Trespasser reported inside Derwood apartment parking garage

Montgomery County police responded to a report of a person trespassing inside the parking garage of an apartment complex in Derwood early Thursday morning. The suspect was also accused of resisting an officer in a garage in the 8000 block of Gramercy Boulevard. The Daley at Shady Grove Metro apartments are located on that block.

Backyard shed burglarized in Maryvale area of Rockville

A burglary was reported in the Maryvale neighborhood in East Rockville early Thursday morning. Rockville City police were called to a home in the 500 block of Longwood Drive where a backyard shed had been burglarized at 3:56 AM, according to crime data.

Victim assaulted in wooded area in Rockville

Rockville City police responded to a report of an assault in a wooded area south of King Farm early yesterday afternoon. The assault was reported in a wooded area along Piccard Drive at 12:55 PM, according to crime data. There is a forested stream valley that runs behind several office buildings along Piccard between King Farm and Gude Drive.

Burger King Shady Grove Road menu board activated as Whopper fans await reopening

Don't go to bed before the King, or you might miss out on the latest in the slow drip of developments in the case of the truly-epic remodeling of the Burger King at 16004 Shady Grove Road at the border of Rockville and Gaithersburg. After another few months of little visible activity, we have a new sign of progress. The new drive-thru menu board has been activated. Like the new ones at McDonald's, this has video screens.

Alas, the restaurant has not reopened yet. But it looks like we're getting close to an opening date. The other new "sign" at the site is one seeking job applicants for the pizza restaurant that will be located inside the building. This was the best Burger King in Montgomery County when it closed for renovations a couple of years ago(!!), and Whopper fans are extremely impatient for its return.

Galito's Flame-Grilled Chicken opens in Rockville (Photos)

Galito's Flame-Grilled Chicken has opened at 15918 Shady Grove Road, in the Shady Grove Center on the border of Rockville and Gaithersburg. An employee at the restaurant said they opened for the first time on Monday. This is the first American location for the South Africa-based spicy chicken chain. Operating hours are 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM.

South Block Rockville construction update (Photos)

The first Maryland location of South Block is under construction at 11803 Grand Park Avenue at Pike & Rose. An acai bowl and smoothie fast casual restaurant, South Block also sells fresh pressed juices and avocado or banana toast. Here is a look at the progress on the interior fit-out of the business:

Montgomery Mall owner extends target date for sale of property to 2023

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield stunned many in the retail and real estate field last year, when it announced it planned to sell all of the U.S. malls it had just obtained when it acquired Westfield, including Montgomery Mall and Wheaton Plaza. It set a target date of December 31, 2022 for unloading the properties, so it could focus again on its European holdings. With buyers so far not making offers Unibail finds acceptable, its CEO informed investors last week that the deadline for completing the selloff is now the end of 2023.

Getting the full value of that portfolio was already going to be a challenge amidst the pandemic. But at least one expert is now questioning the wisdom of Unibail's openness in publicly announcing it wanted to quickly divest itself of the malls, and setting a relatively short deadline in the first place. "Who is the buyer in the U.S.?" Green Street senior analyst Rob Virdee asked the Wall Street Journal. "If the bidder knows you're on the run and you have to make a sale, they're not going to offer you a good price."

How did Unibail end up having to switch gears so quickly, and in the position of essentially announcing a fire sale? The Wall Street Journal explains that the firm took on tremendous debt to acquire the Westfield properties. Activist investors who seized control of Unibail's board two years after the Westfield deal were angered about that debt, and once in charge, abruptly directed that the company sell the malls to reduce it.