Bethesda

As recently  as this past May, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) maintained its deleveraging progress with U.S. asset sales with the sale of Westfield Brandon Shopping Center  (located in Brandon, Florida) in the US for $220 million. It was reported in 2021 that Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) planned to sell all of it’s US holdings in 2022. Last year, then-Chief Executive Jean-Marie Tritant told investors that Unibail wants to shed most of its U.S. properties by the end of 2023, which pushed things back about a year, but things appear to have changed according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

“Unibail is also investing in its top properties.” the report stated. “Unibail is also moving forward with development projects at properties in Illinois, northern New Jersey and Bethesda, Md., including adding apartments and open-air retail and restaurants.” According to development information posted by Westfield, this will include “reimagining the Westfield Montgomery experience by creating a mid-rise multi-family and amenity-rich community with architecture that reflects the seasonal, wooded quality of the community, combined with a modern, urbane feel.  And all within easy walking distance from everything you enjoy.” This will include:


Celebrities

Wisdom Martin, a Montgomery County resident, joined the FOX 5 News team in 2003. 20 years later, this past June, he celebrated his last broadcast with FOX 5 with the network where he has recently been the morning anchor, starting the day at 4 a.m. through 6 a.m. and from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Good Day DC. As of Mid-September, the award-winning anchor took on a new assignment by joining the Get Up DC team on WUSA9 (video below).

Per FOX 5: His career started while he was a sophomore at Jackson State University. His first job in TV news was running the teleprompter on the weekends at WAPT news. From there he worked his way up to news photographer, editor and sports reporter for the weekend shows, before graduating. After leaving Jackson, he became a news and sports reporter/anchor at KSEE in Fresno, California; WRAL in Raleigh, North Carolina (Go Tar Heels!), weekend anchor at CNN in Atlanta; and anchor/reporter at WKRN in Nashville Tennessee.


Education

Schools throughout MCPS celebrated Walk and Roll to School Day today (Oct. 4) to promote health and safer routes to for students to walk and bike to school.

Brooke Grove Elementary School in Olney held a special event, joined by the Montgomery County Department of Transportation’s MCDOT’s Zeal the Safety Zebra and Montgomery County Fire and Rescue’s Sparky the Fire and Rescue Dog. The event included music, balloons, giveaways, police officers, firefighters, fire trucks and special visits from Montgomery County Councilmembers Gabe Albornoz and Dawn Luedtke.


Arts

Last month, 250 chorus students from Clarksburg and Walt Whitman high schools performed at the 2023 World Culture Festival. Nearly 1 million people from more than 180 countries are estimated to have participated in the three-day celebration of unity, diversity and peace on the National Mall. The event included 60 performances from more than 17,000 artists, musicians and dancers representing cultures from every corner of the globe. MCPS students opened the festival singing the national anthem with the U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own” and the U.S. Army Chorus, followed by two original compositions fusing English and Sanskrit lyrics—Blessings Invocation and One World Family, and America the Beautiful – Vande Mataram with Grammy-nominated artist Chandrika Tandon.

Amy Vanek and Michelle Kim, choral music directors at Clarksburg and Whitman, worked to prepare the students for the festival within three weeks. Others who help to coordinate the students’ appearance included: Kanan Shah, MCPS’ World Culture Festival coordinator and occupational therapist at Infants and Toddlers, Emory Grove; Elaine Chang, director of partnerships; Amita Mongia, teacher at Garrett Park Elementary School; Randy Rumpf, fine arts supervisor; Katie Murphy, choral and general music coordinator, and Ed Owusu, principal at Clarksburg, and Robby Dodd, principal at Whitman.


Restaurants

Naz’s Halal opened its fifth Montgomery County location at 7671 New Hampshire Ave in Takoma Park late September and the restaurant is holding its Grand Opening celebration, featuring free food, from 12pm-2pm on Saturday, October 7th. The restaurant took over the space that was previously home to Banagricola De El Salvador.  Naz’s Halal opened its 4th MoCo location at 11209 New Hampshire Ave in White Oak, the former location of White Oak Dry Cleaners, earlier this year.

Naz’s Halal offers rice platters, sandwiches, gyros, wings, salads, burgers, and more. The first location outside of New York was also in MoCo, at the Burtonsville Town Center, next to Tropical Smoothie Cafe. That location opened in August 2020 and has become a local favorite with late night hours. The restaurant has since opened additional MoCo locations in Rockville and Germantown.


Education

Dunkin’ will offer free coffee to all educators as part of the World Teacher Day celebration, on Thursday, October 5th, Dunkin’ announced this week. Educators can pop into any participating Dunkin’ location for a free medium hot or iced coffee, with no additional purchase required. It is limited to one free coffee per customer, and does not include Cold Brew and Nitro Cold Brew. The deal is also open to all educators, from pre-school teachers and college professors to principals and counselors.

“Teachers are the backbone of our communities, educating the next generation of leaders to help keep our communities runnin’,” said multiple Field Marketing Managers via press releases across the country. “We’re excited to offer our dedicated educators a free coffee to recognize their passion and hard work.”  We recommend reaching out to your local Dunkin’ to ensure they’re participating: https://www.dunkindonuts.com/en/locations. Below you’ll see the instagram story from the National Dunkin’ account, posted on Wednesday, October 4th.


Entertainment

The Garden of Lights display transforms Brookside Gardens into a magical winter wonderland. Stroll through the one-half mile, outdoor, walk-through exhibit and enjoy the twinkling lights and glimmering one-of-a-kind displays adorning the flowerbeds and grounds throughout the 50-acre horticultural gem in Wheaton. Hot chocolate and light snacks will be available for purchase.

Garden of Lights will open on November 17, 2023. The exhibit is open every night through December 31, 2023, except November 20-23 and December 24-25, 2023. Event information:


DC Sports

Per WMATA and the Washington Commanders: Metro will provide late night service support to ensure everyone can effectively plan their travel after the conclusion of Thursday night’s game between the Washington Commanders and the Chicago Bears. Additionally, Metro and the Commanders are excited to announce a five-year joint promotional agreement that will invest in promoting Metro as the optimal travel option to and from games.

“This supports our strategic transformation plan to be customer centric, grow ridership, and be a great regional partner,” said General Manger and Chief Executive Officer Randy Clarke. “We look forward to the many ways we can partner with the Commanders as they build a World Champion organization.”


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