This Saturday, October 29, the Kensington Volunteer Fire Department and the Town of Kensington are once again hosting their annual Halloween Movie Night. “Hotel Transylvania” will be shown at dusk in St. Paul Park on the big screen. Costumes are encouraged for all attendees.
The Kensington Volunteer Fire Department and the Town of Kensington will have refreshments available for purchase in the Park, including pizza, popcorn, and candy.
https://www.facebook.com/KensingtonVFD/posts/pfbid02ZeJXoeDAzboepkMYZ52AJiB9QgbA6t7wyfisRmXpDcSpo8iP9sbLmVFM9img7Mtal
Planning Board Hearing December 16 at 9:00 am for Strathmore Avenue Project
The Property is currently developed with the vacant St. Angela Hall Retirement Home, open space, and frontage associated with the Academy of the Holy Cross School.
The rezoning will allow for the future redevelopment of the property with up to 125 single-family dwelling units (including a minimum of 15% MPDUs) and a 145-bed residential care facility.
An associated Preliminary Forest Conservation Plan and Tree Variance is recommended for approval and discussed in a separate Staff Report.
Subsequent Preliminary and Site Plan reviews will be required if the Local Map Amendment is approved.
Permitted uses on the Site include up to 125 single-family detached and attached dwelling units
(including a minimum of 15% MPDUs) and a residential care facility (with up to 145 beds).
- Commercial uses are not permitted on the Property, except permitted accessory uses associated with
the residential care facility. - A natural surface trail must be provided along the western side of the Site that is subject to a public
access easement. - The Property is limited to no more than three points of vehicular access from Strathmore Avenue.
- The Property must be subdivided to formally delineate the boundary of the area subject to the rezoning
at the time of Preliminary Plan. - A Phase I Noise Analysis must be submitted with the Preliminary Plan to identify noise levels that might
impact interior and exterior spaces subject to the Planning Department’s Noise Guidelines. The analysis
must be performed by a qualified acoustical engineer. If a combined Preliminary/Site Plan is
submitted, the Site Plan must include recommendations from a qualified acoustical engineer to
mitigate excessive noise levels per the Noise Guidelines.
At the time of Preliminary Plan and Site Plan(s) approval, the Applicant must address the following: - The Applicant will upgrade the Strathmore Avenue frontage through the construction of the 10-footwide shared use path and 6-foot-wide green buffer that complies with the North Bethesda/Garrett Park
Master Plan, the Bicycle Plan, and other applicable plans and policies. - Create a safe and attractive pedestrian trail that connects open spaces within the development and, to
the extent practicable, connects the development with the surrounding community.
a) The trail should be of a permeable material (i.e. natural surface, wood chip, wood mulch) that
provides good accessibility and low maintenance and seating should be provided along select
portions of the natural surface trail that are outside of the floodplain but may lie within the
stream valley buffer. - Create an attractive and walkable streetscape on both sides of Street C:
a) Continue to coordinate with Staff on the townhouse driveways to create a pedestrian friendly
environment. - Create useable public open spaces:
a) Consolidate public open space to two or three areas and work with staff to improve the utility
of these spaces at the time of Site Plan.
Read the entire staff report.
By Dan Reed of Just Up The Pike (as seen in Friends of White Flint)
With recent news of the Metro board of directors voting to approve changing the name of the White Flint Metro Station to North Bethesda, we wanted to share Dan Reed’s 2013 article highlighting how White Flint got its name.
Some call it White Flint, while others call it North Bethesda. One hundred years ago, they called it Windham. The White Flint Partnership, a coalition of area landowners seeking to transform Rockville Pike from a suburban strip into an urban downtown, are working on a branding scheme for the area. However, developers and residents alike disagree on whether to call it White Flint, North Bethesda, or something else. So where did these names come from, anyway?
In the early 20th century, Rockville Pike was a rural highwayand the area between today’s Rockville Town Center and Bethesda was rolling countryside, dotted with small villages. After Rockville, the biggest nearby towns were Kensington and Garrett Park. Annual maps from the United States Geological Surveyshow three tiny settlements in what’s now the White Flint Sector Plan area, each containing just a few houses. There was Montrose, located near the intersection of Montrose Road and Old Georgetown Road; Randolph, on Randolph Road near what today is Loehmann’s Plaza Shopping Center; and Windham, near the current intersection of Parklawn Drive and Boiling Brook Parkway.
Some of these place names persisted for decades, appearing on USGS maps as late as the 1970’s. However, others were more short-lived. Autrey Park, located near Rockville Pike and Edmonston Road, was wiped away after Rockville annexed it. Beane, a village at Old Georgetown Road and Grosvenor Lane, was renamed Mount Zion Church after its main landmark, before disappearing altogether after World War II. Windham’s last appearance on the USGS map was in 1923.
Seven years later, the White Flint Country Club opened on Rockville Pike near Nicholson Lane. That’s the first known use of the name, according to Clare Lise Kelly, research and designation coordinator for historic preservation at the Montgomery County Planning Department. The name was a reference to the white quartz rocks which can be found throughout Montgomery County.
By the 1950’s, suburban development took off along Rockville Pike, and with it came new uses for “White Flint.” Homebuilders laying out new subdivisions around the mall made references to the country club, like White Flint Drive, which was built between 1957 and 1959. The adjacent White Flint Park, which once held many of its namesake rocks, opened in 1978. Meanwhile, family-owned developer Tower Companies bought the country club in the 1960’s, according to Arnold Kohn, a lawyer for the company. Tower partnered with Lerner Enterprises to build White Flint Mall, which opened in 1977.
North Bethesda came a little later. It’s named for Bethesda, which was named in 1871 after a church named for a Biblical healing pool in Jerusalem, which in turn got its name from the Aramaic word for “house of mercy.” However, the Postal Service only recognized North Bethesda as an official mailing address in the 1990’s, a distinction White Flint doesn’t have. Other than a few scattered around the White Flint Mall property, and one in front of the Garrett Park post office, you won’t see many white flint rocks in White Flint, but the name remains as it has for over 80 years. How long it’ll stick around is another story.
Community Meeting to Discuss Potential Name Change of White Flint Metro Station
A virtual meeting will take place tonight to discuss the potential name change of the White Flint metro station.
“Join County Executive Marc Elrich, Councilmember Andrew Friedson, The Greater Bethesda Chamber, and Friends of White Flint for an online meeting to discuss the possible re-naming of White Flint metro on Wednesday, March 31 at 7 pm.”
Register for the meeting here.
Lord & Taylor, the Last Remnant of White Flint Mall, Has Permanently Closed
Back in May, we let you know that Lord & Taylor had announced plans to close their location in the former White Flint Mall area.
After months of inventory sales, it appears that this Lord & Taylor location has finally shut its doors for good. The parking lot is empty, this location is no longer listed on the Lord & Taylor website, and google lists the location as permanently closed.
When White Flint Mall first opened in 1977, Lord & Taylor was one of its anchor stores, along with Bloomingdale’s, and I. Magnin (later replaced by Borders Books).
In the mid 2010s, there was a legal dispute between Lord & Taylor and White Flint Mall; Lord & Taylor alleged that plans to redevelop the mall were in violation of Lord & Taylor’s rental agreement. The store was eventually allowed to remain and redevelopment was halted. The mall around Lord & Taylor was demolished and the store was the only part remaining.
In 2018, the White Flint Mall property was briefly under consideration for a new Amazon headquarters.
What can we expect for the future of the White Flint Mall property?
In 2012, it was proposed that the area would be redeveloped to have a large, open air plaza with residences, office space, and retail. A 2019 Montgomery Planning Board document has made references to this plan, in addition to discussing the possibility of a new elementary school, and an extension of a current park in the are. No updated plans or a timeline of this development are publicly available at this time.
By: Michelle Katz @pike.and.rozay
TKK Fried Chicken is Coming to Pike & Rose
TKK Fried Chicken is a Taiwanese chain that specializes in fried chicken. They’ve been around since 1974 and have locations across Taiwan, China, and the United States.
On November 30, 2018, TKK opened a joint restaurant with Kung Fu Tea in New York City’s Flatiron District to serve its fried chicken menu alongside Kung Fu Tea’s bubble tea selections.
They’ll be doing the same with Kung Fu Tea in Pike & Rose. There is currently no exact date for the friend chicken restaurant to join Kung Fu Tea, but their instagram account posted a “coming soon” photo yesterday.
10/7 Update: Last week we told you about the original dates for Friday, 10/9 and Saturday, 10/10. Now new dates have been added!
Tickets to Beetlejuice (10/8) and Addams Family (10/11) are now available.
Get your tickeat below:
Pike District and Combined Properties are bringing drive-in movies to Montgomery County, the first drive-in movie experience in North Bethesda.
The event, Carpool Cinema, will take place over the course of two nights: Friday, October 9 and Saturday, October 10 at White Flint Plaza, located at 5222 Nicholson Lane.
Friday’s film will be Beetlejuice, the 1988 comedy fantasy directed by Tim Burton and starring Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Michael Keaton, Catherine O’Hara and Winona Ryder. Saturday’s screening will be The Addams Family, the 2019 animated film voiced by Oscar Isaac, Charlize Theron, Nick Kroll, Snoop Dogg, Bette Midler, Chloë Grace Moretz, Finn Wolfhard and more.
Tickets for each night are $25 per car and include entry and parking along with a $15 food voucher to be redeemed at one of the participating restaurants in White Flint Plaza. In addition, each ticket includes a $10 donation to the Greater Bethesda Chamber of Commerce to support its work with the Good Will Dinner Coalition and its support for local businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Participating restaurants include The Big Greek Café, Kuya Ja’s Lechon Belly, Vie De France and Domino’s Pizza.
Gates will open at 6:00pm to allow guests to park and redeem their food vouchers before the movie begins at approximately 7:30pm. In order to maintain safety and COVID compliance, all guests are required to remain in their cars once the movie begins with the exception of using the restrooms. Masks and social distancing are required for those outside of their vehicle at any point.
To access the event, reserve your space ahead of time using the below links and bring proof of purchase the night of to enter and receive the restaurant voucher.
Tickets for Friday, October 9: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/carpool-cinema-presents-beetlejuice-tickets-122446848821
Tickets for Saturday, October 10: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/carpool-cinema-presents-addams-family-tickets-123052267645
Potomac Sweets is Coming to Kensington
UPDATE: Potomac Sweets will open on Wednesday, November 11th
Potomac Sweets, a bakery with a presence at various local farmer’s market in the area, is opening a storefront in Kensington.
It will be taking the place of the recently closed JennyCakes Bakery on Armory Ave in Kensington.
Potomac Sweets was created by Chef Gerard Partoens, who was trained in Belgium and perfected his skills in Antwerp’s best pastry shops. He spent 25 years working as an Executive Pastry Chef in top hotels, from the Ritz Carlton and Grand Hyatt in Hawaii, to the Broadmoor Colorado Springs and Caesar’s Palace Las Vegas. He then honed his management skills working for Whole Foods Market and running the bakery program for over 50 locations. Chef Partoens then moved back to the Washington-metro area and created Potomac Sweets.
The bakery will serve pies, cookies and a wide selection of Viennoserie pastries We don’t have word on an opening date just yet, but we don’t expect it to take as long as most transitions.
UPDATE: The White Flint Lord & Taylor was included in the list of Lord & Taylor stores Forbes released of locations that will be closing in the coming months.
Reuters reports that Lord & Taylor “plans to liquidate inventory in its 38 department stores once restrictions to curb the spread of coronavirus are lifted as it braces for a bankruptcy process from which it does not expect to emerge.”
Back in 2017 Lord & Taylor was awarded $31 million in a breach of contract lawsuit against Lerner Enterprises and Tower MD Holdings, who are the majority owners of the White Flint mall property.
White Flint was demolished in 2016 and Lord & Taylor, shown in our featured photo, has stood alone on the 45 acre property since then.
This could allow for the redevelopment of the area that used to be home to White Flint Mall.