The Gallery Bethesda luxury apartment tower is under construction 17 stories above the Woodmont Triangle. Marketed toward a discerning, affluent renter seeking refuge from lawn mowing and tree maintenance, the building itself and nearby streets will have numerous dining and retail options.
A second type of individual is seeking to take advantage of those same downtown amenities, but wants the privacy and green space only a single-family home can provide.
To meet the demands of the latter consumer, builder C.M. Conlan is constructing two luxury Arts & Crafts-design homes on the sites of once modest Rugby Avenue homes.
There are quite a few neighborhoods adjacent to downtown Bethesda where this phenomenon is taking place. But this block of Rugby is unique. It is not only right near the present and future restaurants and retail of the Woodmont Triangle, but - due to topography and some well-placed trees - creates the illusion of a suburban subdivision. That green space is enhanced by the adjacent Battery Lane Park and nearby access to the Bethesda Trolley Trail.
Delivery of both Rugby Avenue homes is scheduled for this fall. The home at 5011 Rugby - offered at $1.775 million - will have 7 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, a 2-car garage, mudroom entry, chef's kitchen with granite countertops, office/den, 2 fireplaces, finished basement, master suite with 2 walk-in closets, and an upper level with a "bonus room," bedroom and office.
Teardowns and mansionization remain hot topics countywide. But the positive side of the coin is that this street will almost certainly be immune to any notion of expanding the urban downtown beyond the current borders. Such a land grab almost happened at the height of the real estate bubble, in the Sacks neighborhood adjacent to Bethesda Row. The plan was to expand the urban zone to Bradley Boulevard. Homeowners held out for more, and then the market collapsed.
New zoning rules before the Montgomery County Council offer several new mechanisms that could encourage such zoning creep, and threaten existing residential neighborhoods.
With such investment by wealthy homeowners on Rugby and in other neighborhoods close to the downtown, developers are unlikely to find many takers for buyouts.
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