Friday, June 19, 2015

The Darcy, The Flats at Bethesda Ave. celebrate their grand opening - and you are there! (Photos)

Yesterday, the 11-year Lot 31 project came to fruition in downtown Bethesda, with the Grand Opening of The Darcy condos, and The Flats at Bethesda Avenue luxury apartments. It also included a 900-space public parking garage that lies beneath both buildings. Developers StonebridgeCarras and P.N. Hoffman joined Montgomery County officials for a ribbon cutting and party, in the grand two-level club room of The Flats.
Montgomery County Executive
Ike Leggett delivers remarks
on the successful completion
of the Lot 31 development
Originally planned as an outdoor event, an angry thunderstorm and a monsoon of rain caused a change in plans. In the safety of the club room, County Executive Ike Leggett promised a project like this would not take 11 years again, after the county's development process has been streamlined.

Here are pictures from the grand opening bash, which will be followed below by tours of The Darcy and The Flats:
Here's how you set up
a Plan B ribbon-cutting

Leggett has the giant
scissors at the ready
1...2...3
Success 
Now on to the party,
starting with PAUL Bakery,
a tenant in The Flats
Dave Dabney,
Executive Director of
Bethesda Urban Partnership,
who is also known as
the unofficial
Mayor of Bethesda



More treats from PAUL 

Representatives of Silver, which will also
be in the ground level retail space of
The Flats...
...display some of their popular
menu items
Matt Bush of WAMU radio
interviews Ike Leggett
 


The official towel of
The Flats at Bethesda Ave.

Another preview of
Silver, which will
open at The Flats
later this summer
Coffee table centerpiece
in the Flats club room
Lamp in the Club Room
Pyramid of pillows in
the Club Room
More Club Room!
Rack 'em up
A mermaid and fresh sushi from
future Darcy tenant
PassionFish, opening
later this summer
More from PassionFish's
table at the party
 
The PassionFish sushi chef
at work
Some of his handiwork
Ready for its closeup
One of two grand water
features in the park
behind The Flats
Montgomery County Council
President George Leventhal (at right)
shakes hands with PN Hoffman CEO
Monty Hoffman as
StonebridgeCarras principal
Doug Firstenberg looks on
Water feature number two
in this peaceful space behind
The Flats
Here comes the wine
With the storm passed,
attendees explore the park
The outdoor bar is up
and running
Between two fountains
Doug Firstenberg (center)
One of the men of the hour
Now joined by the other
man of the hour, Hoffman (L)
 
The whole team, Part 1
The whole team, Part II
Shall we head upstairs for
a tour of the model unit?
The Flats at Bethesda Avenue features 162 units, and offers 1, 2 and 3-bedroom apartments. These luxury units feature hardwood floors, elfa shelving, premium GE appliances, and - in some cases - balconies and patios. Designed by Bethesda-based SK&I Architecture, The Flats also has a fitness center, the aforementioned and pictured Club Room, and a rooftop patio complete with city lights views and a demonstration kitchen. Neither rooftop at The Flats nor The Darcy was open for tours yesterday, however. Well, let's head to the model unit.
Let's go inside
Granite countertop
Kitchen
I like the lighting in this
corner of the counter
Dining area
Living room
Your new TV couch
Where's the remote?
Master bedroom
Walk-in closet, complete
with Pottery Barn bags
Your view from the bedroom
Master bath
Sink counter, and
some guy with a camera
Shower/tub
Back to the
well-appointed lobby
Lobby view of the
courtyard
Fitness center
Got water?
Got to burn off those
eclairs from PAUL Bakery
Official Flats at Bethesda Ave.
yoga mats. You know
you want one
Dramatic lobby wall, but
topped by...
 
...that's not a grey stone wall -
it's a double waterfall wall
streaming down across
from the front desk. I'm
going to upload a video
so you can fully appreciate it
Clever addition to the goodie bags
at the grand opening -
Capital Crescent Trail Mix
 


It's tough to say goodbye to The Flats, but now we're heading across the street to The Darcy condos.

Like The Flats, The Darcy gives you a choice of 1, 2 or 3-bedroom units, but these are 88 luxury condominiums as opposed to rentals. Also designed by SK&I, these units have granite and quartz countertops, Bosch and Thermador appliances, and natural stone bathroom floors. Concierge service is another bonus, with concierges taking care of car detailing, grocery delivery, prescription pick-up, dry cleaning and housekeeping.

The Darcy is named for William E. Darcy, a founding father of what is today known as downtown Bethesda. History is a theme here, as you'll see in our tour:
Let's enter Unit 407, a two
bedroom condo overlooking
Bethesda Avenue

View from the kitchen toward
the living room

The chef is in

That's a gas range

Here's where you'll sample
the fruits of your labor - or
maybe just takeout from
PassionFin downstairs?

Even on a cloudy day,
a good amount of natural light

An equestrian aficionado
lives here, no doubt

Comfortable corner with
a view...

...of Bethesda Row. I see them
setting a patio table for me
at Mon Ami Gabi. Bring the
car around, Jeeves!

Master bedroom

Master bath

No official Flats towels, though...

Big shower

Master bedroom with
Juliet balcony
Bedroom dresser and lamp

Time to turn in?
Not yet

This could come in
handy if you're new
in town. Of course this
blog will be even more
helpful...

The guest suite that
may just be too good
for your Monster-in-law

Remember I mentioned history?
Here's some on the wall in the
guest suite - Gifford's Ice Cream


The guest suite is more
like a fancy hotel room

This isn't exactly like
throwing a visitor an
Aerobed for the weekend

This mirror is
something else
More history

This map is on the wall when you
step off the elevator on all the floors
I visited. It shows the approximate
location of Darcy's Store, which was
at Wisconsin Avenue and
Old Georgetown Road

Fitness center - and
the ball game is on

No pain, no gain

Club Room

You can try to get some work
done in here...

...or not

They've got Sports Weekly

And a fireplace

You'd better have a sophisticated
book if you sit here

Those stairs over there...

...let you make a quick escape
to the lobby

This desk is open 24 hours,
but the staff moved aside
so I could take this picture

Where we just came from

Cool light fixture

New sign just installed



Goodnight from Lot 31

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

113 pictures for a single article, all posted in-line? That's insane. At least use a slideshow like you do for your mobile site.

Anonymous said...

This is great; thanks for all the info, Robert. Sorry you have a troll who can't say anything nice but still won't shut up.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, waaay toooo many photos.

As for how long it took, the very first step, a call from the county for community comments about what to do with log 31, took place in 1998. So, it's almost 20 years.

Anonymous said...

The units look nice. Any idea on pricing? Are they condos or apartments?

Anonymous said...

I'm on 3G and the photos loaded fine.
Perhaps the wifi having problems at the Bethesda Mag offices today?

Anonymous said...

I wonder if all these politicians and developers that Robert consistently slams think its funny that he showed up to this to kowtow around with them or if they even know hes there

Anonymous said...

Come on guys, for all the crazy things Dyer says this is actually a nice in-depth coverage of the event and space.

Robert Dyer said...

7:15: That's another one of your fake talking points, where you claim that because I oppose some projects that I am somehow against all development. Complete baloney. I never testified against this project, nor am I opposed to development in downtown Bethesda. On the contrary, that is where the development should be - near Metro.

"If they even know he's there." They invited me, you buffoon.

Robert Dyer said...

7:42: Thanks for the sideways compliment, but I don't say "crazy things". Anybody who's a regular reader doesn't have a clue what you are referring to.

Robert Dyer said...

6:32: I didn't hear any pricing yesterday, but the Darcy is condos and The Flats, apartments.

Robert Dyer said...

6:20: It was a huge project, a huge event, and it takes a lot of photos to deliver a full report. You've got a complete tour of a unit in each building here, for Pete's sake. Basically, whatever people wanted to see inside or know about these buildings and yesterday's event is here in this article. I don't see any irrelevant shots here. Ike Leggett said 11 years, so that's the figure I used, by the way. I don't dispute you are correct about 1998 in that regard.

Anonymous said...

I wonder why they didn't talk about pricing? Your photos make the buildings look very appealing, so then I wonder.. how much? I may be interested.

It would be like going to an auto show where they introduce some sleek new BMW, but never mention how much it costs. Was there no Q&A period during the presentation?

Anonymous said...

Looks great. And the photos are welcome...I felt like I was there on the tour.
Certainly better than attending an event and posting two photos.

Robert Dyer said...

8:36: I'll check on that. I did link to the websites in the post, assuming they would have pricing on those.

Anonymous said...

Nice pictures, good story. Could have mentioned that this is delivered more that 8 months late, and that it was a dirty construction site, with little consideration for pedestrians or trail users.

It also shows that Ike Legget is fully in the hands of the developers. We need a different council, soon.

Anonymous said...

Official towels for the Flats? WTF kind of place is this?

Robert Dyer said...

1:35: A luxury apartment building.

Anonymous said...

The one bedrooms start at ~$2,500, the two bedrooms start at ~$3,900 and the 3+ bedrooms at ~$5,200 per month per Bozzuto's website.