Slapfish posts "coming soon" signage at Montrose Crossing

Fast-casual seafood restaurant Slapfish, which will be somewhat like Luke's Lobster and LobsterME with a Mid-Atlantic twist, has posted coming-soon signage at its future Montrose Crossing location. It will be next to the already open Honeygrow, at 12033 Rockville Pike.

CAVA, which is two doors down from Slapfish, has also recently opened.

Pepco fails in first major test of "improved" infrastructure (Photos)

Bethesda businesses

lose tens of thousands

of dollars

We've all seen the clearcutting and butchering of trees by Pepco around Montgomery County in the past six years, a move the monopoly electricity utility described as essential to improving its unreliable power delivery system. The problem was not Pepco's own infrastructure, they assured us, but those darn trees. For years, our area has avoided major storms other than the infamous derecho, and Pepco has skated by with the illusion it had hardened its weak power grid. But the winds began to blow around 12:30 AM this morning, and Pepco faced its first real test - and failed.

Desptie 72 hours notice of an extreme wind event, Pepco did not call in out-of-state crews in sufficient numbers to respond to this "storm." In fact, few Pepco trucks have even been spotted in the Bethesda area today by residents and business owners left in the dark, most without even an estimate of a restoration time from the monopoly utility.

Tens of thousands of people and businesses are without power at this hour across Montgomery County. Virtually none of the outages have Pepco crews dispatched, much less an estimated time of restoration. Again, it's unclear just how many Pepco crews are even operating in Montgomery County tonight - nobody's seen them, and not a single crew is identified as working on any of the 80-or-so individual outages in the County.

Bethesda businesses - including Kapnos Kouzina, Sala Thai, Taylor Gourmet, Equinox, McDonald's, and all of the Shoppes of Bethesda, to name just a few - have lost tens of thousands of dollars in Friday and Friday night business. That's devastating when you consider the rents these businesses have to pay. Homes are dark countywide.

Epic fail from Pepco. Will they be held accountable, and when will the power come back on? Pepco's not saying, going to radio silence and saying they've stopped issuing restoration timetables.

One block of Woodmont Avenue at
Bethesda Row had power. The other...
not so much

Dark stretch of Woodmont in the
Woodmont Triangle - and not a
single Pepco truck in sight

Sala Thai was dark

Power's out

A little bit of wind, and
all hell breaks loose

The Lauren is the only building with
power on this block of Hampden Lane

Shoppes of Bethesda

Even more self-storage coming to Westbard

Thanks to a Montgomery County Council asleep at the switch for 40 years, until developers woke them by waving money under their nose, the Westbard area of Bethesda became the world capital of self-storage. Of course, high demand for storage space played an equal role. A few months after the Montgomery County Planning Board approved a controversial new self-storage business on River Road - and then ran out of the room to avoid their constituents, more self storage units are on the way.

ezStorage at 5329 Westbard Avenue (behind the Residences at the Capital Crescent Trail Because We're Going for the Guinness Record for Longest Apartment Building Name) has requested a construction permit from Montgomery County for an addition to its existing six-level storage facility.

Boba Station, Shafa Blends close at Westfield Montgomery Mall (Photos)

Two more departures at Westfield Montgomery Mall. Boba Station was silent and dark Thursday. Family-owned tea shop Shafa Blends was not only dark and closed, but the sign had been ripped off the front of their space.

Developer promises "adventurous and progressive" building on Auburn Ave. in Bethesda (Photos)

Auburn Building Associates, L.P. unveiled its plan for the site of the Auburn Professional Building and a parking lot, located at 4915-4921 Auburn Avenue in downtown Bethesda, at a public meeting last night. Backing up to single-family homes, and located across Auburn from Imagination Stage, the building's design is meant to be transitional between the urban downtown and adjacent residential neighborhood.

Promising an "adventurous and progressive" building, the development team noted the changes from a previous approved plan for their property. That building was essentially a uniform box, and had generated complaints for its size and shadow-casting potential. The new plan features a multi-tiered structure of varying heights. They plan to reduce the three existing curb cuts down to one, which will be on Auburn.

One of the major design goals of the project, is to create a pass-through for pedestrians to travel from Imagination Stage to Battery Lane Urban Park, which is scheduled for a major update under the Bethesda Downtown Plan passed last year. There is already an alleyway next to Imagination Stage, and the new Auburn building will have an alleyway through the middle of the property.

The new building will house 130-170 units, and 15% will be affordable MPDUs. An emphasis on strong design and high-quality materials will mesh well with the other new buildings in the Woodmont Triangle, two characteristics the Auburn's ownership feels are becoming the neighborhood's calling card. That design and engineering will come from the renowned architecture firm Shalom Baranes Associates and VIKA Engineering, a partnership representatives called "an amazing team of architects and engineers."

A restaurant with outdoor seating is envisioned for the ground floor retail space in the project. One nearby resident said he doubted a restaurant could be successful at that location, saying the area around it is too dead, but the owners feel new residential buildings nearby will boost foot traffic.

The building would have an internal service entry and loading dock, and more green shade than the site currently has. One disappointment that had to be worked around: the owner of the building next to the project on Norfolk Avenue refused to sell, forcing the project to wrap around it, and losing prominent visibility on the busier road.

One attendee of last night's meeting has leased office space in the Auburn Professional Building for thirty years, and was concerned about how soon it will be demolished. That won't happen before late 2019 at the earliest, according to the owners, who have owned the building for as long as that applicant has had an office there.

The applicant, represented by attorney Stacy Silber of Lerch, Early & Brewer in Bethesda, plans to file its sketch and preliminary plans in the next 30 days, with a potential public hearing before the Planning Board in late summer or fall. If successful, a site plan will follow.

One interesting thing about some of the
massing renderings - they have red outlines
of the heights allowed on the existing low-rise
properties around it

Old plan (left) vs. new plan (right)

Hogan warns residents of extreme winds today, 28 outages already reported across MoCo

“I urge all Marylanders to 

take this severe weather

 very seriously and 

prepare now” 

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan has issued a statement warning residents to be prepared for extreme wind gusts up to 70 MPH today. “I urge all Marylanders to take this severe weather very seriously and prepare now,” Hogan said in an urgent message from Reisterstown. “These wind speeds have the potential of causing power outages and creating hazardous conditions for travel and being outdoors starting Friday morning. Be sure to check on your family, friends, and neighbors so that we all are prepared for this rare and potentially very dangerous weather event.”

Hogan advised residents to avoid traveling this morning, never to run a generator indoors, and to not leave pets outdoors today. High winds are expected to fell many trees and cause major power outages across the state. There have already been 28 reports of power outages across Montgomery County as of early this morning.

Fire at Glen Echo Park theater

UPDATE - 2:09 AM: MCFRS spokesperson reports the fire is now under control. Firefighters are checking for any spread of the fire in the building. Over 75 firefighters are on-scene at the park. This was a fantastic job by MCFRS and whatever fire detection system alerted them - the historic former amusement park is mostly wood construction, and could have been a near-total loss with the high winds, if not detected and responded to so quickly

Dozens of fire trucks could be heard heading to Glen Echo Park around 1:30 AM this morning. Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services spokesperson Pete Piringer said the fire was in a "two-story theater" at the park. Adventure Theater is a longstanding venue at the park, located at 7300 MacArthur Boulevard. Windy conditions were a factor, Piringer reported.

Firefighters on the roof of the
Adventure Theater early this morning
(Photo by Pete Piringer)

In related news, all Montgomery County public safety scanner channels are offline at this hour, a very strange development.

Sheepskin Gifts & Alpaca, Too closing, M.Gemi truck visits Westfield Montgomery Mall (Photos)

Sheepskin Gifts & Alpaca, Too, a seasonal store, is on the way out at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, as spring weather makes its way in. This is their final week, according to a sign, but they'll very likely be back in time for Christmas shopping this fall.

Also spotted at the mall this week: the most interesting vehicle since the custom Lily Pulitzer Jeep. Italian shoe designer M.Gemi brought a customized Italian gelato truck filled with their handmade shoes.

MoCo drops ball again, loses out on Fannie Mae, Wilcoxon jobs

Montgomery County took it on the chin again Wednesday, as our elected officials continue to fumble the ball on economic development. High-tech manufacturer Wilcoxon announced it is moving its Germantown facility - and its 100 jobs - to Frederick. In a statement, Wilcoxon President Dr. Christopher McLean cited Frederick and Frederick County's "manufacturing-friendly taxes and [the] simplified permitting process that exists in both jurisdictions" as major factors in the move.

McLean also noted the quick access to three major highways, key to a manufacturer, and that "8435 Progress Drive provides a lower cost of ownership than our previous [Montgomery County] facility, and we can remain close to Washington, D.C. and three major airports." "Whenever you can attract 100 tech jobs, especially filling 45,000 square feet of space, it’s a great opportunity for the city," Frederick's Director of Economic Development Richard Griffin said, according to the Frederick News Post.

This was yet another clear example of our draconian taxes, red tape regulations and poor business climate costing us jobs and tax revenue.

But it got worse: Fannie Mae announced it has leased a whopping 850000 SF at Boston Properties' Reston Gateway, and will be the anchor tenant there. Tons of jobs will move into the site in 2022, Boston Properties said in a press release, bringing more revenue and business foot traffic for Virginia.

How did this happen? We have a County Council clueless about how the world of international business works in 2018. They are ideologically-opposed to making the common sense changes in taxes and regulations, and building the necessary transportation infrastructure, needed to make Montgomery County competitive in the region again.

Look no further than the Council's brainless decision to loudly broadcast they intend to cancel funding for the Montrose Parkway East. The Council, at least in public, claims they want Amazon to choose the Pike District for its HQ 2.

What better way to impress a logistics company like Amazon, than to announce you are canceling the main infrastructure project near their potential headquarters, right?

It's amateur hour at 100 Maryland Avenue again, folks!

Freshbikes announces closure in Bethesda

Cycling shop Freshbikes, located at 7626 Old Georgetown Road before, has announced it is permanently closed. In fact, according to the Virginia-based retail chain, all of its stores have closed.

Have a Freshbikes gift card? You are out of luck. The company says it will not honor its gift cards. It says holders of gift cards will be eligible to receive 10-30% off one item at VeloConcepts locations. All repairs have been transferred to Spokes, Etc. in Alexandria - not exactly convenient to downtown Bethesda. Spokes, Etc. has agreed to warranty claims and new-bicycle purchase agreements.

Federal Realty plan would deliver new White Flint Metro entrance sooner at lower price (Photos)

The long-planned construction of a north entrance to the White Flint Metro station has been stalled since 2010. That year, Montgomery County approved the White Flint sector plan that requires the entrance be built, and WMATA conducted a study. An entrance closer to Pike & Rose, and - in relative terms - to properties north of Montrose Parkway, is considered essential to a successful redevelopment of the northern Pike District by property owners.

To try and get the ball rolling again at a time when Montgomery County councilmembers have managed to spend us into an ongoing structural deficit, developer Federal Realty hired a consultant to put together an independent study. Consultant AECOM and Federal Realty say the finished report shows the new entrance can be delivered sooner, and at a lower cost, than currently expected.

To achieve savings, the plan proposes breaking the development of the entrance into three phases. The Federal Realty proposal's price tag for Phase 1 would come in below the lowball option price of WMATA's study, which was priced in recession-era 2010 dollars, so the savings are likely even bigger than the numbers indicate. At only $11.1 million, Federal Realty's plan would deliver a functional station entrance at completion of Phase 1.

Later phases would add a station supervisor kiosk, exit fare machines, a pedestrian plaza, a bike storage facility, and employee and public restrooms, among other features and amenities. The push for the station takes on extra urgency, as the Pike District is considered the leading potential destination for Amazon's HQ 2 in Montgomery County.

While the empty former site of White Flint Mall is a major candidate, Pike & Rose is arguably the best choice for the long-term. Not only does it already have the urban "neighborhood" and entertainment, dining and retail options Amazon wants, but Federal Realty has several other large properties primed for redevelopment on the next blocks of Rockville Pike north of Pike & Rose. Amazon could end up with space to grow on the Montrose Crossing and Federal Plaza properties, which would be easily walkable from Pike & Rose - especially if a creative use or redevelopment of the underutilized parking lot north of Montrose Parkway at Towne Road is approved.

Federal Realty is now seeking to have a development study for their proposal funded in the FY-2019 Montgomery County CIP budget, and to develop a funding agreement and timetable among the County, WMATA and private stakeholders. The Federal Realty plan currently estimates the total price tag as $25.3 million.

PowerPoint images courtesy Federal Realty