Gaithersburg

Five Below Now Open at Gaithersburg Square

By Patrick Herron

Five Below is now open at 516 N Frederick Ave in Gaithersburg, the former location of Chuck E. Cheese.  This is the second Five Below store in Gaithersburg, the other located at 202 Kentlands Blvd. We were told by representatives from the Kentlands location that the new Gaithersburg Square location will not be replacing the Kentlands store.  Five Below has additional MoCo locations in Germantown, Rockville, and Silver Spring.

Back on May 31, teen accessory chain Claire’s relocated its Lakeforest Mall location to Gaithersburg Square, taking over the former Grog’s Beer and Wine location between AT&T and Ashley Furniture Homestore.

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MoCo Government

David Blair and Marc Elrich Are Separated By Just 131 Votes In Latest Democratic Primary Update

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 (8:11pm, 7/29) shows that David Blair (46,824, 39.32%) leads incumbent Marc Elrich (46,693, 39.21%) by 131 votes.

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. Overall, Blair has received 17,470 mail-in/provisional ballot votes compared to 18,665 for Marc Elrich. Marc Elrich defeated David Blair by just 77 votes in the 2018 Democratic Primary.

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Business

Gaithersburg’s 20/20 GeneSystems Honored As It Opens ‘First-of-its-Kind’ Diagnostics Incubator in Montgomery County

By MCS Staff

Gaithersburg’s 20/20 GeneSystems, Inc.’s, (“20/20”), Clinical Lab InnovationAxcellerator (CLIAx), received an honorable mention in Fast Company’s 2022 World Changing Ideas Awards in the Health category. The category “honors medical innovations that save lives, extend longevity, or increase access to care.” About 60 companies joined 20/20 as Health category honorees on this year’s coveted Fast Company’s list including Johnson & Johnson, Bose, Abbott, 3M and Colgate-Palmolive.

Believed to be the first shared CLIA lab designed to help diagnostics start-ups more rapidly enter the U.S. market, CLIAx offers nearly 3,000 square feet of ready-to-use communal clinical laboratory space and testing equipment. Additionally, 20/20’s marketing and sales teams help promote the new tests introduced by CLIAx’s clients to the market segments in which 20/20 is currently active. Since its launch in fall 2021, CLIAx was designated by the Maryland Department of Commerce as a “Soft Landing” program for overseas companies seeking to enter the U.S. market, securing its first tenant, Australian-based Minomic International Ltd, a diagnostics firm, with several diagnostics firms coming onboard in the coming months.

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Montgomery Planning

Montgomery Planning Director Gwen Wright Announces Retirement as of January 1, 2023

By MCS Staff

From Montgomery Planning Director Gwen Wright: I have informed Planning Board Chair Casey Anderson that I will be retiring from the Montgomery County Planning Department and M-NCPPC as of January 1, 2023.

Since July 2013, I have had the honor of serving as Director of the Montgomery County Planning Department. During my tenure with M-NCPPC, which began in 1987, I have seen Montgomery County change and grow in a positive direction. I am grateful for the many roles I have held with the Commission, including serving as Historic Preservation Supervisor for Montgomery County’s robust preservation program, as Chief of the Countywide Planning Division, and as Acting Planning Director in 2007-2008.

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Business

Deka Biosciences Breaks Ground on New Facility in Germantown

By MCS Staff

Deka Biosciences announced that it is breaking ground on a 14,000 square foot office and lab in Germantown which will house a state of the art Research and Development, Process Development, and Manufacturing facility to further develop their novel cytokine therapies. This will be the first facility to house a dual targeted cytokine development lab in the DC/Maryland/Virginia region and the only company in the US developing a therapeutic of its kind. The new headquarters will be located at 20380 Seneca Meadows Parkway in Germantown, Maryland and Deka anticipates the move to be completed in the first quarter of 2023.

Per the press release: “Our new facility will provide us with essential space to expand our research, development and manufacturing efforts, allowing us to continue to successfully develop our Diakine™ therapies, using single use technology to scale both quickly and economically,” Dr. John Mumm, CEO of Deka Biosciences shared. “This is an exciting new chapter for our company and I believe the expansion will provide a work environment that will amplify a strong culture of innovation and collaboration as Deka seeks to deliver on our mission to bring life-changing therapies to patients with cancer and inflammatory diseases.”

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Bethesda

Annual Monitoring Report for Bethesda Downtown Plan Presented to the Planning Board

By MCS Staff

The Montgomery County Planning Department briefed the Montgomery County Planning Board on the update to the implementation of the 2017 Bethesda Downtown Sector Plan at their meeting on July 28, 2022. The 2022 Annual Monitoring Report details the plan’s progress between May 2021 and May 2022 on school capacity, new parks and open spaces and transportation adequacy. The report also presents information on recent development activity in downtown Bethesda and the status of the Bethesda Overlay Zone (BOZ).

View the 2022 Bethesda Monitoring Report.

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Crime

50 Year Sentence for Co-Defendant in Gang Related Murder

By MCS Staff

Today Judge Jeannie Cho, in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, MD, sentenced defendant, Jordan Ryan Moreno, 23, of Washington D.C. to 50 years in prison, according to the Montgomery County State’s Attorney Office. Moreno pleaded guilty on June 29th, 2022 to first-degree murder for the death of Sara Gutierrez-Villatoro in 2019. He also has federal charges pending. Moreno is one of four co-defendants in this case, which also includes:

• Defendant, Rigoberto Machado A.K.A. “Crazy,” 18, of Washington, D.C. previously pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to 50 years in prison.

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Crime

25 Years with No Parole for Carjacking Defendant Caught on Camera

By MCS Staff

Today in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, MD, Judge David Lease sentenced defendant, Leslie J. Lee, 37, to twenty-five years in prison with no parole. Lee pleaded guilty on June 22, 2022, to charges of armed carjacking, carjacking and first-degree assault. The first two charges stem from carjacking incidents in November of 2021. The assault charge is connected to an unrelated domestic violence incident. Details on the carjacking cases:

In the first incident on Nov. 7th, Lee noticed a 68-year-old woman alone in a vehicle parked at the Exxon along the 3000 block of Briggs Chaney Rd. while her daughter was inside the store. He got into the driver’s seat and ordered her out, then took off with the car and the victims’ belongings inside. It happened in broad daylight.

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MoCo Government

Montgomery County Officials Address Discrepancy Between County and CDC Covid Transmission Risk Levels

By MCS Staff

Earlier this week, Montgomery County’s Community Covid-19 Level was back up to ‘High’, according to the county’s Covid-19 surveillance dashboard. The CDC, however, still had Montgomery County at the ‘Medium’ level. The community levels are based on metrics released by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on February 25, 2022, enabling communities and individuals to make better decisions based on their local context and unique needs.

After many publicly questioned the discrepancy between Montgomery County’s numbers and the CDC’s numbers for the county, the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services tweeted the following:

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WMATA

More Trains, Shorter Waits Coming to Blue, Orange and Silver Line Customers Beginning August 1

By MCS Staff

Per WMATA: Welcome news for customers who ride the Blue, Orange and Silver lines. As of Aug 1, trains will arrive every 15 minutes on weekdays, matching service on the Green and Yellow lines. For most customers, the wait for a train will be no longer than 5-8 minutes, as most stations are served by at least two if not all three lines.

“Improving service for customers is how we will restore the confidence of the National Capital Region,” said Randy Clarke, Metro general manager and chief executive officer. “Restoring 7K service frequency and providing even more improvements is my focus.”

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