The 3,200 SF building that was formerly home to Capital One bank at 9761 Traville Gateway Drive is being marketed as a potential site for a standalone restaurant, according to the brochure for leasing at the shopping center. The bank opened in February of 2003 and closed a few years back. The building has remained vacant ever since. According to renderings (seen below) for what the building would look like after a restaurant moves in, there is space for a patio with plenty of outdoor seating and the bank columns would remain.

Anyone interested in opening a restaurant at a slightly bigger location, that previously housed a restaurant and wouldn’t require as much work, could look a few feet away at 9755 Traville Gateway Drive- the 4,840 SF building that was previously home to Nantucket’s Reef.  Potential tenants would be able to join longer tenured restaurant tenants like Bageltowne Deli, Cava Mezze, and Potomac Pizza, or restaurants that are newer to the neighborhood like BB.Q Chicken and Klay Healthy Indian Eats.


Based on the Consumer Price Index for all urban wage earners and clerical workers (CPI-W) for the Washington-Baltimore region, the Montgomery County Chief Administrative Officer has set the rate for the increase of minimum wage for July 2022 for large employers (those with 51 employees or more) at $15.65 per hour. After hitting the $15 minimum wage rate last year, the law now requires the Chief Administrative Officer to adjust the rate each year. The change is based on the previous calendar year. Previous years were based on rate of increase determined by the Montgomery County Council to get to $15.

“This is an important next step to ensure that the minimum wage keeps up with inflation,” said County Executive Elrich. “For too long, the minimum wage was stagnant and did not change based on inflation. I was proud to champion the increase in minimum wage when I was a County Councilmember and pleased to see it finally reached $15 per hour for large employers last year, and under the law, once the minimum wage hits $15, it is then increased based on inflation so that low wage workers are not left behind. A decent wage is the path to more opportunity and improved equity.”


The HealthWell Foundation®, an independent non-profit that provides a financial lifeline for inadequately insured Americans that’s based in Germantown, has enhanced its homocystinuria fund to also provide financial assistance to patients living with organic acidemia. Through the Homocystinuria and Organic Acidemias Fund, HealthWell will provide up to $5,000 in copayment or premium assistance to eligible patients with annual household incomes up to 500 percent of the federal poverty level to obtain prescription medications for the treatment and management of their condition.

Per the press release: Kathy Stagni, Executive Director, Organic Acidemia Association, said, “OAA is honored to provide a financial contribution to support broadening this fund to include organic acidemias. Those living with the condition can be faced with a multitude of symptoms including breathing difficulties, vomiting, slow growth, and lethargy. Organic acidemia may also lead to neurological and physiological harm resulting in toxicity to organs. If undiagnosed and left untreated, the condition can be fatal. Accessing proper care and the ability to afford continued treatment are obstacles that many patients face. We applaud the HealthWell Foundation for recognizing this unmet need and for providing the financial resources these patients need to access lifesaving treatments.”


Institutional Property Advisors (IPA), a division of Marcus & Millichap (NYSE: MMI), announced on Thursday the sale of Gaitherstowne Plaza located in Gaithersburg. The 71,329-square-foot shopping center is 100% leased and sold for $24.45 million. Gaitherstowne Plaza also boasts an average tenant tenure of over 10 years and is home to IHOP, AutoZone and more.

Per the press release: Gaitherstowne Plaza is a 71,329-square-foot shopping center and is 100% leased. The average tenure of tenants at the property is over 10 years and the roster includes national brands Gabe’s, AutoZone, Sherwin Williams and IHOP on an outparcel. “This is a generational acquisition as there are a limited number of transactions in esteemed Montgomery County, which is ranked as the nation’s fifth-wealthiest county by Bloomberg,” noted Dean Zang, IPA executive managing director.


Maryland’s economic engine for technology companies, announced earlier this month that its Builder Fund invested $150,000 in AudioOne, Inc., a technology start-up based in Bethesda. TEDCO’s Builder Fund invests in and provides executive support to Maryland-based technology companies run by entrepreneurs who demonstrate economic disadvantage.

“We greatly appreciate TEDCO’s investment in our team and exciting new techology,” said Mark McMahon, CEO of AudioOne. “TEDCO’s funding support and resources will help AudioOne on our mission to bring personalized radio listening experiences to consumers in Maryland and across the country.”


Senseonics Holdings, Inc. (NYSE American: SENS) a medical technology company based in Germantown that focuses on the development and manufacturing of long-term, implantable continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems for people with diabetes, today announced that it has received CE Mark approval for the next-generation Eversense® E3 CGM System, the longest-lasting system available, with exceptional accuracy. The CE Mark approval confirms that the Eversense E3 meets the requirements of the European Medical Device Regulation (MDR), and enables the commercialization of Eversense E3 in European Union (EU) member countries. Senseonics’ commercial partner, Ascensia Diabetes Care, will make the improved system, which can be used for up to 6 months, available from the third quarter of 2022.

Per the press release: “The CE Mark approval for E3 is another demonstration of our commitment to advancing implantable CGM to improve the lives of more diabetes patients worldwide. Not only does E3 strengthen our position in the market, but it enables increased operational efficiency as Senseonics will now commercialize the same product iteration globally for the first time,” said Tim Goodnow, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Senseonics. “We are excited for Ascensia to continue to build on the momentum of the E3 launch in the U.S. as they commercialize the improved system in European markets in the coming months.”


Treatment of Precursor Lesions Was Found to Significantly Reduce the Risk of Progression to Anal Cancer, with Study Results Highlighted in the New England Journal of Medicine

Emmes, a global, full-service clinical research organization (CRO) based in Rockville that is dedicated to supporting the advancement of public health and biopharmaceutical innovation, last week announced that a team of its researchers contributed to a successful AIDS Malignancy Consortium (AMC) study.  Results of the study, which demonstrated that treating and removing anal cancer precursor lesions reduced the cancer risk for HIV-infected men and women, were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.  The Phase 3 trial results included 4,446 participants at 21 clinical sites across the U.S. and Puerto Rico.


JBG SMITH, (NYSE: JBGS), a leading owner and developer of high-quality, mixed-use properties in the Washington, DC market that is based in Bethesda, is proud to announce it has been named one of The Washington Post’s 2022 Top Workplaces in the region. In addition to the Top Workplace recognition, JBG SMITH earned four Culture Excellence Awards, including Leadership, Innovation, Compensation & Benefits, and Purpose & Values.

Per the Press Release: Now in its ninth year, The Post’s Top Workplaces highlights the companies that are leaders in the Washington area as chosen by their own employees through an anonymous third-party survey. The survey, administered by research partner Energage, LLC, was completed by employees earlier this year and measures several aspects of workplace culture, including alignment, execution, and connection.


ProShares to Launch the First U.S. Short Bitcoin-Linked ETF on June 21. BITI will offer investors the opportunity to potentially profit when the daily price of bitcoin declines, with the convenience, cost-efficiency, and liquidity of an ETF.

“As recent times have shown, bitcoin can drop in value,” said ProShares CEO Michael L. Sapir. “BITI affords investors who believe that the price of bitcoin will drop with an opportunity to potentially profit or to hedge their cryptocurrency holdings. BITI enables investors to conveniently obtain short exposure to bitcoin through buying an ETF in a traditional brokerage account.” BITI is designed to deliver the inverse (opposite) of the performance of the S&P CME Bitcoin Futures Index. It seeks to achieve its objective on each investment day and for no other period. BITI seeks to obtain exposure through bitcoin futures contracts.


United Therapeutics Corporation, a public benefit corporation co-headquartered in Silver Spring, announced that in partnership with 3D Systems Corporation (NYSE: DDD) it has produced the world’s most complex 3D-printed object – a human lung scaffold – and demonstrated it at the LIFE ITSELF Conference that occurred May 31 to June 3, 2022 in San Diego. The event was organized and hosted by Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Marc Hodosh and was sponsored by CNN, United Therapeutics, and other prominent corporate leaders in healthcare.

Per the press release: Dr. Martine Rothblatt, United Therapeutics’ Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer and Chuck Hull, 3D Systems’ Co-Founder, Executive Vice President, and Chief Technology Officer for Regenerative Medicine, explained to conference attendees during a presentation entitled What’s the Future of Organ Transplantation? that these 3D-printable lung scaffold designs consisted of a record 44 trillion voxels that lay out 4,000 kilometers of pulmonary capillaries and 200 million alveoli. Scientists at United Therapeutics plan to cellularize these 3D-printed scaffolds with a patient’s own stem cells to create tolerable, transplantable human lungs that should not require immunosuppression to prevent rejection.


Montgomery County now represented for first time in Maryland VLT Program; MCEDC given an initial allocation of $1.5 million in state funding

Per The Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC): MCEDC was named last week as the ninth and newest fund manager in the Maryland Small, Minority and Women-Owned Business Program, also known as the Video Lottery Terminal (VLT) Program. There are currently eight VLT fund managers around Maryland that receive state funds to provide loans for small, minority and women-owned companies.


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