Friendship BBQ, Taro Cents Family, Kyoto Matcha & Gyuzo coming to Rockville Town Square

Update 11:43 AM: Two of the restaurant names have been corrected, based on a source familiar with the new businesses.

Federal Realty has added four new dining tenants to their struggling Rockville Town Square development. One of the larger vacancies created by the departure of Mellow Mushroom has resulted in the division of that space into smaller units.

Filling the new spaces in the former Mellow Mushroom space will be Gyuzo, a Japanese Wagyu beef barbecue restaurant; tea shop Kyoto Matcha, and a Taiwanese dessert shop called Taro Cents Family.

But wait, there's more...barbecue. Friendship BBQ will open on Maryland Avenue in the space next to Color Me Mine. Federal Realty is probably smart to again focus on the Asian market with these new signings. Rockville is now solidly in the top two Asian dining destinations in the D.C. region.

Rockville construction update: Phase II of Rockville Town Center (Photos)

Groundbreaking for the new Duball, LLC development atop land that formerly housed the last half of Rockville Town Center's largest parking lot took place April 29. You can see the tent that was used for the ceremony in many of the photos here. The 400-unit apartment building will have 150 units set aside as affordable housing for seniors. Delivery of the 18-story tower is expected in 2021. Duball was also the developer of the Cambria Suites hotel and Upton apartments across the street.

Playa Bowls to open at Cabin John Shopping Center

Playa Bowls, a Jersey Shore-based acai bowl chain, will open its first Montgomery County location at 7733 Tuckerman Lane in the Cabin John Shopping Center. The 535 SF space was formerly home to Robeks Juice. The company's only existing Maryland location is in College Park.

Use of all-plant-based cutlery, bowls, lids and straws is part of Playa Bowls' green branding. Superfoods used in their bowls include acai, pitaya, chia seeds, coconut, kale and bananas.

Photo courtesy Playa Bowls

Signage installed at Fogo de Chão in Rockville

The signs are up at the future Fogo de Chão Brazilian steakhouse at Pike & Rose. Work continues on the interior of the space at 11600 Old Georgetown Road, which was previously the Nike Factory Store and City Sports.

While the churrascaria fad hit the District and other major cities a number of years back, Fogo de Chão's arrival here caps off Pike & Rose's status as having arguably the best set of dining options at a single development in the county. Del Frisco's Grille, City Perch, Kusshi, Owen's Ordinary, Nada, JINYA Ramen Bar, Baked Bear, Summer House, Stella Barra, and a future Asian dining hall are just some of the top-rated options on-site.

AutoZone opens on Rockville Pike

AutoZone has opened its first Rockville store at 824 Rockville Pike. This is good news for automobile owners, and a sharp blow to the Montgomery County political cartel which banned Walmart from opening any more stores in MoCo. Two planned Walmarts on Rockville Pike and in Aspen Hill were deep-sixed by the County Council earlier this decade, forcing their constituents to continue overpaying for groceries.

Unlike the County Council's successful efforts to keep grocery prices high and moving higher (Walmart customers save an average of over $12 per week on groceries compared to customers of Giant, Safeway, etc.), the arrival of AutoZone will push a downward force on auto accessory prices in the city.  Not everyone is making six-figure, taxpayer-funded salaries like our elected officials, who shop at Whole Foods and hipster upscale markets.

MoCo Planning Board to discuss 6-month pilot allowing ebikes/scooters on trails

The Montgomery County Planning Board will discuss a proposed six-month pilot program that would allow e-bikes and electric scooters to operate on some County trails at their meeting this Thursday, May 9, 2019. Montgomery County is still working out an agreement with four dockless e-bike companies for the pilot. If approved by the board, the pilot could begin as early as this month.

Only bikes powered by rechargeable battery will be allowed on the trails during the pilot. The trails selected are the Matthew Henson Trail (Aspen Hill/Silver Spring), Sligo Creek Trail (only the Montgomery County section), Long Branch Trail, Rock Creek Trail, and the paved sections of the Northwest Branch Trail within Montgomery County. Signs will be posted at the selected trails, and public announcements will be made by County government agencies, at least two weeks prior to the start of the program, County officials say.

Paved surface trails where e-bikes
and e-scooters could be used during
the six-month pilot program

Planning staff says that the trails selected are more often used for longer distance trips through stream valleys. The Parks Department wants to evaluate the results and user feedback before allowing the electric bikes on busier trails like the Capital Crescent Trail in Bethesda. They'll be examining conflicts with other trail users, rules violations, safety, logistics, and personal vs. commercial use.

Gas scooters and electric hoverboards and skateboards will remain illegal on all County trails during the pilot. Bikes cannot have throttle assist mechanisms.

The groundwork for the pilot was laid by a related park directive approved two years ago by the board. Staff are recommending approval of the pilot program.

Loyal Companion pet store opening Saturday in Rockville

Loyal Companion is replacing Bark! at Congressional Plaza in Rockville. The new store will host a grand opening celebration tomorrow, Saturday, May 4, 2019 from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM, and on Sunday, May 5, from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Loyal Companion aims to be a one-stop shop for pet owners, offering everything from pet food and toys to grooming and training classes.

Sears sign being removed at closed Montgomery Mall store (Photos)

Sears has been closed for several months at Westfield Montgomery Mall. But workers have now begun removing the iconic sign from the department store's facade.

Smashburger Rockville closed - for good?

Smashburger at 1800-A Rockville Pike has been closed for a number of weeks. But a sign in the window insists the closure is temporary, while giving no rational explanation for the situation.

Everything inside the restaurant is still there, from furniture to still-lit menu boards. There's even a contrary banner declaring the restaurant is open, strangely enough. Given the tight profit margins in the restaurant field - and the high cost of doing business in Montgomery County, it is rare that a restaurant can afford to close for any extended period and make a comeback.

Smashburger had entered the County with high hopes several years ago. But in moribund MoCo, each of their locations has wound up closing over time. Sometimes it seems the only business owners making a profit besides the Council's developer sugar daddies are the folks who print those now-ubiquitous "Going out of business!" signs, which are plastered in windows countywide these days.

More Montgomery County headlines:

Rockville Town Square's Gaithersburg arch rival boards-up for summer

How did our "Green" County Council miss polluter in their own backyard?

Suburban News Network - MoCo's leading local news source

Sprint store closes at Montgomery Mall, more signs of Eyebobs

Another retail closure in
Montgomery County

Not even the traitorous Verizon Guy could save Sprint from the moribund Montgomery County economy. The Sprint store at Westfield Montgomery Mall has permanently closed. Montgomery County has suffered a net loss of retail jobs since 2000, according to the Maryland Retailers Association.

In other mall news, future tenant Eyebobs has installed some Coming Soon signage at their space. Eyebobs aims to be the Warby Parker of the suburban mall.

VA named State of the Year by corporate relocation mag, MoCo loser in Halo Labs HQ move

This is another humiliating week for the Montgomery County political cartel. Just as the latest statistics show office vacancies rising higher in Montgomery, Business Facilities magazine named Virginia "State of the Year" for corporate relocations and economic development. Amazon announced that the first several hundred employees are being hired for their HQ 2 in Crystal City, one of the deals that helped Virginia win the award. Virginia also won the contest for the first U.S. manufacturing facility for Canada's Flow Alkaline Spring Water, which will bring a $15.5 million investment in the state. And just yesterday, Halo Labs announced they are relocating their corporate headquarters from Philadelphia to Burlingame, California, skipping over moribund Montgomery County.

Once again, MoCo officials were caught asleep at the switch in the competition for Halo Labs. The company should have been a natural fit, as Montgomery County's biotech sector is the only bright spot in the County's moribund economy - Halo Labs is a life sciences instrumentation company. Their Horizon system allows subvisible particle analysis for pharmaceutical research. How Montgomery officials could have slept through such an opportunity is beyond imagination.

“Virginia snared more than $5.5 billion in capital investment for its top two projects, and its top five job-creation efforts netted nearly 28,000 new jobs in a diverse and well-executed growth strategy that has made VA a high-tech force to be reckoned with,” Business Facilities Editor-in-Chief Jack Rogers said Wednesday. Rogers declared that Virginia isn't just a top player in the tech sector, but is "dominating the field." Montgomery County hasn't even made it out of the locker room. They're too busy getting stuffed into a locker by Ralph Northam.

Virginia has shown it can not only soundly beat Montgomery County in the region's traditional sectors, but also quickly conquer new frontiers. In fact, it is already on the verge of erasing Montgomery's thin advantage in MoCo's only successful sector, biotech. Virginia "can walk and chew gum at the same time—which in this case means they’re upgrading traditional industries while accelerating emerging growth sectors,” Rogers said yesterday.

One of the least-discussed of Virginia's many advantages in attracting Amazon was its cutting-edge efforts in the exploding field of unmanned aerial vehicles, one of great interest to Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos. Just days ago, it was announced that Virginia will be the first state in the nation where drones will deliver packages, as the FAA cleared Wing to operate a pilot program in Blacksburg.

No wonder Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is spending his week tilting at presidential windmills, and signing hundreds of radical far-left socialist bills into law in Annapolis. He has no economic development news to tout. Montgomery's elected officials spent the week arguing about whether taxpayers should give County government employees a 6% or 9% raise, after raising Council salaries to $137,000 and promising you a 4.8% property tax hike to pay for all that - but continue to take no action on our economic development and traffic congestion crises. Heckuva job, Brownie!

Update on Commonwealth Indian restaurant in Rockville

Another of the most-asked-about restaurants by readers is the long-delayed Commonwealth Indian at Pike & Rose. There has now been much progress on the construction inside, lighting fixtures and some furniture are in place, a counter is taking shape, and signage and other design accents have been installed outside.

Commonwealth Indian is located at 11610 Old Georgetown Road, which was previously home to La Madeleine, one of many restaurant chains destroyed by the anti-business Montgomery County Council. Stay tuned for an opening date.

Montgomery County police respond to call for more security at mosques during Ramadan

Montgomery County Councilmember Will Jawando released a letter to acting Montgomery County Police Chief Russ Hamill Monday, in which he requested the department "increase security" at mosques in the county during the holy month of Ramadan. Ramadan begins the evening of Sunday, May 5, and ends the morning of Wednesday, June 5. The department last night issued a statement saying they have received Jawando's letter, and many inquiries about it from unidentified individuals.

In the statement, MCPD says they will continue to work closely with faith communities in the county, but will not ever publicly announce or disclose specific security plans. A public discussion of strategies and tactics "may diminish – not enhance –  the safety of our residents," MCPD says.

Crown Dental is first retail tenant at Escher in Rockville

Escher, the new apartment building that opened last June, has finally gotten a retail tenant for its ground floor. Crown Dental will be the first business to lease space at the building, located at 1900 Chapman Avenue in Rockville.

More Montgomery County headlines:

Poke Dojo closer to opening at Bethesda Row

Gaithersburg leaders discuss potential bikeshare stations, dockless e-bikes

Carter's to open store at Wheaton Plaza

Suburban News Network - MoCo's leading local news source

Construction underway at Cooper's Hawk Winery & Restaurant in Rockville

Cooper's Hawk Winery & Restaurant is now under construction at the Research Row shopping center in Rockville. Part of the parking lot in front of the future restaurant's space has been closed off for construction vehicles.

While a substantial amount of work has been done inside, it is still in the earliest phase of construction. This will be a nice sit-down dining addition to Research Row, and the second Cooper's Hawk location in Maryland. Cooper's Hawk is expected to open this summer.