Demolition of The Hampden, one of the last affordable apartment buildings in downtown Bethesda, continues on Hampden Lane. The machinery is making short work of this solid, venerable brick building, as you can see in the photos. Some of the green awnings still in place were drooping over the windows. The Hampden is being obliterated to make room for The Lauren, with luxury condos "from the several millions." It's sad to see. Expect some lane closures at times in the area, due to the dump trucks that need to line up to haul the debris away.
_1.jpg)
15 comments:
Replacing an ugly building with a beautiful one at the fair market price. That's what I like to see.
Not to mention the additional tax revenue that will pay for social services.
Particularly with the lack of high-wage jobs coming to the county, the infrastructure and services costs of new development will exceed the tax revenue generated. But with the small number of units in this building, that's not really an issue here. This project, like Battery Lane, does represent a net loss of affordable units in Bethesda.
Can you explain the infrastructure and service costs you mention here and how they will exceed tax revenue?
Police, fire, road and transit capacity, schools, stormwater/sewer infrastructure, hospitals, libraries, social services, to name a few.
How many units were lost and how many more were gained that there is a differenence?
So let me understand this correctly. This property will resolut in tax revenue when a low density, obsolete, medium income rental garden apartment gets replaced with owner occupied million dollar condos who's property/income tax will far exceed the previous tenants. I am not following the logic.
I also dont see any of the new occupants buying these million dollar condos will ever use the social services that will supposebly be strained
I don't see any of these occupants taking Metro. All of the ammenities cater to car owners who pamper their vehicles.
It's obscene to build this type of building across the street from Metro. We should be maximizing density around Metro, not underutilizing land.
6:06: The Hampden had 12 units with rents of $1100-1575. The Lauren will house 15% MPDUs. With 22 units, that comes to 3 MPDUs by my calculation. In total, then, this project represents a net loss of 9 affordable housing units in Bethesda.
6:47: As I said, The Lauren's 22 condos alone will not likely have a tremendous impact on infrastructure or services. It's the overall curve, when you start adding them up countywide, where costs exceed revenue. The argument that high-density development all over the county guarantees big revenue is a fallacy.
7:52: I couldn't agree more. The Arlington Road corridor was originally designated as a Metro accessible area for affordable housing. Instead, it ended up as literally the most expensive housing downtown. That's not the fault of the developers, but of the councilmembers and planning board commissioners who allowed it to happen. The same phenomenon is about to happen near Glenmont and Twinbrook Metro stations.
Ok, so a net loss of 9 affordable housing units but a total net gain of 10 housing units at a reasonably expected higher property and income tax rate, not to mention disposable income to pour into the local economy.
For sure, the loss of 9 affordable housing units, while a drop in the housing bucket, is troublesome, but not for the economic reasons you provide.
It's when you add it to the hundreds of units about to be demolished on Battery Lane, Chevy Chase Lake and MacArthur Blvd. that it becomes a serious blow to affordable housing and diversity. If one accepts the claim by some councilmembers and planners that "hot, young millenials" of the so-called "creative class" are vital to the economy, how do they explain why they are replacing affordable housing with luxury buildings for the wealthy?
Just because there are 10 luxury condo buildings going up in the county doesn't mean the entire affordable housing stock in the county is being destroyed.
The million dollar condos you describe as wiping out affordable housing only represent roughly 1-5% of the entire housing stock in the county. They are also in areas only taking up 5% of county land. Overall the vast majority of housing in MoCo is affordable.
Certain areas are always going to be more expensive/wealthy and I dont know why it would be expected affordable housing to be built in those areas. This is like arguing there isnt enough affordable housing in Potomac or Mcclean.
I don't think it's accurate to say "the vast majority of housing in MoCo is affordable." There aren't houses available under $300,000 unless they are wooden structures in bad shape in rural areas.
We're really talking about 2 separate issues here: the affordable housing crisis in MoCo, and the decision to allow demolition of the existing affordable housing countywide.
This is not just happening in wealthy Bethesda, but also in Glenmont, Wheaton, Twinbrook Parkway, Long Branch, Takoma-Langley, and - based on public comments by Ms. Carrier and Mr. Anderson during official proceedings - is also being planned for the Aspen Hill area.
I would love to get the reaction of the County Council members - on public record - to your suggestion that the majority of housing is affordable, and that we don't need old buildings on Hampden, Battery and Bradley to house the "hot, young millenials" who have supposedly replaced the industrial base as the engine of the American economy (at least as some councilmembers have described it). No housing means no millenials.
Post a Comment