MONTROSE CROSSING SHOPPING CENTER GETS A MAKEOVER (PHOTOS)

Federal Realty's Pike & Rose development is drawing a lot of attention in North Bethesda. But the developer's other property, diagonally across Rockville Pike and the Montrose Parkway, is getting a freshened look and branding.

Montrose Crossing is perhaps best known as the one-time home of a Super Giant store. It still has a Giant, as well as an Old Navy and - most recently - a Chick-Fil-A. Now it has new signage around the property, as well. The color theme is green.

NEW MURAL AT PIKE & ROSE (PHOTO)

The latest design touch at Federal Realty's Pike & Rose development is this large mural on Old Georgetown Road. Other than the musical reference, it is mostly an abstract design, topped off with the development's official logo.

PR FRESH LOOK STORE COMING TO PIKE & ROSE

If stylish, upscale hair salons are a must for today's luxury mixed-use communities, Pike & Rose has found one in PR Fresh Look. A concept by salon chain PR at Partners, with a flagship store in Tysons Corner, the PR Fresh Look store will offer blowouts and hairstyles tailored to the individual customer. Potential clients will be able to read bios of each stylist online, and those stylists will also be able to teach them tips and tricks for pulling off salon styles at home.

PR Fresh Look will be located by Del Frisco's Grille on Grand Park Avenue, the same block that will hold the iPic Theaters cineplex.

The salon will open this November.

PR Fresh Look salon will be
located at left on
Grand Park Avenue

SNEAK PEEK - WALKING THE FUTURE STREETS OF PIKE & ROSE (PHOTOS)

Are you ready to go inside Pike & Rose, the future Federal Realty development on the former site of Mid-Pike Plaza? Street signs have been erected, design touches are popping up all over, and even the future iPic Theatres is starting to look like its future self. There's even a facade tribute to a classic Washington, D.C. company.

Meanwhile, things seem to be on-track at the PerSei luxury apartments, where a last-minute management swap had some future tenants concerned. The new management is still providing the incentives promised by the former management, including membership at Sport & Health, and a Container Store $500 gift card, according to a source. First floor residents reportedly moved in as scheduled last Friday, and upper floors in the coming weeks, which is typical for a new building.

Corby Baking Co. was founded
in Washington, D.C. in 1890, and
was eventually acquired by
Continental Baking Company;
an interesting exterior tribute
to a local legend

Turn onto Persei Place

Note the finishing decorative touches on
the facade between the windows,
and at the bottom

Lens flare along Old Georgetown Road

Grand Park Avenue ahead

These decorative markers are popping
up all over the streets of Pike & Rose.
They feature the names of tenants
in the future development

Welcome to the PerSei apartments

Pike & Rose ampersand
door handles

Future iPic Theatres cineplex (R) and
Tanzy restaurant (L)

Pad site

PerSei apartments

Intersection of Grand Park Avenue
and Persei Place

Demolition of Bally's and the
remaining remnants of
Mid-Pike Plaza

TUTTI FRUITTI/PIKE AND ROSE CONSTRUCTION UPDATE (PHOTOS)

Work is progressing on the pad site area at Pike & Rose, near the corner of Rockville Pike and Old Georgetown Road. The existing retail structure is being renovated, and expanded. This will give the entire Federal Realty property a more consistent and unified appearance, despite the relative age of the older structures.

Tutti Fruitti, Chipotle and
others will be located in
this area on the Pike & Rose
site

New tenant Tutti Fruitti's frozen yogurt shop is being constructed, and the new Bank of America branch is now taking final shape at the site. First move-ins at the PerSei luxury apartments at Pike & Rose are currently scheduled to take place tomorrow.

A new look for the
Pike & Rose branch of
Bank of America

YOGASO BOUTIQUE, SEASONS OLIVE OIL & VINEGAR TAPROOM SIGN ON AT PIKE & ROSE

Two new tenants have come aboard at Federal Realty's Pike & Rose development in White Flint. Bethesda-based online children's apparel retailer Yogaso Boutique will open its first bricks-and-mortar at Pike & Rose. And a "taproom" not affiliated with American Tap Room is the second new tenant lined up. Seasons Olive Oil & Vinegar Taproom will add a Pike & Rose location to its existing outlets in Lancaster and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and Annapolis.

Seasons fills a niche similar to Secolari at Bethesda Row. Yogaso has been online since 2011, when it was founded by Alem Beshir in Bethesda. Carrying labels like Persnickety and Room Seven, Yogaso also features the Aleme line, designed by Beshir herself.

In other Pike & Rose news, a new sign touts the current and future offerings of the renovating pad site along the Rockville Pike side of the property. Already announced, but now advertised, are Chipotle and Tutti Fruitti.

TUTTI FRUITTI TO OPEN AT PIKE AND ROSE IN NORTH BETHESDA

Exclusive!

Frozen yogurt chain Tutti Fruitti is the latest tenant to sign on at the under-construction Pike & Rose development in White Flint. But the shop won't be in the newer Federal Realty buildings going up right now. Tutti Fruitti will be located in an existing retail building at the corner of Old Georgetown Road and Rockville Pike.

That structure will be getting a makeover to better fit with the newer development on the site. Tutti Fruitti will move into the space next to Bank of America and Chipotle. Montgomery County has 3 Tutti Fruittis already, located in Wheaton, Germantown and Damascus.

PIKE AND ROSE NORTH BETHESDA CONSTRUCTION UPDATE (PHOTOS)

The massive construction operation continues at Mid-Pike Plaza on Rockville Pike, in the rapidly-developing White Flint area. As I reported yesterday, the main shopping center building at Mid-Pike Plaza is officially closed to the public now, with only construction personnel and vehicle being allowed to physically access the property at this point. A separate retail center on the property, with a Starbucks, remains accessible to the public.

What you're seeing here are primarily two luxury apartment buildings (PerSei, delivering this year; and Pallas, delivering in 2015), an office building (11800 Grand Park Avenue), as well as the related retail, iPic Theater and parking facilities. I'm still struck by how similar Grand Park Avenue (looks from Old Georgetown Road) to an early construction photo I have from Rockville Town Square. I think the reason for this, is that - temporarily - the scene in the distance is very similar. You have the canyon created by the buildings on either side of the street. But in the distance, flat ground, much like what is north of Rockville Town Square.

The outcome will be radically different at Pike and Rose, however. That is for one key reason: Federal Realty owns the land beyond these buildings, unlike the situation at Rockville Town Square. Whereas town center Phase II has stalled out in Rockville, the town center at Pike and Rose will be larger in scale, by the end of all phases of construction.

PerSei luxury apartments,
now leasing

PerSei marketing banner
with Pike and Rose branding

A variety of brick colors

Floor-to-ceiling windows
in these units

Streetlamps installed

Old Georgetown Road will
be reconfigured to have
a traditional intersection,
instead of the existing curve

One of the tower cranes
on-site

Plenty of sun on this side of
the building

11800 Grand Park Avenue (center) and
Pallas (left of center)

11800 Grand Park Avenue

Interesting stone detail

PERSEI APARTMENTS OPENS LEASING OFFICE AT PIKE AND ROSE

The leasing trailer is open at the future PerSei Apartments, in the White Flint area of North Bethesda. Walk-ins will be accommodated, but the building's management, Bozzuto, suggests calling (301-289-7551) or emailing ahead to make an appointment for best service.

The building site is still being finished, so tours will require a hard hat and "hard sole" shoes. Residents will be the first "pioneers" in the mixed-use Pike & Rose development.

Here are the hours for the leasing trailer, and the address, for GPS purposes:

Monday/Wednesday 9am – 6pm

Tuesday/Thursday 9am – 7pm

Friday 8am – 5pm

Saturday 10am – 5pm

Sunday 12pm (Noon) – 5pm

PerSei, 11802 Rockville Pike (parking is available).

Photo courtesy of PerSei Apartments

TOYS R US TO CLOSE IN JANUARY AT MID-PIKE PLAZA ON ROCKVILLE PIKE (PHOTOS)

STORE WON'T

REOPEN ELSEWHERE

The Dark Side of White Flint, Part 19:

Welcome to The Dark Side of White Flint, an ongoing series about the not-so-wonnerful, wonnerful, wonnerful side of urbanizing the suburbs. These articles provide "the rest of the story" about redeveloping White Flint not found in rosy local media reports.

A Christmas shopping visit to the downscaled Toys R Us store on Rockville Pike brought disappointing, if expected, news: the store will close for good sometime next month, according to a store employee. Worst of all, the store is not relocating; it is the end for Toys R Us here. Having split my childhood toy purchases between this location, and the also-demolished Lowen's toy store in downtown Bethesda, this conclusion is certainly a sad one for me. The original Toys R Us structure was already demolished on the other side of the shopping center; this store is essentially a pop-up affair, but still had a decent inventory. As Toys R Us winds down from its final Christmas shopping season, a closing sale is offering modest discounts of 10-30%. Under the sale's terms, there are no refunds or returns. Shelves throughout the store are increasingly bare, and most are not being restocked.

The anti-suburbia activists will say this is no big deal, "change happens, deal with it," and that urbanizing strip malls on Rockville Pike will reduce exhaust emissions. All three arguments are false.

There is no equivalent toy store anywhere in the Bethesda or Rockville area. Furthermore, Toys R Us carries multiple toy lines exclusive to its stores. Having come directly from the nearby Target, I can confirm that the selections are quite different. And when the Toys R Us was fully stocked, there was simply no comparison between the stores. I am a big fan of Target, and shop at several of their stores frequently. But they understandably cannot devote the space or depth to toys that Toys R Us can, given the broader merchandise array of a big box store. The loss of convenience and toy merchandise selection is indeed a "big deal" for downcounty residents.

Change may happen, but in this case, the desire of parents and children to buy toys has not changed. Development decisions cannot be made in a vacuum, but must take into account the needs of current residents, and the general economic best interest of the area. There is no convincing argument for the destruction of a successful commercial area like Rockville Pike. And even less logic behind one that then banishes the longtime businesses whose stores are demolished. Change in Montgomery County today is primarily driven by development interests, even when other business interests are damaged in the process.

Finally, urbanization of White Flint and Rockville Pike is leading to more driving, not less. The patrons of demolished businesses astronomically outnumber the future residents of luxury buildings in the area. When that Hallmark ornament cannot be found in White Flint, or that Toys R Us-exclusive toy must be had for Christmas, shoppers don't deprive themselves - they hit the road. And now their shopping trip burns several times the amount of gas. So we've made our community less convenient (unless your life revolves around $100 restaurant dinners and high-end shopping 365 days a year), and increased auto emissions, to boot.

In what is becoming a "disposable society," there are costs. Welcome to the dark side.

More articles in this series:

White Flint Mall demolition, phase one (Photos)

Phase one demolition continues (Photos)

The Cheesecake Factory goes dark at White Flint Mall (Photos)

THE WAYGOOSE CLOSES IN BETHESDA

Just over 20 years of business came to an end at The Waygoose on Hampden Lane yesterday. The American handicrafts business began in Rockville in 1993. After moving to Bethesda Row when the original store was demolished as part of the Rockville Town Square development in 2004, the owners eventually moved to Hampden Lane. A second Rockville store opened in the RTS development in 2007, but became an example of the failure of high-rent developments to retain local and small businesses.

Co-owner Deborah Simon posted the following sign-off message online:

"After 20 years (and 21 Holiday Seasons) it's time to move on and explore new pathways. It has been quite a journey -- filled with wonderful memories, people & stories.

Thank you, thank you to the many customers that made the journey with us.  It has been so gratifying to follow along as families formed and grew. I am still astounded when I see those babies heading off to college.

To the craftspeople I have been so proud to showcase I have only two words:  endless gratitude.  Your creative spark and spirit have made Waygoose what it is.

To my Waygoose Family, I will be eternally grateful to you for your hard work, ideas, support and love.

My love affair with handmade works of art will always continue.  I plan to maintain an online presence in order to help you find the work you have grown to love.  So stay tuned.

Our doors close at 6 p.m. Saturday, December 28, but my heart remains open to you always.

Thank you,
Deborah"

Many promises were made that Rockville businesses would be able to return to the new town center after it was finished. However, Magruder's never reopened, and the town center never got a grocery store. A more high-end market, Dawson's Market, eventually leased the space that had originally been intended for Magruder's or another grocery chain.

FACT-CHECKING MONTGOMERY COUNTY BRT PROPAGANDA IN THE WASHINGTON POST

This morning's Washington Post contains an article on the proposed bus rapid transit (BRT) system that will be taken up by the Montgomery County Council today. Some information stated as fact in the article is actually untrue, unproven, or just subjective opinion. Let's correct the public record.

POST: (Headline) "Network of enhanced service envisioned on 10 roads to alleviate congestion"

FACT: There is no factual evidence whatsoever that BRT would "alleviate congestion." Journalism 101 tells us the media should never give authority to one view on an issue, particularly when there is no evidence to back up the assertion. The statement is false, and the headline should have been prefaced with "Advocates say..."

POST: The complete BRT system "would cost as much as $3 billion."

FACT: The Montgomery County Planning Department estimated a countywide BRT system would cost $10 billion. Concluding that was too expensive, planners reduced the size of the network by 50%. 50% of $10 billion is $5 billion.

POST: "It could be at least 2020 before construction begins on the first segment."

FACT: Not true. County master planner Larry Cole stated on County Cable Channel 6 this year that implementation in some areas could begin in early 2014, where major road alterations were not needed.

POST: "BRT is now regarded by many county leaders as the only rational way to address some of the worst commuter traffic in the country."

FACT: We've actually been rated as the worst commuting area in recent years. BRT is far from the only "rational" solution. For example, we know that about 25% of traffic on the American Legion Bridge is traveling to or from the Dulles area. If you built the long-delayed second bridge across the Potomac as an extension of either the ICC or the unbuilt Rockville Freeway, you would remove about a quarter of vehicles from that stretch of the Beltway. BRT can't remove anywhere near that amount of vehicles from roads. Would you spend money on a problem you know you can solve (Legion Bridge), or one that is purely speculative, like BRT?

POST: "[T]here is little room for new roads, [BRT] advocates contend."

FACT: Absolutely false. Rights-of-way exist for the Rockville Freeway, M-83 (Midcounty Highway Extended), new Potomac River crossing, and Northern Parkway. There are virtually no homes or businesses, if any, that would be demolished to build those roads.

POST: "'Nobody's going to widen any more roads or build another Wisconsin Avenue or Georgia Avenue...,' said council member Marc Elrich."

FACT: Interstates 270 and 495 both have room to be widened, as do Rockville Pike, Georgia Avenue and many other state highways. During the 1970s, county leaders deliberately chose not to build critical roads that were designed to allow through traffic to bypass Wisconsin and Georgia Avenues: the Northwest and North-Central Freeways.

POST: BRT "is rooted in the notion that if you take away a lane for cars on a congested road and set it aside for [BRT], some motorists will abandon their cars."

FACT: At least they used the word "notion!" In fact, Cole, the county master planner, said during public hearings this year that planners think and believe that if drivers see a fast bus, they will switch to the bus. They have no data or MoCo-esque area that has implemented a BRT system, much less a successful one. You can't justify reducing the vehicle capacity of MD 355 by 33% when you just "think" or "have a hunch" about a wacky plan.

POST: "County planners...estimate that an exclusive bus lane on MD 355 from the Capital Beltway to Western Avenue, for example, could move about 600 more people an hour than car traffic."

FACT: There is no data that shows any such thing. And the speculation assumes that those 600 people will switch from cars to bus. In fact, the corridor in question already has rapid transit, the Metro Red Line. Subways move far faster than BRT. Yet, those 600 drivers they refer to have already declined to use rapid transit. Why would they suddenly choose to use an even slower "rapid" bus (which moves 12 miles in 48 minutes, according to the county's own data) that doesn't even travel to their destination, downtown DC (BRT will end in Bethesda or Friendship Heights)?

The real fact is, taxpayer money would be better spent on adding more capacity to the Red Line, extending the Red Line to Germantown, expanding MARC commuter rail capacity, and completing our unfinished highway system. There simply is no money to waste on BRT, which is being pushed to expand sprawl urbanization out to areas like Wildwood, Montgomery Mall, Aspen Hill, and Olney.

PIKE AND ROSE CONSTRUCTION UPDATE (PHOTOS)

Here is a photo gallery of the latest progress at the construction site of Pike and Rose, a massive mixed-use development by Federal Realty. It is on the site of Mid-Pike Plaza, at the corner of Old Georgetown Road and Rockville Pike.