PUBLIC MEETINGS FOR BAINBRIDGE WISCONSIN, WESTBARD REDEVELOPMENT TUESDAY NIGHT IN BETHESDA

Two important public meetings are being held in Bethesda tomorrow night, and immediate neighbors of both projects may want to attend.

Linowes and Blocher is holding a meeting regarding the proposed 17-story Bainbridge Wisconsin luxury apartment building at 7 PM Tuesday night, in Room A on the second floor of the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Services Center, at 4805 Edgemoor Lane. The property at 7340 Wisconsin Avenue was previously an Exxon station.

This project would help to reactivate a dead stretch along Wisconsin between the Hyatt and Elm Street. Bainbridge has opted for residential on this Central Business District site, due to the weak market demand for office space in Montgomery County. 

Another significant meeting will be taking place the same evening in suburban Bethesda.

Equity One is holding a Design Principles presentation for its proposed redevelopment of several properties along Westbard Avenue and Ridgefield Road in Bethesda. Those properties include the venerable Westwood Shopping Center, Westwood Center II,  Bowlmor Bethesda, Springhouse by Manor Care, Citgo I and II, and the Westwood Tower apartments.

The meeting will be held at 7:30 PM Tuesday, in the Walt Whitman HS auditorium at 7100 Whittier Boulevard. This meeting was rescheduled after a previous snowstorm.

The meeting announcement emphasizes retail, but most of the controversy related to any redevelopment of Westbard centers on how much of the construction will be residential. WoodAcres ES, the elementary school that serves the properties in question, is already well over capacity, with at least 6 trailer classrooms outside the building. In contrast to the Bainbridge Wisconsin, which would literally be on top of the Bethesda Metro station, the Westbard area is not within walking distance of Metro.

Here are some pictures of the 7340 Wisconsin Avenue site, which has already undergone some environmental remediation: