Breakfast links: MetroHero app to shut down, WMATA promises similar tracking solution
Image by Adam Fagen licensed under Creative Commons.
With MetroHero retiring, WMATA teases tracking website updates of its own
Popular Metro bus and rail service tracking app MetroHero will close down in July. WMATA, however, is teasing a customer-facing dashboard that promises similar data as well as a website overhaul that will improve functionality across all device sizes and capabilities. (Disclosure: GGWash Board of Directors Chair Tracy Hadden Loh is also on WMATA’s board. In keeping with our editorial policy, board members maintain no oversight of editorial decision-making.) (Jordan Pascale / DCist)
Developers say DC office-to-residential conversions tax abatements aren’t enough
Current and potential developers express concerns that the District government’s 20-year tax abatement isn’t enough to overcome the financial challenges of converting office space in downtown DC into residential space. Another financial challenge cited by developers is the District’s inclusionary zoning requirements, which they say would make it difficult to break even on conversion projects. (Jacob Wallace / Bisnow DC)
Prince George’s County’s Blue Line corridor revamp not dependent on Commanders status
Prince George’s County officials at both the state and county level have insisted that their project to make their section of the Blue Line more transit and pedestrian-oriented is not a ploy to keep the Washington Commanders at FedEx Field, but a means of fixing a broken 25-year-old promise to make the area denser and amenity-packed for county residents. Maryland’s Board of Public Works recently approved $400 million to aid in the redevelopment of the corridor. (Akshaj Gaur / The Diamondback)
Friendship Heights could get third full-service grocery store in Chevy Chase Pavilion
Nearly all retail space at the Chevy Chase Pavilion is vacant, with the exception of The Cheesecake Factory restaurant. Now, the owner of the development is aiming to make the former H&M space attractive to a full-service grocer. (UrbanTurf)
MoCo proposes affordable housing, arts center for Wheaton
Montgomery County has budgeted just over $40.3 millon to build 280 affordable housing units, 40 townhomes, and an arts and culture center on a four-acre plot of land in Wheaton. While local community leaders say they would have preferred a more centrally-located site, county leaders contend that building in downtown Wheaton would have been cost-prohibitive. (Steve Bohnel / MoCo360)
Potomac Yard Amazon Fresh may not open at all, other area stores may close
The planned Potomac Yard Amazon Fresh store, adjacent to the soon-to-open Potomac Yard Metro station, along with a planned Bailey’s Crossroads store, may not open at all amid Amazon’s recent workforce reduction. Both stores were infill replacements for existing grocery stores but would have entered areas where there were at least two to three other options within walking distance. (Alexandria Living)
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