Blumen Lumen interactive art installation opens at Downtown Silver Spring (Video+Photos)

"Blumen Lumen," a 25-foot-tall interactive art installation at the corner of Georgia Avenue and Colesville Road at Downtown Silver Spring has made its official debut. Its movements and colors are influenced by the weather, the time of day, and even by the voices of people around it on the ground. The lighted, kinetic origami sculpture was created by internationally-renowned art collective FoldHaus.

Already, the installation is turning heads of shoppers, diners, drivers and pedestrians. "It’s uplifting —something that we think everyone can use right now," Peterson Cos. President of Retail Paul Weinschenk said yesterday. Along with partner Foulger-Pratt, Peterson Cos. is spending $10 million to revitalize its already-popular Downtown Silver Spring development. 

Peterson has also created a charitable tie-in to celebrate Blumen Lumen's debut. Purchase a Bouquet of Gratitude on the Downtown Silver Spring website, and $25 will go to Adventist HealthCare White Oak Medical Center Foundation in recognition of the efforts of frontline medical personnel over the last year.

Regal Cinemas sets reopening date for Regal Majestic & IMAX in Silver Spring

Montgomery County movie theaters have remained almost entirely dark since the County lifted the ban on movies, primarily due to the County banning the sale of food and drink at cineplexes to ensure patrons do not remove their masks indoors. AMC has been the only chain willing to reopen its two Montgomery County locations so far, somehow affording to do so while forgoing the concessions sales where theaters make most of their profits. Now, Regal Cinemas is either going to accept that scary revenue picture, or the chain is gambling that the ban might be lifted a month from now.

Regal Cinemas Germantown is now scheduled to reopen on May 14, 2021, the company has announced. A week later on May 21, Regal Cinemas Rockville Center in Rockville Town Center and Silver Spring Majestic & IMAX in downtown Silver Spring will reopen.

The announcement notes, however, that these dates could change depending on "unique circumstances" at each location. We will find out soon enough if a ban on food and drink concessions is a "unique circumstance," or if the chain has simply agreed to accept a low-or-no profit operating mode.

Construction continues at Kaldi's Social House in Silver Spring (Video)

The roof-raising project at Kaldi's Social House in downtown Silver Spring has taken longer than originally expected. Kaldi's now expects to reopen April 30, 2021, a couple of weeks after the original reopening date. Yesterday, the cafe and nightspot was a very active construction site, with workers welding on the second floor.

Wheaton beer & wine convenience store for sale

Kiss and Ride Convenience, a convenience store selling beer & wine at 2398 Reedie Drive in Wheaton, is for sale. The store is in a prime location atop the Wheaton Metro station alongside busy Georgia Avenue.

According to the online sale listing, the asking price is $125,000 plus inventory. The current lease for the store runs through April 2035.

Downtown Silver Spring Exxon pumping gas again...as Sunoco

Gas is pumping again at the (now former) Exxon station at 8384 Colesville Road in downtown Silver Spring. A project to replace the pumps was started last November. Now the pump area has reopened with new pumps, but pumping Sunoco-brand gas. Ironically, a downtown Bethesda Sunoco switched to Exxon last year.

Demand for movies appears strong at AMC Wheaton 9 cineplex

Continuing my coverage of movie theaters struggling to reopen in Montgomery County, I stopped by the AMC Wheaton 9 cineplex at Wheaton Plaza, one of only two theaters currently open in the county (the other being AMC's theater at Rio Lakefront in Gaithersburg). Are people ready to return to theaters? Apparently so. 

The 7:45 PM showing of the blockbuster Godzilla vs. Kong tonight was already sold out last evening. Regal Cinemas, Landmark, iPic, Cinepolis and other chain theaters remain dark across the county, due to the County ban on sales of food and drink at movie theaters.

Assault at Silver Spring grocery store

Montgomery County police responded to a report of an aggravated assault at a grocery store in Silver Spring Monday afternoon. The incident occurred at the Safeway at 909 Thayer Avenue around 3:11 PM, according to crime data.