However, Bainbridge would like to scale back the planned retail component from the original 15,000 square feet to 5,500 SF - a substantial reduction. The architecture - particularly the way the multi-story segments of the building are laid out - is fairly impressive. One has to be disappointed with the low building height, at a project located between an eventual 3 rail transit station entrances (2 Red Line, 1 Purple Line). There are only so many plots of land near the Metro station, and once they're developed, the potential for an appropriately greater density there is gone for decades.
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| The pool deck will overlook Hampden Lane and Wisconsin Avenue |
Remember the also-impressive "Point Field" LED public art installation I wrote about back in March? Boston artist J. Meejin Yoon's piece is still part of the design.
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| "Point Field" LED art by J. Meejin Yoon |
I'm not sure that anything can be done to change the height of the building at this point, which is less than the current height limit allows. But the idea of encouraging (if not requiring) taller buildings right at Metro - rather than shifting density to buildings that loom over neighborhoods at the edge of downtown, or worse, entirely into suburban areas like Westbard - was something I had hoped would be addressed in the Bethesda Downtown Plan rewrite. As it stands, this building at Metro will be only 2 stories higher than the 12 stories Capital Properties once believed it could build on Westbard Avenue, which is nowhere near a Metro station. That just doesn't make sense.
Planning staff are recommending approval of the plan and amendments, with conditions.
Photos via Montgomery County Planning Department
I can't think of a reason why the developer wouldn't want to take advantage of the full height allowed by zoning. At 14 stories it's going to be concrete construction anyways; adding floors isn't a dramatic price difference like you see when going from stick-frame or steel to concrete. Weird.
ReplyDeleteDisappointed about height as well as loss of retail space. What is the reason given?
ReplyDelete@9:25am
ReplyDeleteIt is the full height (143") allowed by the zoning. After the Bethesda Sector plan update the zoning will probably be upgraded to allow heights up to 200", but that process won't be complete to at least next summer, and clearly the developer doesn't want to wait. Just looking at all the new residential projects going up around Bethesda now, and even more to start within a year, they would have pretty stiff competition.
1:28 PM It seems planners did an abysmal job in the past, if they allowed a 14-story height limit by Metro, and 17 stories further away from Metro. And allowing a tiny bank building next to a Metro station. Hopefully these nonsensical disparities can be fixed in the new plan.
DeleteYay, constructive comments again. :)
ReplyDeleteAnyone know why they are reducing retail space?
10:32 + 2:49 I'll have to see if I can find the reasoning for cutting retail space. Otherwise I would just be speculating.
ReplyDelete@ Robert Dyer
ReplyDeleteWell the real problem is that the current plan, enacted in 1994, is terribly out of date. In 1994 a 14-story building might have made actually sense on that spot and the immediate area around the Metro station is zoned for 200" (see: Newlands building, Clark building), plus the twin Chevy Chase Bank towers are 250".
Ideally a new plan would have been drafted years ago, but of course it takes forever to get anything done in this county. The reason 16-17 story towers are going up in Woodmont Triangle is because of the 2006 sector plan amendment for that specific neighborhood, which was being ignored by developers at the time. That's really when they should have rewrote the entire downtown plan. In any case, I was hoping that Bainbridge would wait it out, but I guess they're hand has been forced...
"Ideally a new plan would have been drafted years ago, but of course it takes forever to get anything done in this county."
ReplyDeleteIt's by design that zoning updates only come down the chute every 15-20 years. Otherwise, no one would know what they're getting themselves into when they purchase in a neighborhood. Think about it for a second - what if Bethesda's zoning changed every 3 or 5 years? That'd be a terrible and unfair clusterfudge.
Hi Robert, any chance with your inside scoops you can get Reps of these developments to offer comment to some of the questions you and your readers have?
ReplyDeleteObviously 3-5 years would be extremely impractical, but there should be some flexibility. 2005-2006 would have been an ideal time.
ReplyDelete