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Lost Sock Roasters, Turning Natural sign on to Takoma Theatre

WASHINGTON — The historic Takoma Theatre, redeveloped by Rock Creek Property Group and soon become home to a satellite clinic for Children’s National Hospital, has signed two retail tenants.

Lost Sock Roasters, a small-batch coffee roaster based in D.C.’s Brightwood Park, will open its first stand-alone retail store at Takoma Theatre, located at the intersection of Butternut Street and Fourth Street, Northwest near the Takoma Metro station.

In addition to its brewed coffee drinks, it will also sell food from the popular Call Your Mother in Petworth, where its coffees are featured.

Turning Natural, a juice bar and cafe will open its sixth D.C.-area store at Takoma Theatre. Turning Natural was founded by former aeronautical engineer Jerri Evans to bring better, healthier choices to underserved communities.

The theater, built in the 1920s, sat vacant for a decade. Rock Creek Property has been working with the Takoma ANC, Old Takoma Business Association and Takoma Theatre Conservancy for several years to find the right mix of tenants to bring to the theater.

“Takoma Theatre serves as the southern anchor for the entire neighborhood commercial corridor and we could not be more pleased with the mix of tenants we have signed to activate the property and the street for everyone’s enjoyment and benefit,” said Gary Schlager, principal at Rock Creek Property.

It will also be home to Children’s National’s new Healthy Mind Brain Center, serving children in the areas of autism, hearing and speech, behavioral medicine and developmental medicine.

The Takoma Theatre, whose renovation began in 2015, will open in late-2019 with retail tenants and the Children’s National facility.

Children’s National holds a ceremonial groundbreaking Wednesday for its planned research and innovation campus on 12.8 acres at the nearby former Walter Read Army Medical Center, which will open in 2020.

Massachusetts court hears arguments in lawsuit alleging Meta designed apps to be addictive to kids

BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts' highest court heard oral arguments Friday in the state's lawsuit arguing that Meta designed features on Facebook and Instagram to make them addictive to young users. The lawsuit, filed in 2023 by Attorney General Andrea Campbell, alleges that Meta did this to make a profit and that its actions affected hundreds of thousands of teenagers in Massachusetts who use the social media platforms. “We are making claims based only on the tools that Meta has developed because its own research shows they encourage addiction to the platform in a variety of ways,” said State Solicitor David Kravitz, adding that the state's claim has nothing to do the company's algorithms or failure to moderate content. Meta said Friday that it strongly disagrees with the allegations and is “confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people.” Its attorney, Mark Mosier, argued in court that the lawsuit “would impose liabilities for performing traditional publishing functions” and that its actions are protected by the First Amendment.
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