Another Brightview senior housing project proposed in Rockville

Shelter Development, LLC has filed a pre-application submittal for a new Brightview senior housing development, this time at 1201 Seven Locks Road. Currently home to the Montrose West building, that office building would stay. A separate lot would be created on the southern area of the site for a new 198-unit senior housing development.

120 of the units would be for independent senior living, and the remaining 78 units divided between assisted living and memory care patients. Amenities will include a cafe and other dining facilities, a library, a media room, fitness center, art studio, spa/salon, and a movie theater. There will be 242 parking spaces in a three-level underground garage, and there will continue to be 278 surface and garage spaces for the existing office building.

The seven-story building will have an "F" configuration, and a setback from the sixth-floor up. Shelter has another Brightview building currently under construction in Rockville Town Center.

Rendering courtesy hord coplan macht
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Rockville construction update: 1900 Chapman Avenue Phase 1 (Photos)

Construction is now at ground level and rising at the site of the future apartment building at 1900 Chapman Avenue in Rockville. There is still no website for the development that I can find online.

This is phase 1 of the project, which will eventually have a 61-townhome development on the other half of the site. The property is bordered by Chapman to the west, Twinbrook Parkway to the south, and the CSX railroad to the east. This used to be the location of Syms.

Two new restaurants coming to Galvan at Twinbrook in Rockville

The new Galvan at Twinbrook development is recovering from the shocking loss of the Pie 360 pizzeria by upgrading with two new Asian dining additions. Akira Ramen and Urban Hot Pot are coming soon to the JBG-developed property, with names leaving little to the imagination as to what cuisine they will be serving.

Urban Hot Pot will be the second hot pot restaurant in Rockville, following the opening of Little Dipper Hot Pot at Rockville Town Square this past February. It also continues the growth of Rockville as a major destination for Asian cuisine in the D.C. region.

Finnegan's Wake adds outdoor patio seating at Rockville Town Square

Finnegan's Wake now has a patio dining area on the sidewalk outside the Irish pub, located at 100 Gibbs Street at Rockville Town Square. The weather is turning good after a rough start to the week, and Rockville recently banned smoking in outdoor dining areas, so this is certainly excellent timing.

Photo courtesy Finnegan's Wake

Are your clothes locked inside this shuttered Rockville dry cleaners?

Courtesy Custom Cleaners has been evicted from their space at 180 Rollins Avenue in Rockville. Just one problem - they left customers' clothes in the store, which the landlord has now locked. Enter the Montgomery County Office of Consumer Protection.

OCP has made arrangements with the landlord to get access to the shop. If your dry cleaning was in the custody of Courtesy Custom Cleaners when they were evicted, fill out this form online (also have your receipt [if possible] and a description of your clothes ready).

Beginning Friday, June 2, OCP staff will retrieve items once per week, and bring them to the OCP office in Rockville, 100 Maryland Avenue, Room 330, Rockville, MD 20850. Consumers will be able to pick up their items Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Customers are asked to bring identification for all pick-ups. Unclaimed items will be donated to charity.

Taxpayers left holding the bag for $45 million in Silver Spring Transit Center fiasco settlement

Is this a thing of beauty, or what?

Montgomery County taxpayers are left holding the bag in the Silver Spring Transit Center debacle settlement agreed to yesterday. County officials attempting to cover-up their failure to conduct their oversight role on the project filed a weak lawsuit in a case where they themselves were mostly to blame.

The result? Realizing they could not win, the County's ultra-expensive legal team reached a chump change settlement worth a paltry $25 million. That leaves you, the taxpayer, holding the bag and paying $42 million for the remainder of the $47 million in cost overruns, $20 million in damages, and $10 million in legal fees. The settlement also requires the County (a.k.a. you, the taxpayer) to pay $3 million to Foulger-Pratt to settle their countersuit, which was directly caused by the incompetence of the County and County Council. You are now on the hook for a total of $45 million.

The surrender settlement, while inevitable given the County's woefully-weak case, was a total betrayal of the promises made by County Executive Ike Leggett and the County Council. Leggett stated he would not leave taxpayers on the hook for even a penny of the cost overruns. Councilmember George Leventhal promised the Brickyard Coalition in 2014 that he would "ensure taxpayers will not be on the hook for the remediation of the transit center." Councilmember Hans Riemer said in April 2013 he would "protect the taxpayers."

Once safely reelected, Leventhal and his colleagues abruptly turned around and made multiple new appropriations of tens of millions of dollars for the transit center. The taxpayers be damned!, was the clear message from the Council.

On Election Day 2018, voters will deliver the overdue "rough, seat of the pants estimate" Leventhal and his colleagues asked for in January 2015 - with a steel-toed boot.

#LockThemUp

Rockville redevelopment project seeking waiver on fire response

The Rockville Board of Appeals will hear a waiver request this Saturday from the Village at Rockville redevelopment project, located at 9701 Veirs Drive. That project does not comply with the rules requiring projects of this type to be within 10 minutes' response time from two fire stations. The Mayor and Council created a waiver provision on April 17 of this year, which the applicant is now seeking from the Board of Appeals.

A 3-member affirmative vote will be needed to obtain the waiver. The meeting will be held at City Hall this Saturday, June 3, at 9:00 AM.