Thursday, November 30, 2017

All-day restaurant Julii to open at Pike & Rose, 930 Rose model unit opens this Saturday

More Phase II developments at Pike & Rose: Everyone who has visited Pinstripes or Rose Park has been wondering for months who the future tenant will be in that sleek, glass building on the edge of the park. The founders of the local Cava empire have answered that question. They will open an all-day restaurant called Julii, serving French-Mediterranean cuisine in a casual atmosphere for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Julii's menu will include everything from croissants to shakshouka to roasted chicken. The restaurant will also have a coffee shop. “We selected Pike & Rose for many reasons, particularly the tenant mix of new, diverse brands – many exclusive to this community,” Ted Xenohristos, co-founder of CAVA, said in a statement yesterday. “With amenities from bowling to ramen to the great outdoors, Federal Realty is building something special at Pike & Rose and we want to be part of it."

The street address of Julii will be 11915 Grand Park Avenue. No target opening date has been announced.
930 Rose model unit
Less distant in the future at Pike & Rose will be the grand opening of the first model unit at the 930 Rose luxury condos, atop the future Canopy by Hilton hotel, this Saturday, December 2, from noon until 4:00 PM. Enjoy appetizers from neighboring restaurant Summer House while you tour the model and learn about the hotel amenities and services that will also be available to 930 Rose residents.

930 Rose is at the corner of Rose Avenue and Grand Park Avenue, across from L.L. Bean and Rose Park. Parking is available in the Trade Street Garage, directly behind the Canopy/930 Rose building.

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

MoCo school board thumbs nose at Rockville parents in Richard Montgomery ES #5 boundary decision

Option B was approved in a split
vote by the school board Monday night
The Montgomery County Board of Education will bus some kids out of their home neighborhoods to the new Richard Montgomery Elementary School #5, after choosing Option B out of five redistricting proposals Monday night. While it was far from the worst of the options to parents' minds, it still will result in longer travel times for a good number of Rockville elementary school students. Those students would have originally attended Beall ES and Ritchie Park ES in their own neighborhoods; now they will be bused to RMES#5.

The board's decision maintains a high number of FARMS students at Twinbrook ES, students who qualify for free and reduced-price meals, meaning they will be able to continue going to their neighborhood elementary school.


Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Veirs Mill Corridor master plan meeting December 13, 7:00 PM

The next Veirs Mill Corridor master plan public meeting will be held on December 13, 2017, at 7:00 PM at Albert Einstein High School, located at 11135 Newport Mill Road in Kensington (note the venue change). Montgomery County planners will present their preliminary recommendations for land use and zoning; urban design; transportation; parks, trails and open spaces; sustainability and community facilities. They will also take your feedback on those recommendations.

Monday, November 27, 2017

Toy Kingdom to close at Rockville Town Square

The news out of Rockville Town Square is a cannonball to the gut of those hoping small, mom-and-pop businesses have a future in redeveloping areas of Montgomery County. Toy Kingdom will close on December 31, after 11 years in business. All items are now 20% off during a closing sale.

Many residents surveyed for the city's Rockville 2040 Master Plan listening sessions mentioned Toy Kingdom as the type of local business they would like to retain, even as the city continues to grow and redevelop. And the store was frequently cited as an example of how small shops could survive alongside national chains in new urbanist town centers.

"As a parent, this is a big bummer," one patron told me Sunday. "It was a nice little shop, and will leave another hole in Town Center." In a letter to employees and customers, Toy Kingdom's owner called the closure a "difficult decision." If you consider the increasing challenges of climbing taxes and rents, and online shopping - - combined with the "Great Recession" hitting right after the store opened, eleven years can certainly can be considered a very impressive run for Toy Kingdom.

Montgomery County has suffered a net loss of over 2000 retail jobs since 2000, according to the Maryland Retailers Association.

Friday, November 24, 2017

Amici Miei Ristorante to take over The Inkas space in Rockville (Photos)

A new Italian restaurant is coming to Rockville's Town Center. Amici Miei Ristorante will be moving from Potomac Woods Plaza to Federal Realty's Courthouse Center. They will take over the vacant space at 6 N. Washington Street, formerly home to The Inkas. Considering their liquor license hearing isn't until December 7, I wouldn't expect them to open before then, but stay tuned.




Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Sanctuary policies may be to blame for second Montgomery County homicide victim in 2 weeks

An MS-13 gang member has been charged with first degree murder, in the case of an unidentified homicide victim found in Wheaton Regional Park on September 5. And once again, this may have been a preventable homicide - the man charged had a previous run-in with Montgomery County police in 2016, when he was cited for theft of under $100, according to Maryland court records.

Miguel Angel Lopez-Abrego, 19, had no address then, and still had no confirmed address when he was located in North Carolina by police on November 11, 2017. He has been extradited to Montgomery County, and is due in court today in Rockville for a bond hearing. A preliminary court hearing for Lopez-Abrego has been set for December 22.

Once again, we find the inability of police to check immigration status may have led to the death of a man in Wheaton Regional Park. If Lopez-Abrego had been determined to be in the country illegally while in police custody on October 24, 2016, he would have been deported long before killing the man found in the park this year - a man who police say was stabbed more than 100 times. Instead of ICE taking him into custody for deportation, Lopez-Abrego was let go, and a warrant was issued for his arrest on December 6, 2016.

In just the past two weeks, Montgomery County has seen first-hand that the current policy has led to two preventable homicides. The first was that of a young mother, also in Wheaton. Like her, the victim in this case - while unidentified - was also Latino. In fact, it is the Latino and immigrant communities which are being victimized the most by gangs in Montgomery County. Just ask the Watkins Mill High School mother who buried her 15-year-old daughter (stripped and executed by MS-13) this year, surrounded by undercover police officers in case MS-13 raided the funeral or graveside ceremony.

Ironically, our elected officials hide behind the race card in defending their indefensible sanctuary policies. Of course, they're finding it harder and harder to defend the indefensible. Last Friday, WMAL radio host Larry O'Connor asked every single member of the Montgomery County Council to come on-the-air to defend their sanctuary policies, after it was found that those policies may have directly led to the death of Dania Mendez de Guerra. Not a single councilmember had the guts, confidence or conviction to come on the program and debate O'Connor.

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Smoothie King opens at Congressional Plaza

Smoothie King's newest area location is now open in Rockville at Congressional Plaza on Rockville Pike. And not a moment too soon. The health-conscious chain is offering three limited-time Holiday Meal Replacement smoothies for the holidays: Slim-N-Trim Cranberry, The Activator Gingerbread, and Vegan Apple Cinnamon.