring as One Analyst Says It Could Climb 87%" (From Barron's on Friday)
"AMC Entertainment rose 9.6% after Credit Suisse initiated the movie theater chain as outperform. Credit Suisse noted its “bottom-up film forecast suggests industry box office growth for the next three quarters” (From CNBC on Friday)
In the District, west of Rock Creek Park, all of these cinemas which were open in 1980 have since closed:
-KB Jenifer (Wisconsin at Jenifer)
-KB Cinema (Wisconsin at Garrison)
-KB Outer Circle (Wisconsin at Fessenden)
-KB Studio (Wisconsin at Brandywine)
-Cineplex Odeon Wisconsin Avenue (Wisconsin at Van Ness, opened 1987)
-KB Cerberus (M Street, Georgetown)
-KB Foundry (Georgetown)
-Biograph (Wisconsin Avenue, Georgetown)
-KB MacArthur (MacArthur Blvd. above Reservoir Rd.)
-Apex (closed 1976)
Dupont Circle/Golden Triangle/West End/Foggy Bottom
-KB Janus
-Cinema near 20th & Florida, behind the Hilton (can't remember the name)
-Cineplex Odeon Dupont Circle (opened 1987)
-Circle
-Also Union Station 9 (opened 1988).
-These cinemas are currently OPEN in that area of the District:
-Avalon
-Uptown
-AMC Georgetown 14
-AMC Mazza Gallerie 7 (moved from original location in that mall)
7:55 AM
So Bethesda restaurants and Bethesda Row theater don't meet your needs?
How 'about those big red B's around town?
8:13 AM
Interesting, but on the same token every other downtown or town center in MoCo has either constructed new theaters or renovated in the past few years (Montgomery Mall, Kentlands, Pike & Rose, Wheaton, DT Silver Spring, Rockville, Rio)
The anchor of the new Boro project in Tysons is a new luxury movie theater.
What do you know that all these folks don't?
"Mon Ami Gabi, I don't know. That's one restaurant. There are plenty of others
in addition to ice cream shops."
Yes, how could I forget the Haagen-Dazs which is right next to the Landmark 8. Silly me...
8:19 AM
Not just Haagen-Dazs for frozen desserts:
Class 520 Ice Cream, Dolcezza and Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams on the way...
7:56: Who said anything about a "rent subsidy?" It would have been a smart private business decision to give B&N the lower rent they were seeking. This was a totally different situation from 7272 Wisconsin and the Regal, where the mini-master-plan-amendment process allowed County officials to create a wish list of what they would compel the developer to do in exchange for the (then) non-conforming 290' height they asked for. The Council and PB declined to place any such meaningful terms in the amendment. A total giveaway for developers at the expense of taxpayers and local businesses that depended on the theater for business.
"AMC Stock Is Soaring as One Analyst Says It Could Climb 87%" (From Barron's on Friday)
"AMC Entertainment rose 9.6% after Credit Suisse initiated the movie theater chain as outperform. Credit Suisse noted its “bottom-up film forecast suggests industry box office growth for the next three quarters” (From CNBC on Friday)"
AMC stock is DOWN 2.66% this morning. That's a loss of over a quarter of Friday's gain in just two hours of trading.
AMC stock had risen 9.6% on Friday, as you noted.
AMC stock is up 5% over the past month.
AMC stock is DOWN 2.5% over the past 6 months.
AMC stock is DOWN 33% over the past year.
AMC stock is DOWN 55% over the past 5 years.
Don't spend your whole life cherry-picking data to confirm your biases. Try getting the big picture for once.
You're ignoring this:
Credit Suisse noted its “bottom-up film forecast suggests industry box office growth for the next three quarters”
And all the new or renovated theaters around MoCo...the new Rio theater for example :)
Bethesda is primarily a family oriented downtown, particularly on weekends.
So it does seem like a missed opportunity to not have a theater that shows mainstream and family films.
Saul Alinsky, for the love of God, get a more believable argument than "we don't actually need theaters, nightlife and restaurants, because no one goes to any of those anymore." Give me a break. Avengers Endgame and The Lion King both set box office records this weekend, Einstein.
Forbes 7/4/19
"Domestic box office has amassed $5.702 billion this year thus far, which is down 9% from last year's $6.287 billion end-of-June cume(cumulative audience)"
Here's the part you omitted, Mr. Cherrypicker @ 8:10 AM/8:35 AM:
"AMC Entertainment Holdings stock (AMC) is up more than 8% on Friday, helped by a bullish initiation from Credit Suisse, which argues that a selloff in the world’s largest theater chain’s shares is overdone."
"The back story. AMC stock has fallen 17.4% year to date as the S&P 500 has risen almost 20%; in the trailing 12-month period the shares are down more than 36%. A big part of the problem is the rise of streaming, which has allowed consumers to enjoy more entertainment at home. While big blockbusters like Walt Disney ’s (DIS) Avengers continue to break records, the benefit to theaters from these movies isn’t as powerful as it used to be. Companies like Netflix (NFLX) are producing more of their own content—which consumers can watch on their own TVs from the moment of release—at a higher quality, which exacerbates the problem for theaters."
8:52: Wrong - the AMC at Rio is the second biggest grossing cineplex in the chain, behind one in Texas, according to the manager of the theater.
And AMC is down 3.61% at noon (9 AM Dyer time).
Dyer @ 9:00 AM - What does the AMC Rio have to do with the quote from the Barron's article? Did you just tip your hand that you are the Not-So-Anonymous Cherrypicker?
Anonymous needs to chill, catch a movie at the new AMC Rio and report back.
Dyer needs to sign his comments and not be such a Soy Boy Cuck coward.
9:14 AM
Any actual evidence Dyer doesn't sign his comments? He is pretty active commenting under his name.
Stick to the facts before making accusations.
9:14: Says the Soy Boy who is too cowardly to sign his own comments, and got BTFO'd repeatedly this morning for his weak trolling. Why do you cuck to our beta County Council?
9:27am is just trolling now..
Again, you have no evidence Dyer posts as anonymous.
It makes no sense anyway. He is very active posting under his name, why would he log out to post as anonymous.
9:27: Says the Soy Boy who is too cowardly to sign his own comments, and got BTFO'd repeatedly this morning for his weak not-so-anonymous shilling. Why do you cuck to a middle-aged never-employed loser still living in his parents' house?
Looks like the Kentlands Cineplex has changed hands more times than Lakeforest Mall. Supposedly they were "completely renovated" by their previous owner three years ago, now they're being "completely renovated" again. And having the number of seats reduced.
10:11am you forgot to sign in as "Anna"
10:11AM, I NEVER forget to, as you say, sign in as Anna. In reality, it's just a circle I cliok.
You too could sign in with your name if you wanted to.
Oops, that should be to 10:40AM.
Another clue, 10:40? It contains language I wouldn't use towards another person. I find "soy boy" and "cuck" very offensive, and I had to look up what BTFO'd meant.
Most of those living near downtown Bethesda are well-to-do older folks who don't do "night life" and seldom patronize movie theaters. The popularity of Bethesda Row was an aberration in the historical pattern of North Bethesda (Montgomery Mall) and Rockville Pike from White Flint to Montrose Drive being the center of activity. With the arrival of Pike and Rose that aberration is fading and things are returning to normal.
12:03 PM
I concede Pike & Rose has changed the dynamic, but it wasn't just Bethesda Row- the Woodmont Triangle was a center of activity as well.
I just don't see the crowds at bars in Woodmont Triangle like you'd see 10 years ago. Blackfinn would be going into the wee hours of the morning during summer nights with lines to get in. Maybe these folks are at Pike & Rose, Crown and other new developments instead.
It sounds like you are conceding that White Flint Mall was a major draw and center of activity because there wasn't much else in that corridor. The Mid Pike Plaza had a diner.
Wonder if BTB and Don Wood are buddies?
Unreliable source based on hearsay. Back it up with valid data.
1:07pm lol...his source *is* AMC Theaters. No one else would have that info.
Hi Robert I agree dc has always been viable for nightlife, however 20 years ago I would never want to live there. Nowadays it’s been really developed and nicer and safer to live there so I’d do it if I were younger and still going out. Many of my younger friends are happy to live in dc now. So back when I went out and lived in Montgomery county I would half go to dc and half go to Bethesda. Living in dc I wouldn’t have to go to Bethesda anymore even if it were a choice. Other younger friends that can’t afford to live in Bethesda live further north and happily go to their local town center for a drink. Not as happening at night but a heck of a lot closer to where they can afford to live.
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