Pike & Rose opens Phase II section to public (Photos)

Looking north up
the new extension of
Grand Park Avenue that
opened seconds earlier

Federal Realty opened the long-awaited second phase of its Pike & Rose development to the public yesterday at 4:00 PM. A whole new section of the development's street grid is now accessible to drivers, pedestrians and cyclists, ahead of some major Phase II business openings next week. Sephora will open in the ground floor of The Henri apartments on August 3. Pinstripes, a dining and entertainment center featuring bowling, bocce and a rooftop terrace, will host a (reportedly sold-out) Grand Opening celebration on August 4. It will then officially open the next day.

Rose Park will be bookended
by L.L. Bean (at right) and
a future restaurant addition
to the left of this scene

Plantings along the edge of
Rose Park looking toward
Rockville to the north

A "terraced" grade and water
features are highlights at
Rose Park 

This building on the west
edge of Rose Park is
expected to be a future
restaurant

View of Rose Park from
outside The Henri

But before those openings, one of the property's biggest public amenities will make its debut. On August 1, Rose Park will open. The half-acre park will feature green space, paths and gathering space, and water features. It serves as the "central park" anchor of Phase II, and is bolstered by an unusual green addition - a tall tree. The Legacy Tree is an attempt to subvert the typical "tiny tree" syndrome in new urbanist developments, by adding a mature tree trucked in from New Jersey, and planting it (via a crane) at the edge of the park.

The Legacy Tree
recently planted at the
edge of Rose Park

From a practical standpoint, the most significant benefit of the new street openings will be for drivers approaching Pike & Rose from I-270 by the Montrose Parkway. Up until Wednesday, you had to laboriously (and counterintuitively) turn left at Towne Road (which shares the title of "Longest Red Light in Montgomery County with its brother one block east), then take the on-ramp onto Rockville Pike and head south to Pike & Rose. Now you can simply turn right onto Towne, and turn left onto Rose Avenue between Pinstripes and The Henri.

Short Cut City: Now you can
enter Pike & Rose from the rear,
by taking this new Rose Avenue
from Towne Road...

...then turn right at this
intersection onto Grand Park Avenue
to reach the parking garages

Here's a photo gallery of the fence opening yesterday, and a preview of what you'll see as you venture though Phase II, another major milestone in the development of the Pike District:

At 4:00, construction workers
unlock the gate at Grand Park Avenue
and Trade Street that has been a dead
end for several years

Gate opening

Removing the cones

I am the first "civilian" on the
new block of Grand Park Avenue

The Henri apartments, and
the aroma of fresh asphalt

Future home of Sur la Table
at the end of August

Across from The Henri is the
Canopy by Hilton hotel, and this
is the future event space for
wedding receptions and more

Even better is this roof deck area
that can create an indoor-outdoor space
for events

Lobby entrance of The Henri

Looking back down
Grand Park Avenue toward
Old Georgetown Road from
in front of The Henri; this block
is quite dark in the late afternoon

Facade of The Henri

Canopy by Hilton hotel
(opening January/Februrary 2018)
topped by 930 Rose condos

Sephora, opening August 3
in The Henri

Sephora

Sephora is already
fully-stocked inside

Future restaurant space at the
northeast corner of The Henri

Looking north toward the next
block, Rose Avenue and Rose Park (R)

Looking east on Rose Avenue
with future L.L. Bean at left,
and Canopy by Hilton at right

Looking back toward Phase I and
Old Georgetown Road from Rose Avenue 

Rose Avenue

Pinstripes rooftop deck

The Henri, as seen from Rose Park

Cement mixer arrives in front
of the Canopy by Hilton

Canopy by Hilton topped
by 930 Rose condos

As All-American as you can get

Working on windows at
future L.L. Bean store

Canopy's ground floor tenants will be
Nando's Peri-Peri, Taylor Gourmet,
Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spa and
bluemercury

Construction worker poses in front
of future entrance to Canopy by Hilton/
930 Rose condos

L.L. Bean

Gelberg Signs installing the signs at
Pinstripes

Main sign at Pinstripes

Outdoor dining space for the bistro
at Pinstripes

The Henri

The north end of the property at
Prose Street remains a closed and
active construction area

Prose Street looking toward
future Porsche of Bethesda dealership

View from the intersection of
Prose Street and Grand Park Avenue

Loading dock or parking garage
at The Henri

The CEO of Pinstripes was on
the premises yesterday

Let's walk back to Phase I...

...to look at H&M, opening at
the end of August

The signs are up at H&M

New mural being added

...right before your eyes

One of the first vehicles to
drive through Phase II

But pedestrians weren't forgotten...

All clear

Phase II is "Here & Now"

Live Crawfish & Seafood to open in Rockville (Photos)

The flavors of New Orleans are coming to Ritchie Center in Rockville. Live Crawfish & Seafood will offer po'boys, beignets, and - not surprisingly - a New Orleans-style crawfish boil. Other seafood and shellfish will include catfish, clams, mussels, blue and snow crab, and shrimp. Work hasn't even started inside the space, so stay tuned for an opening date.

Montgomery College offering taxpayer-funded "basket of deplorables" course this fall

Montgomery College President DeRionne Pollard justified her expensive, taxpayer-funded security detail by saying she needed protection as someone who will take controversial political stands. Pollard is delivering on that promise in the college's Fall 2017 course catalog. A "new" offering, "Right Wing Movements Today," has a course description that falsely claims that Americans to the right of the political spectrum embrace "political violence and totalitarian models."

I've seen a lot of course descriptions, but this has to take the cake as the most intellectually-shallow and biased yet. It is spreading "fake news" as history, and smearing about half of the country in the process. The reality is that the only victim of physical political violence in Montgomery County was a Donald Trump supporter, and that 99% of the national violence during and after the 2016 election was carried out by left-wing groups, led by the ultra-violent Antifa. Yet, there is no course offering this fall on the "left-wing embrace of violence."

Perhaps the worst thing we can do in these fractious times is to simply cut off debate and dialogue with those we disagree with. Even worse is to base your arguments on fictitious lies. Worst of all is using a taxpayer-funded platform to do it.

This course is reminiscent of the attempts by the Montgomery County Council to create an atmosphere of fear and hate after last November's election. That directly led to violence against a Richard Montgomery High School student. "LL 177" is spreading its own brand of hate, at taxpayer expense. And by incorrectly teaching students that one side of the political spectrum is "violent," the course helps to dehumanize those Americans, which actually facilitates and encourages more left-wing violence of the sort we've seen in Berkeley, Chicago and elsewhere. This is not productive or constructive in any way.

The professor may not agree with their positions or ideas, but right wing groups ranging from Republicans to the "alt-right" do not "embrace violence." Teaching students otherwise is morally bankrupt.

Rockville Confederate statue secretly removed by Montgomery County

Montgomery County pulled a fast one on its own residents, removing the controversial Confederate statue from the Red Brick Courthouse over the weekend. County Department of General Services Director David Dise acknowledged to MyMCMedia, the only media outlet apparently invited by the County to observe the removal, that the date was intentionally kept secret from the public. As expected, the statue will now be installed at White's Ferry. What was unexpected, was that the public would not be informed of the actual removal, simply so the County government could frame the event exactly the way they wanted to politically.

MoCo Council bodyslammed by regional leaders on new Potomac crossing

Regional leaders delivered a stinging rebuke to the Montgomery County Council this week, approving a new Potomac River crossing study over MoCo councilmembers' objections. The County Council had unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday opposing a new bridge, or even a study of a new bridge. On Wednesday, the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board (TPB) of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) met to consider the crossing and 9 other items for study.

In addition to delivering the resolution to the board, Councilmembers Roger Berliner and Marc Elrich participated in the meeting, expending political capital to try and stop a bridge that would provide an economic boon to Montgomery County. The politically-suicidal move left many on the Board scratching their heads. It also again proved that the Council is impotent, even among their Democratic colleagues at the state level, and across the region. Elected officials on the TPB from the cities of Rockville and Gaithersburg, including Rockville Mayor Bridget Donnell Newton (who chairs the TPB) all backed studying the bridge.

Even one of the Council's war-on-cars fellow travelers, Arlington County Board Chair Jay Fisette, was perplexed as to why MoCo councilmembers would oppose objective study of a new bridge. Fisette said he too opposed the bridge, but thought it should be studied like the other projects. COG's own 2012 study showed that 25% of traffic on the American Legion Bridge during rush hour is traveling to, or from, the Dulles area. In addition, 27% of Virginia drivers crossing into Maryland are heading to I-270.

During discussion of the Council resolution earlier this week, Elrich had stated a new crossing was "not in the County's economic interest." This is simply not true, as many CEOs whose firms chose Virginia over Montgomery County have cited our county's lack of direct access to Dulles Airport as one of the deciding factors. Elrich said he wanted to prevent competition with BWI Airport, but BWI - like National Airport - doesn't offer the frequency and scope of international business flights that Dulles does. The largest and most-luxurious aircraft can't even land at BWI and National, but can be accommodated by runways at Dulles.

Councilmember Craig Rice said there was "not any benefit for the upcounty" in building a new bridge. Damascus, Clarksburg and Germantown residents who work in the Dulles area, and parts of Fairfax County, would vehemently disagree. Not to mention that offloading a quarter of the traffic on the American Legion Bridge benefits everyone using I-495 and I-270 during rush hour.

Another false impression was given by Councilmember Sid Katz, who declared, "the reality is, there's no money for this." With a private firm building the highway and bridge as a toll facility, the beauty of it is, very little taxpayer money would be needed. Since the road would most likely be an extension of the ICC/Sam Eig Highway, the private operator could also take control of the ICC, and lower tolls along the length of the route within Maryland.

Of the ten projects approved for study by the TPB, the Potomac River crossing would move the most people in the shortest time, for the least dollar amount per-person. In opposing it, the Council not only again declared war on their own constituents, but are actively trying to prevent congestion relief and job creation within Montgomery County, at the behest of their developer masters who want to use office zones for residential development. Protecting BWI, which can't compete on business flights with Dulles, at their constituents' expense? It sounds like Berliner, George Leventhal and Elrich are running for Baltimore mayor, not Montgomery County Executive.