Purple Line could pose problem for Bonifant St bar

Photo: Its a tight squeeze on the sidewalk outside the Quarry House Tavern. Photo: J. Deseo/SSP.

Photo: It's a tight squeeze on the sidewalk outside the Quarry House Tavern. Photo: J. Deseo/SSP.

As the Purple Line light-rail project rolls forward, business owners along its route through Fenton Village worry it will wreck parking and pedestrian access for patrons.

At a focus-group meeting held last Monday night at ye olde library, Bonifant Street retailers and restaurateurs told state reps they wanted Purple Line tracks not to block automobile access on that road. That meant easy passage for drivers, decent parking for patrons, and enough wiggle room and access for delivery trucks, a few of them described.

Still, one business — the Quarry House Tavern at the corner of Bonifant and Georgia Avenue — might get the worst of it, state transit authority reps admitted at the meeting. The sidewalk outside its subterranean entrance might need narrowing to accommodate two lanes of light rail as it travels between the Silver Spring transit center and the new library, project manager Mike Madden explained.

That made tavern owner Jackie Greenbaum a little nervous, as the sidewalk there is already on the skinny side. Narrowing it further would create a tot-block scenario for hungry patrons, as well as make it tough to roll kegs off delivery trucks and into the bar, she indicated. (more…)

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Negotiations between the county and one landlord to develop a music hall in downtown Silver Spring are close to wrapping, MoCo exec Ike Leggett declared.

Expect an official announcement in about six weeks, Leggett told The Penguin last Saturday at ye olde library’s book fest. Exactly what would be announced was unclear.

Photo: Nothing to see here. Move along. Credit: J. Deseo/SSP.

Photo: Nothing to see here. Move along. Credit: J. Deseo/SSP.

It’s been a long-ass road to bring the project to someone’s concept of fruition. Concert promoter Live Nation inked a deal with the county in January 2008 to rent out the venue, which will sit behind the Art Deco facade of a former JC Penney department store on Colesville Road. At the time, county officials predicted the $8 million music hall would be open by 2010.

But the Lee Development Group, which owns the land and is offering it as required public-use space for a larger adjacent development, wants all assurances that the project next door won’t be screwed by the music hall’s construction, Leggett explained in May.

“Everyone’s super-lawyered up,” he said at the time. (more…)

Gratuitous Shot

Credit: J. Deseo/SSP

Credit: J. Deseo/SSP

Call it fate or destiny. Around 5:00 p.m. Wednesday, Discovery HQ staffer and Penguin Twitter buddy @joshourisman peeked out his office window and noticed changes to a Colesville Road storefront.

“Some of the paper covering the windows at the upcoming Flippin’ Pizza has come down!” he tweeted. And he included a photo: a bird’s eye view of what he’d described.

Also around 5:00 p.m. Wednesday, Penguin editor Jennifer Deseo (read: me) was trudging north on Colesville Road towards Georgia Avenue when she noticed the same thing. That’s when she snapped the photo above, unaware that her Twitter buddy had simultaneously done the same. Freaky, huh?

Workers installing electrical cable at the restaurant said it will open for business next week. Whether that meant Monday morning breakfast or a late dinner Friday night was unclear.

 

Say adios to one Mexican dive, and hello to another Ethiopian restaurant.

Photo: Coming soon. Credit: J. Deseo/SSP.

Photo: Coming soon. Credit: J. Deseo/SSP.

Tijuana’s Mexican Cafe, a dark hole with cheesy atmosphere and cheap food to match its namesake, closed shop on Georgia Avenue at Mayor’s Promenade. It’s not known when it served its last nacho, but a real-estate listing this spring put some part of the building for sale at $250,000.

In Tijuana’s place will be Abyssinia, an Ethiopian restaurant. A “coming soon” banner hung above the doorway in the shade of Tijuana’s weathered green awning, where speakers mounted on the building’s exterior still blared weather and traffic reports from a local radio station.

No opening date has been announced, but a loud orange poster in the restaurant’s front window announced an Oct 15 hearing with the county’s liquor control board. (more…)

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County council endorses Hook and Ladder loan

Photo: Ye olde firehouse in an earlier stage of renovation. Credit: J. Deseo/SSP.

Photo: Ye olde firehouse in an earlier stage of renovation. Credit: J. Deseo/SSP.

ROCKVILLE — In a straight up-or-down vote Tuesday, MoCo council members blessed a loan application that will help cover construction costs for a Fenton Village brew pub.

The state-run loan program required the council’s endorsement for approval, according to council documents. If underwriters give the green light, the loan will extend $500,000 to the Hook and Ladder Brewing Co., which is renovating ye olde firehouse on Georgia and Silver Spring Avenues (photo).

The loan would be a plump, juicy drop in the pub’s $2.4 million renovation bucket. Once construction wraps in 2010 (that’s the company website talking), the 1914 red-brick building will have been pimped out into a tizzight firehouse-themed restaurant and pub — brass pole included, a company spokesman previously told The Penguin.

The brew pub is estimated to bring 125 new jobs into Fenton Village, which has lagged behind the Downtown Silver Spring shopping center in economic vitality. The project’s ability to introduce new jobs into a financially strapped neighborhood is a qualifying factor for the loan. (more…)

 

Candy store coming to Georgia Ave storefront

Photo: Who wants candy? Credit: J. Deseo/SSP.

Photo: Who wants candy? Credit: J. Deseo/SSP.

A newly renovated storefront along Georgia Avenue has scored a sweet new tenant: Virginia-based Velatis Caramels.

The 143-year-old company signed a lease for 8408 Georgia Ave last week, Spiro Gioldasis, whose family owns the property, told The Penguin. (That’s right, this is the place that had trees growing out of it until recently.) By Saturday afternoon, Penguin reader Perry Tsay noticed the “coming soon” banner on the building, facing a busy bus stop near eastbound Wayne Avenue. (more…)

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