Gaithersburg senior housing project proposed

Developers SHA Capital Partners and Kisco Senior Living have proposed a new senior housing project at the corner of Sam Eig Highway and Washingtonian Boulevard in Gaithersburg. Under a project amendment, the building would be 80' tall with 310 units. Most will be for independent living, while others will be set aside for assisted living, memory units, and affordable units.

Outdoor amenities will include a "wellness courtyard," walking trails, bocce ball, a Tai-Chi lawn, a pavilion, a fire pit, outdoor dining with a bar, and garden areas. The inside will host a game room, two dining facilities and another bar, a fitness center, an aerobics room and an indoor pool. 218 parking spaces will be mostly in structured parking decks, with some surface parking.

The land where the development is proposed to be built was originally planned for 320000 SF of office space, which makes sense given its proximity to I-270. A public hearing on the project will be held at tonight's Mayor and Council meeting at City Hall, May 6, 2019 at 7:30 PM. 

MoCo Planning Board to discuss 6-month pilot allowing ebikes/scooters on trails

The Montgomery County Planning Board will discuss a proposed six-month pilot program that would allow e-bikes and electric scooters to operate on some County trails at their meeting this Thursday, May 9, 2019. Montgomery County is still working out an agreement with four dockless e-bike companies for the pilot. If approved by the board, the pilot could begin as early as this month.

Only bikes powered by rechargeable battery will be allowed on the trails during the pilot. The trails selected are the Matthew Henson Trail (Aspen Hill/Silver Spring), Sligo Creek Trail (only the Montgomery County section), Long Branch Trail, Rock Creek Trail, and the paved sections of the Northwest Branch Trail within Montgomery County. Signs will be posted at the selected trails, and public announcements will be made by County government agencies, at least two weeks prior to the start of the program, County officials say.

Paved surface trails where e-bikes
and e-scooters could be used during
the six-month pilot program

Planning staff says that the trails selected are more often used for longer distance trips through stream valleys. The Parks Department wants to evaluate the results and user feedback before allowing the electric bikes on busier trails like the Capital Crescent Trail in Bethesda. They'll be examining conflicts with other trail users, rules violations, safety, logistics, and personal vs. commercial use.

Gas scooters and electric hoverboards and skateboards will remain illegal on all County trails during the pilot. Bikes cannot have throttle assist mechanisms.

The groundwork for the pilot was laid by a related park directive approved two years ago by the board. Staff are recommending approval of the pilot program.

Gaithersburg Mayor & Council to hold public hearing on new Crown office building May 6

A new four-story office building has been proposed for Downtown Crown, on a pad site near the Harris Teeter grocery store at the Gaithersburg development. The city's mayor and council will hold a joint public hearing on the project this coming Monday night, May 6, 2019 at 7:30 PM at City Hall.

The proposed building would be constructed at 10002 Fields Road on a .84 acre lot. A 42335 SF development, it would include 8735 SF of ground floor retail. The site already includes a 2500 SF Pepco electrical switchyard.

City staff is not making a recommendation on approval of the project yet. They have identified a potential parking conflict with the amount of reserved spaces required for the nearby Ruth's Chris Steak House. Staff also advised requiring the developer to deliver the planned streetscape improvements, including specialty pavers, before allowing them to occupy the building.

Rio/Washingtonian Center boardwalk construction update (Photos)

A large area of the waterfront at Rio/Washingtonian Center remains closed off, as construction of a new boardwalk, stage and fire pit continues at the Peterson Cos. development in Gaithersburg. There will also be a green turf area outside Tara Thai. The new boardwalk section will be made from a higher quality wood, and will feature new seating areas. Let's hope they can git-r-done by Memorial Day weekend.

VA named State of the Year by corporate relocation mag, MoCo loser in Halo Labs HQ move

This is another humiliating week for the Montgomery County political cartel. Just as the latest statistics show office vacancies rising higher in Montgomery, Business Facilities magazine named Virginia "State of the Year" for corporate relocations and economic development. Amazon announced that the first several hundred employees are being hired for their HQ 2 in Crystal City, one of the deals that helped Virginia win the award. Virginia also won the contest for the first U.S. manufacturing facility for Canada's Flow Alkaline Spring Water, which will bring a $15.5 million investment in the state. And just yesterday, Halo Labs announced they are relocating their corporate headquarters from Philadelphia to Burlingame, California, skipping over moribund Montgomery County.

Once again, MoCo officials were caught asleep at the switch in the competition for Halo Labs. The company should have been a natural fit, as Montgomery County's biotech sector is the only bright spot in the County's moribund economy - Halo Labs is a life sciences instrumentation company. Their Horizon system allows subvisible particle analysis for pharmaceutical research. How Montgomery officials could have slept through such an opportunity is beyond imagination.

“Virginia snared more than $5.5 billion in capital investment for its top two projects, and its top five job-creation efforts netted nearly 28,000 new jobs in a diverse and well-executed growth strategy that has made VA a high-tech force to be reckoned with,” Business Facilities Editor-in-Chief Jack Rogers said Wednesday. Rogers declared that Virginia isn't just a top player in the tech sector, but is "dominating the field." Montgomery County hasn't even made it out of the locker room. They're too busy getting stuffed into a locker by Ralph Northam.

Virginia has shown it can not only soundly beat Montgomery County in the region's traditional sectors, but also quickly conquer new frontiers. In fact, it is already on the verge of erasing Montgomery's thin advantage in MoCo's only successful sector, biotech. Virginia "can walk and chew gum at the same time—which in this case means they’re upgrading traditional industries while accelerating emerging growth sectors,” Rogers said yesterday.

One of the least-discussed of Virginia's many advantages in attracting Amazon was its cutting-edge efforts in the exploding field of unmanned aerial vehicles, one of great interest to Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos. Just days ago, it was announced that Virginia will be the first state in the nation where drones will deliver packages, as the FAA cleared Wing to operate a pilot program in Blacksburg.

No wonder Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is spending his week tilting at presidential windmills, and signing hundreds of radical far-left socialist bills into law in Annapolis. He has no economic development news to tout. Montgomery's elected officials spent the week arguing about whether taxpayers should give County government employees a 6% or 9% raise, after raising Council salaries to $137,000 and promising you a 4.8% property tax hike to pay for all that - but continue to take no action on our economic development and traffic congestion crises. Heckuva job, Brownie!

Xfinity store coming to Rio/Washingtonian Center, AMC completing theater renovations

Xfinity will soon open a store at Rio/Washingtonian Center in Gaithersburg. Located at 31 Grand Corner Drive, the store may offer a convenient alternative to going to the cable company's nightmarish Motor Vehicle Administration-like customer service center in Rockville. With the long waits and crowded waiting room there, they should really open more of these around the county.

To convert the space, which used to house a children's clothing store, Xfinity is spending $305,000 to completely renovate it.

Speaking of expensive renovations at Rio, AMC Theatres is currently renovating the last of the auditoriums at its Dine-In cineplex there. This final auditorium by itself is getting $400,000 worth of renovations and updates, according to the City of Gaithersburg. Recliners and reserved seating, as well as the new lobby bar, are among the highlights of the complete renovation of the cineplex.

Montgomery County police respond to call for more security at mosques during Ramadan

Montgomery County Councilmember Will Jawando released a letter to acting Montgomery County Police Chief Russ Hamill Monday, in which he requested the department "increase security" at mosques in the county during the holy month of Ramadan. Ramadan begins the evening of Sunday, May 5, and ends the morning of Wednesday, June 5. The department last night issued a statement saying they have received Jawando's letter, and many inquiries about it from unidentified individuals.

In the statement, MCPD says they will continue to work closely with faith communities in the county, but will not ever publicly announce or disclose specific security plans. A public discussion of strategies and tactics "may diminish – not enhance –  the safety of our residents," the statement says.