The design certainly takes several cues from those and other new-generation Bethesda buildings. An angled facade facing the Cordell-Woodmont intersection reminds one of the early renderings for the twin towers of Donohoe's Gallery Bethesda/The Rugby site. That frame at the lower left of the Cordell Avenue facade echoes a similar design touch on several proposed buildings, as well as the one on the nearly-completed Bainbridge Bethesda. But there are also some unique features, such as the curved rooftop overhang along Cordell.
A presentation by Emily Vaias, partner with Linowes and Blocher LLP, revealed the first renderings of 8008 Wisconsin last night. Rents are expected to start at over $2000, and the units will be 1 and 2 bedrooms. Douglas is making the submission under the current CBD zoning and master plan, and will officially file the proposal with the county planning department by the end of August. The expected schedule at this point would include a Montgomery County Planning Board hearing in September or October, a site plan and preliminary plan by the end of 2014, and a construction start date in 2016.
8008 will be 14 stories tall, with 130 units and 4000 square feet of retail, including a restaurant along Woodmont Avenue. Residents will have access from Wisconsin Avenue, and garage and service entrances will be along Cordell. A moving water feature and pocket park will also be a street level on Woodmont, as well as planter boxes to filter water. There will also be outdoor seating for the restaurant on Woodmont. If you take a lot of those features together, it seems the building will be oriented towards the Woodmont Triangle neighborhood, as opposed to the state highway of Wisconsin Avenue, which makes a lot of sense in terms of where people might prefer to gather.
The building's rooftop will have features familiar from other recent Bethesda rooftops, including a pool, club room, fitness center, grills and a seating pod to provide views down to Woodmont Avenue. 8008's pool will be inspired by "hot springs" in its shape.
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An underground garage will hold 77 parking spaces, which generated the most controversy at the meeting. Vaias noted that the project is situated in a parking lot district, which means the developer is not required to provide parking. "The county plan is you don’t provide parking and people won’t drive cars," Vaias said. "The goal of the county is to have less parking everywhere." She said the county has found that downtown public garage spaces are underutilized, and that is where some residents would have to park.
The limited size of the surface public parking lot on Woodmont still left some nearby property owners and businesspeople concerned. One adjoining property owner said his tenants already complain about the lack of parking, and that a wellness center in his building needs more parking spaces. Could Douglas dig a deeper garage to add further spaces? Douglas' Cooper said probably not. Although Douglas is awaiting geotechnical analysis of the site, Cooper said he expects they will hit bedrock further down, and blasting through that might not be economically feasible. Several other downtown projects have been forced to blast for deep excavations, including 4500 East-West Highway, Lot 31, and 8300 Wisconsin. "Please don’t take our livelihood by taking away our parking," a nearby business owner pleaded.
One interesting issue that was brought up, was the "at-risk" windows on the south side of the building. Should a new building be constructed within 3 feet of 8008 on that side, 8008's windows would have to be bricked-in. The developer says this would be possible, as the units are rental apartments, not condos.
"Douglas Development is incredibly excited about this project," Cooper said. The project is one of at least two potential redevelopments on Douglas-controlled land in downtown Bethesda. A second site is currently home to Tommy Joe's and Pines of Rome.
Here are images of the renderings and blueprints on display at last night's meeting (click to enlarge for greater detail).
Renderings courtesy of
WDG/Douglas Development, All rights reserved
All photos: Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row
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| Floorplans |
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| Rooftop - note pool shape as mentioned in my post |
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| Parking garage |
15 comments:
Funny how people so often cite lack of parking as a reason they don't like coming to Bethesda when we have so much of it. I think most people don't look very hard for parking.
But I can guarantee you the kinds of people who can afford to live in this building would rather keep their BMW in a private garage than on street or in the county garages/lots.
I can't get over the fact that there is only 3,225 square feet of retail on a lot with this much street frontage. From halfway down Cordell with a ramp, loading dock, and emptiness, wrapping around Wisconsin south to the end of this property with just a residential entrance it will be totally dead and uninviting. Wouldn't a continuous engagement do better for the community design?
I agree with anonymous@5:17am - those who want to live in this area at these prices will still want to park their $30-$40k car in a garage. Parking for visitors is plentiful, folks just don't know where the garages are - not to mention how many more are coming with lot 31.
What is wrong with anonymous@6:34am?
Douglas believes that the lobby entrance on Wisconsin will be animated 24/7 and activate that part of the building.
It appears that there isn't much retail, just the restaurant on the Woodmont side. At least it's not a deli or another dry cleaners, that would have killed that part of Woodmont at night.
There is a segment of renters who don't have a car. If you live in downtown Bethesda and work on the Red Line, you can easily exist without a car.
I'd be interested to see the take rate on the parking spaces in the Gallery and Bainbridge.
I think the carless people in Bethesda are more anecdotal than a verifiable majority. Most of the people without cars I know are forced to be carless by economics. Their limited income then forces them to live in non-Metro connected suburbs and spend way too much time on the bus.
@ Woodmont - Has Douglas seen the lack of activity at the lobby entrance for say Lion's Gate, the Metropolitan, Upstairs at Bethesda Row, Bethesda Place, Chase, Fairmont Plaza, Edgemont, etc., etc.? Not sure many would really think that those street frontages really activate much of anything.
@ Anonymous (8:44am) - While it would be nice to think that we can sustain car-less residents, the reality of it seems to lean towards folks still wanting to have a car - even for those who walk, metro, etc. - they still want that option for evenings, weekends, etc.
Jason, I agree that more could be done at street level. If whatever fills the currently-vacant photography studio across the street is not open after business hours, it will certainly leave little energy there. It's the same problem with that short block of Fairmont at Wisconsin, if the future redevelopment of 7-Eleven/EagleBank doesn't have after-hours businesses at street level. Too many "passages" to 355 from the interior are going to be dark and uninviting.
I'm also somewhat alarmed at the types of retail spaces and tenants we're going to be getting in the newer buildings. I had assumed these ground floors would have a mix of activity-generating tenants like Bethesda Row or even North Bethesda Market. It's starting to sound like many of spaces will be of a daytime nature, or more for residents than a destination for nightlife. Some people are quick to criticize me, but this issue needs to be addressed looking at the big picture in the Bethesda Downtown Plan, as opposed to a plan driven by specific development projects in the pipeline.
I have to say that parking skeptics have a point, too, as all of Bethesda residents I know who live in apartments still own a car. This particular site has quite a few parking facilities nearby, but they are all a good jog away. Compared to Bainbridge being across from the Cordell-St. Elmo garage, for example.
Not sure what's up with 6:34 AM, but he/she has posted that same gibberish comment on every post today.
8:38 - I agree, those stats for Gallery and Bainbridge would be interesting to see - particularly before the Downtown Plan is written.
Great news about the limited parking for the development; there's already abundant empty public garage spaces in Woodmont Triangle.
The article left off the fact that, because it's a parking district, the developer can provide less parking BUT they then have to pay the county big money to do so (because, in theory, it creates a strain on county garages, but in this case that's not actual true thanks to the abundant empty space in Woodmont public garages). On top of the developer having to pay the county, any residents and guests who choose to actually use the county garages will also have to pay for the service. The county gets paid 2x while spending little, as the garages are already built w/ample availability.
I live within a block of Cordell/Woodmont, and have for the past 4 years.
While I may be in the minority, I found I rarely used my car, and sold it 18 months ago when I realized that renting on the rare occasion I needed one would save me in the long run.
For people who work within the downtown area, it's entirely workable, assuming you don't have physical impairments. You may need to shop more frequently to carry groceries, but that will get even easier once Harris Teeter opens.
One thing that would help would be to bring back the Zipcar station that was just across Woodmont on Cordell from this site. Zipcar can really make a difference for those times when a car is necessary, and that spot was about a 1 minute walk from this future building.
5:23 That's a good point, and given the number of projects in the pipeline, the county may want to think twice about turning garage levels into solar energy sites, etc., before we know what the eventual demand will be.
We tried Zipcar many years ago and found that the closest car was reserved basically 9 to 5 every day by one person who wanted it available in case they needed a car after taking Metro to/from work. Hopefully they have stopped that.
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