Author: MCS Staff

Olney

Smoothie King to Hold Grand Opening Celebration With Free Smoothies For Two Hours

By MCS Staff

Smoothie King opened this past June, taking over the 980SF space that was previously home to Party USA at 18151 Village Center Drive, in the Olney Village Center (located between IHOP and Pho & Grill). The store will be holding its grand opening celebration/ribbon cutting ceremony on Wednesday, October 4th from 6pm until 7pm. To celebrate, they’ll be giving away free smoothies from 5pm until 7pm on the same day.

The new Smoothie King location is locally owned, but since taking the helm, Smoothie King owner/CEO Wan Kim has led efforts to transform the brand’s menu from being packed with sugar and artificial flavors and colors to being health-conscious and packed with whole fruits and organic, non-GMO ingredients. The main focus is not only giving Smoothie King guests the ability to customize smoothies according to their preferences, Kim says, but pushing  their product to more closely align with a healthier, active lifestyle.

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Derwood

Chase to Open New Branch in Derwood

By MCS Staff

Chase continues its expansion into the DC Metro area, and Montgomery County specifically, with a new branch coming soon to Derwood’s Red Mill Shops. The new branch will be taking over the space previously occupied by Verizon at 7250 Muncaster Mill Rd. Verizon moved about 100 feet away next to the main strip of the shopping center. Chase is also building new branches in Rockville, at the former Meixin supermarket space, and in Gaithersburg at the former Boston Market location.

In 2022, JPMorgan Chase cut the ribbon to its newly renovated regional headquarters, the Bowen Building at 875 15th St. NW at the corner of McPherson Square in Washington D.C. This acquisition “reinforced the firm’s commitment to Washington D.C. and the Greater Washington region” as it is one of the only banks expanding its physical footprint in our area. “This region – stretching from Richmond to Baltimore – is one of the largest economies in the country,” said Peter Scher, JPMorgan Chase Vice Chairman and Chair of the Mid-Atlantic. “With the opening of our Mid-Atlantic headquarters, and our continued philanthropic and business commitments, JPMorgan Chase is supporting the future of Greater Washington. Our hope is to provide more economic opportunity for all people no matter the neighborhoods where they live and work.”

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Olney

Z-Burger/Maman Joon Olney Update

By MCS Staff

Last week we reported that Z-Burger and Maman Joon will be taking over the space that was previously home to Taco Bar and Jerry’s Subs & Pizza at 181000 Georgia Avenue in Olney.  After speaking with representatives from the restaurant, we have learned that the goal is for the restaurant to open in mid-October, likely beating out the Bethesda Z-Burger location as the first for the DMV-based regional restaurant (by a couple weeks).

Z-Burger is a local, DMV-based chain that describes itself as “a Washington DC landmark! Home to the area’s most delicious handcrafted burgers with endless toppings, fresh cut fries and 75 varieties of hand spun milk shakes and concretes made with premium Wisconsin custard.” Z-Burger has multiple locations in DC, a few in Northern Virginia, and three in Maryland– with more to come. Its first location opened in Tenleytown in 2008. Earlier this year, its first Montgomery County location was announced. Prior to starting Z-Burger in 2008, founder Peter Tabibian was the general manager at a Jerry’s Subs & Pizza in Maryland.

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Restaurants

Champions Sports Bar to Become Mercury Lounge

By MCS Staff

Champions Sports Bar will be transitioning to Mercury Lounge in the coming weeks. The bar/restaurant opened in Silver Spring this in October of 2020 and is located at 9433 Georgia Avenue, in the former home of Action House Vape & Hookah (same strip at La Casa Del Mofongo) and was recently listed for sale for $185,000. The sale is now pending, according to the listing, but a representative confirmed the change will be occurring soon.

Montgomery County’s Alcoholic Beverage Services (ABS) will hold a hearing on the application by Teko Clavet, on behalf of Destiny Real Estate Holding Company, LLC, for the transfer of a liquor license to the new tenant, which will be known as Mercury Lounge. The hearing will take place on Thursday, October 19th at 10:30am as the restaurant/bar prepares to make the change.

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Bethesda

Vinorita Wine Slushies Closes Pop-Up Shop in Montgomery Mall

By MCS Staff

VinoRita Wine Slushies, the pop-up that arrived in the Montgomery Mall food court in early August, closed as summer came to an end. VinoRita popped up at the kiosk space that was previously home to HalfSmoke, Gelato Galaxy, and Coldstone Creamery.

VinoRita offered wine slushies with alcohol-infused flavors including the best selling “Black San,” which is a Blackberry Sangria, Peach Frose, Strawberry Daquiri, and Blueberry Pomegranate. Non-alcoholic options included Blue Raspberry and Lemonade. The plan for the store, which has locations in North Carolina and Georgia, was to remain until the end of summer. A new location has recently opened, or will open soon, in Orlando.

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Business

170 Apartments in Silver Spring to Be Converted to 1,250 Affordable Units by Non-Profit

By MCS Staff

In September 2023, APAH completed the purchase of 170 apartments at the Falkland Chase apartment community in downtown Silver Spring, MD from seller JBG Smith. APAH is envisioning a phased redevelopment of approximately 1,250 brand new apartments for this site with a large percentage targeted as affordable for residents with incomes at or below 60% of the Area Median Income (AMI).

Upon vacancy and/or turnover, the existing 170 garden-style apartments will be leased at rents affordable to residents earning 60-65% AMI until the redevelopment begins. While the North parcel of Falkland Chase purchased by APAH is already entitled for the 1,250 new units, APAH intends to modify the existing site plan to maximize the affordability of the future community.

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Business

Germantown’s Deka Biosciences Closes $20 Million in Series B2 Financing

By MCS Staff

Germantown, Maryland-based biotech company Deka Biosciences (“Deka”) announced that it has successfully closed a USD $20 Million Series B2 financing with a syndicate of life science investors led by MPM BioImpact. The proceeds of the financing will support the advancement of Deka’s pipeline and drug product manufacturing as they continue clinical trials following the receipt of a notice to proceed letter from the FDA for their investigational new drug (IND) application to evaluate DK210 (EGFR). Additionally, Detlev Biniszkiewicz, Ph.D. of MPM-BioImpact, will join the Deka board. Deka Biosciences is located on the Montgomery College Germantown campus at 20378 Seneca Meadows Pkwy. Full press release below:

“This financing round is a significant milestone. We appear to be the only company that has dissociated IL-2 potency from toxicity,” said Dr. John Mumm, CEO of Deka. “It is gratifying to be supported by investors who recognize the potential of our innovative science to radically improve immunotherapy treatments by evaluating each patient’s immune system and combining biology with the power of precision medicine. We have only raised $55 million to date and are already proceeding to dose our third cohort in our Phase 1 clinical trial. Thus far, we have established safety and clear signs of immune activation in our first 2 cohorts. We are encouraged by these results and believe that this combined approach will result in safer, more efficacious, and cost-effective immunotherapies.”

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Damascus

MCPS To Pay $9.7 Million in Damascus Sex Assault Case Settlement

By MCS Staff

Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) is paying $9.7 million to settle the lawsuits against the Montgomery County Board of Education, former Damascus High School principal Casey Crouse, former football coaches Vincent Colbert and Eric Wallich, and former athletic director Joseph Doody, stemming from the sexual assault in the boy’s locker room at Damascus High School in October of 2019.

In a FOX 5 report, the victim’s attorneys shared that they believe this is the largest settlement of its kind in Maryland history. “The Board Of Education has agreed to pay these four young men who were sexually assaulted at Damascus High School a total of $9.7 million dollars, and that appears to be appears to a record settlement in the State of Maryland,” said attorney Timothy Maloney.” MCPS wrote in a statement to FOX 5, that they have “taken extensive measures to prevent such incidents from happening in the future. This is protocol rooted in an increase in monitoring and oversight of all locker rooms across our school district.“

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