Gaithersburg

Milk Run Ends in a Race to a ‘Forever Home’ for Gaithersburg Man After $50,000 Powerball Prize 

By Patrick Herron

Those numbers turned out to be lucky. But he didn’t find out how lucky until he checked the ticket the next day. The father of three called his wife and told her, adding that she was so happy she started crying. He even sent her a video of the Lottery terminal message that was displayed when he scanned the ticket, indicating that it was a big winner. “JR Munoz” said he and his family are now getting ready to move into their forever home.

The Powerball jackpot rolled to an annuity value of $206.9 million before being hit in the Aug. 3 drawing on a ticket sold in Pennsylvania.

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Education

RISE Program That Provides Connections Between High School Students and Employers Concludes Another Successful Summer

By Patrick Herron

The program ran for four weeks, from July 5-29. Each student had a minimum of 50 hours of either in-person, virtual or a combination of the two experiences.

Among the experiences RISE participants were exposed to this summer were:

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MCPS

Students from Richard Montgomery High School Finish Second in National ‘Envirothon’ Environmental and Natural Resource Conservation Problem-Solving Competition

By Patrick Herron

The Richard Montgomery “Tree Troupe” team of Sienna Burns, Lynna Deng, Josh Goozman, Connor Palansky and Katie Yang, which in June won the Maryland State championship, finished second in the national competition to a team from Lexington, Mass. A team from Pinecrest, Fla., finished third.

Lissa Vincent, Richard Montgomery team’s teacher advisor, and Barry Burch, Maryland Envirothon program coordinator, accompanied the team to Ohio for the competition.

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Gaithersburg

Olde Towne Park Plaza Upgrade Scheduled in Gaithersburg

By MCS Staff

The Plaza will undergo a lighting upgrade the week of August 8. The water feature will operate from 4 – 7 p.m. during installation. Olde Towne Plaza in Gaithersburg is getting an upgrade, with overhead lighting (catenary lights) being strung to add nighttime charm. The installation will begin on Monday, August 8, and is expected to take about a week, weather permitting. The Interactive Water Feature at Olde Towne Plaza will operate from 4 to 7 p.m. during the installation period, opening after the contractors have made the area safe. Note that the Water Feature is always closed on Mondays.

The Olde Towne Plaza is located in the original central business district of Gaithersburg, adjacent to the B&O Railroad Station and Freight Shed, both of which are included on the National Register of Historic Places. The City acquired the property from the railroad in 1984. Whether splashing in the interactive fountain and enjoying the exhibits in the Community Museum, or waiting for a MARC Train, the plaza honors the original historic functions of its location as a transportation hub & gathering place.

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Gaithersburg

Gaithersburg’s Arcellx Signs Lease for 60,000 SF Space in King Farm

By MCS Staff

Gaithersburg-based Arcellx, a clinical-stage company which makes cell therapies for cancer and autoimmune diseases, will expand into Rockville after inking a deal to lease 60,000 SF at 800 King Farm Blvd., according to a Biz Journals report. It will be moving into “a roughly 215,000-square-foot office building that Miami-based Banyan Street Capital will convert into office and lab space for life sciences companies.” JLL Capital Markets announced in March that it arranged $38.5 million in acquisition financing for 805 King Farm Boulevard, a 240,000-square-foot office building known as District IV that is located within The District at King Farm in Rockville, MD.

Per the March press release: District IV is part of the recently rebranded District at King Farm, which is comprised of four assets totaling over 750,000 square feet of office and retail space. Banyan Street Capital had previously acquired a stake in 700, 702 and 800 King Farm Boulevard (District I, II, and III) in the summer of 2020. Banyan Street and BLT Green Hollow acquired 805 King Farm Boulevard in October 2021 through a deed-in-lieu proceeding following a purchase of the then existing loan from BBVA Compass. This acquisition marks the first deal closed in the newly formed BLT Green Hollow Fund.

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Business

PNC To Close 127 In-Store Branches at Grocery Stores Across Five States, Including Maryland (Locations Not Yet Named)

By MCS Staff

PNC is closing “about 127 in-store branches at Giant Food and Stop & Shop supermarkets in Maryland, Virginia and the District as well as in New Jersey and Delaware”, according to a report by the Washington Business Journal. The Pittsburgh-based bank will close these branches in waves throughout 2023, according to the report, but has not mentioned which specific branches will be closing.

Late this past spring, PNC began the conversion of what will be 1,000 branches to an automated model. The conversion of all of these branches is expected to be completed by 2026. In September 2020, PNC Chairman and CEO William Demchak announced the bank was on track to close nearly 160 branches that year and another 120 in 2021 (109 ended up closing), as part of the bank’s strategy to lean harder on more prosperous digital sales. In April, Pittsburgh’s WPXI reported that PNC was on track to shutter more than 100 branches by the end of June 2022. In July, PNC reported a second quarter 2022 net income of $1.5 billion.

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DC Sports

Familiar Names to Play in Maryland/Georgetown Alumni Basketball Game on Saturday

By MCS Staff

The Alumni Basketball League (ABL) will bring together fan favorites from the University of Maryland (The College Park Boys) and Georgetown University (DawgTalk), as the teams square off on Saturday, August 6th (8pm) at the XFINITY Center in College Park. Many familiar names like Melo Trimble, Chris Wright, Anthony Cowan Jr., Greg Monroe, James Gist, Henry Sims, Ikene Ebekwe, Byron Mouton and more (full rosters available below) will be participating in this game.

Maryland’s roster has been put together by Travis Garrison, the 2002 Maryland Gatorade Player of the Year who played four years for the Terps, joining the team right after their National Championship victory (2002-2006), before playing professionally in various leagues until 2017. Georgetown’s roster has been put together by Chris Wright, who played at Georgetown from 2007-2011. He has played, and continues to play, professionally in various league, spending part of 2013 with the Dallas Mavericks.

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Potomac

Montgomery County Sisters Die In Fire While Vacationing in New York

By MCS Staff

Jillian Wiener, 21, and Lindsay Wiener, 19, both of Potomac, were killed in an early morning house fire in the Southampton hamlet of Noyac around 3:30am Wednesday morning. The sisters, who are both graduates of The Holton Arms School in Bethesda, were vacationing with family, according to Lt. Susan Ralph of the Southampton Town Police Department.

According to The East Hampton Star, The father, identified as Washington Hebrew Congregation President Lewis Wiener, awakened to the sound of glass breaking and alerted the family to get out. He and his wife escaped the home, but when they realized the children hadn’t exited the home, the father attempted to gain entry back in. The flames, however, prevented him from gaining access, Southhampton Town Police Lt. Susan Ralph told reporters in a news conference. The children, including the girl’s brother Zachary, 23, were sleeping on the second floor, and the parents were sleeping on the first floor. Zachary Wiener jumped from a second-floor window to escape the flames.

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MoCo Government

Wednesday Night Democratic Primary Update Has David Blair Slightly Cutting Into Marc Elrich’s Lead

By MCS Staff

As mail-in and provisional ballots continue to be counted in the Democratic primary for Montgomery County Executive, the latest update by the Maryland State Board of Elections (9:51pm, 8/3) shows that incumbent Marc Elrich (51,883, 39.28%) has maintained his lead over David Blair (51,729, 39.16%), going from a lead of 173 votes to 154 votes in Wednesday night’s update.

David Blair led by 1,191 votes when early voting and Election Day votes were tallied. Elrich took the lead early on during the canvassing of mail-in votes, but Blair closed the gap and eventually reclaimed the lead. Elrich regained the lead on the first day of August, increased it by 53 additional votes in Tuesday night‘s update, with David Blair cutting the lead by 19 in the Wednesday night update. Overall, Blair has received 22,375 mail-in/provisional ballot votes compared to 23,885 for Marc Elrich. Marc Elrich defeated David Blair by just 77 votes in the 2018 Democratic Primary.

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Derwood

Sides BBQ & Catering to Hold Soft Opening This Weekend

By Patrick Herron

Sides BBQ & Catering will be holding its soft opening this weekend from 11am-6pm on Saturday and Sunday.  Sides is a “ghost kitchen” operating inside of Sam’s Pizza at 15855 Redland Rd in Derwood.  The restaurant tells us, “Chef Jackson loves BBQ, loves to cook, and was frustrated with good entrees that came with lackluster sides. It’s as if restaurants put all their focus on the meat and the sides get whatever time is left. We treat everyone equally! Our SIDES are part of the main cast and not just understudies!”

Sides will be available for pick up, curbside, and delivery. The menu features fried fish, fried chicken, pork chops, ribs and pulled pork. Side dishes include candied yams, garlic mashed potatoes, baked beans, mac & cheese, and green beans & cabbage.

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