MRP, Rockpoint sell majority of Bethesda Crossing

MRP Realty and Rockpoint Group have sold two of the three office towers that make up Bethesda Crossing to J.P Morgan Asset Management for an undisclosed sum.

MRP and Rockpoint put the mixed-use property on the market in October, less than two years after acquiring it for $205 million.

J.P Morgan Asset Management acquired the two Wisconsin towers of Bethesda Crossing. MRP and Rockpoint retain ownership of the Montgomery Tower, and MRP will continue to manage the entire three-building property.

MRP…

11 questions and answers about this weekend's 2015 National Cherry Blossom Festival

We know what some of you will be doing this weekend — winding your way through the teeming masses on the National Mall. Yes, it’s the peak of the National Cherry Blossom Festival, which goes through Sunday. You have questions? Fire away.

What is this National Cherry Blossom Festival of which you speak?

Sigh. Really?

Just the highlights, please.

OK. Basically, everyone comes to gawk at cherry trees, roughly 3,000 of them, a gift in 1912 from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo. The first festival was…

​Check out the latest openings for Springfield Town Center and CityCenterDC

The newest store opening at Springfield Town Center is a big one: The 33,000-square-foot Nordstrom Rack that is serving as one of the mall’s junior anchor tenants. The bargain version of the popular department store will open Thursday on the lower level of the mall below the food court.

As is customary with a Nordstrom Rack opening, the store will hold a rally at 8 a.m. to market the opening: Customers in line before 8:30 a.m. can enter to win $100 gift cards — the store is giving away 30 of…

​Finally! One of D.C.’s most anticipated restaurants of the past two years opens

Maketto is finally here. The retail-restaurant mashup from Toki Underground owner Erik Bruner-Yang and Durkl fashion line founder Will Sharp opened Friday morning, starting the day with coffee service in the cafe section of the space.

The buzz surrounding Maketto is due in part to the project’s long lead time, but also to Bruner-Yang’s growing profile in D.C. and on the national restaurant scene. He was recently named a finalist in the James Beard Foundation’s Rising Star category.

The restaurant…

Vancouver gives oil terminal proposal big environmental hurdle

Environmental groups are celebrating the city of Vancouver’s decision to require a full environmental assessment for a project to convert a bulk terminal at the Port of Vancouver into an oil-by-rail one.

NuStar Energy wants to handle about 22,000 barrels of crude per day at what is now a bulk terminal. The project has been largely eclipsed by the far-larger play by Tesoro Corp. and Savage Companies to handle 360,000 barrels per day at its Vancouver Energy project, now being reviewed by Washington’s…