In late April, two new shops opened for business in Takoma Park.

After 12 years in Dupont Circle, Tabletop, a gift shop, opened a second location in downtown Takoma Park. The new address is 6927 Laurel Ave., the space formerly occupied by Now and Then.

Tabletop is known for featuring a variety of goods from design companies such as Orla Kiely, Rifle Paper and Sagaform, as well as smaller craft companies such as Cate and Levi, Xenia Taler and Velvet Moustache. Washington City Paper declared Tabletop the best place to buy gifts in 2015.

The shop celebrated its new space on April 28 with a ribbon cutting attended by Takoma Park Mayor Bruce Williams and others. A grand opening party followed on Friday, May 1.

To learn more, see www.tabletopdc.com, facebook.com/tabletopdc or instagram.com/thetabletopdc.

Meanwhile, at Takoma Junction, the long-awaited Spring Mill Bread Company opened its fifth Washington metropolitan area location, at 7300 Carroll Ave. The retail bakery bakes breads and sweets known for their natural ingredients and freshlymilled whole wheat flour. Selections are baked daily, from scratch. In addition to breads, Spring Mill offers cookies, muffins, brownies, cupcakes and cinnamon rolls. It has a small seating area and will be serving soups, sandwiches and coffee as well.

Spring Mill also celebrated its opening with an April 28 ribbon cutting. To learn more, see www.springmillbread.com or www.facebook.com/pages/Spring-MillBread-Company.

This article appeared in the May 2015 edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. The Takoma Park Newsletter is available for download here.

The Metropolitan Branch Trail (MBT), long planned to connect Takoma Park and Silver Spring with downtown Washington, D.C. took another crank of the pedal closer to completion last month. The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) released early plans for the trail improvement and extension running from the Brookland neighborhood near the Catholic University of America in D.C., up past the Fort Totten Transfer Station and Metro Station, and snaking adjacent the Red Line tracks, mostly via a new, separated trail on Blair Road.

The MBT is an important route for commuters heading both north and south between its termini at the Silver Spring Metro Station in Maryland and Union Station in D.C., with several destinations along the way. Many bicyclists use the current interim on-road routes between the trail segments in Takoma Park and downtown D.C. The segments currently under design will help bridge these important gaps, providing a cycling facility through difficult areas like the Fort Totten Transfer Station and adjacent National Park Services Lands. The schedule anticipates the final design will wrap up in 2016, with construction beginning in 2017.

Not included at this time is the segment along Maple, Cedar and Carroll streets and Eastern Avenue in Takoma D.C., though DDOT does plan to extend the Takoma Park segment of the trail to Piney Branch Road. The agency is still planning routes for the trail east and west of the Takoma Metro Station.

For more information, and to download the latest maps and graphics, visit: www.metbranchtrail.com/resources.

This article appeared in the May 2015 edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. The Takoma Park Newsletter is available for download here.

The long-vacant land on Willow Street and Maple Street just on the edge of Takoma’s Old Town is buzzing with construction activity, as workers begin to erect two apartment buildings. According to news reports, the buildings are expected to be complete by spring 2016.

The project, located in the historic district of Takoma, D.C. behind the CVS drugstore, broke ground in February and is currently in its initial stages: The foundation has been dug, and structure is beginning to rise. Eventually, what is now a hole in the ground will be two three-story buildings with a total of 99 “garden style” apartments, plus three single family homes. The complex will also include three single-family homes: Two existing early-20th-century homes are being preserved but moved elsewhere on the site. A third home was in such poor shape it was demolished, and will be replaced with a house the developer told elevationdcmedia.com will be in keeping with the historic district. Unlike other recent developments in the area, which have combined ground-floor retail with residential units above, the entire project will be residential only.

Although Douglas representatives did not return phone calls to confirm, news reports have described the concept plan for the two apartment buildings as including brick exteriors, red tile roofs and multi-pane windows. Each building has a basement and a roof deck. Recent reports indicate a 92-space parking lot, and parking for each of the single-family homes. Apartments – 49 units in one building, 50 in the other – include studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units. Eleven of the project’s units will be designated as affordable housing, including 10 apartments and one house.

Douglas Development also owns the 161,798-square-foot building at 6856 Eastern Avenue, where a number of businesses and services are located. Douglas is planning renovations on that building, which was originally built in 1956 and for many years housed the Seventh Day Adventist offices and publishing operation. The plan is to convert some of the ground-floor space to retail, and use the upper floors for offices.

Among the current tenants there are the Takoma Children’s School, AYUDA, several offices and an e-commerce business, BrightLife Direct, that sells compression garments. There are also a number of arts-related businesses there: Washington Opera is on the third floor, with studios, rehearsal space and business offices. D.C. Arts Studios, formerly A Salon, is a collective of about 70 working artist studios there. And two dance studios are on the first floor: The Lab D.C., a breakdancing school, and Knock On Wood tap dancing studio.

Around the corner at 6896 Laurel St. NW, Douglas also owns the building currently occupied by the EF International Language Center.

This article appeared in the May 2015 edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. The Takoma Park Newsletter is available for download here.