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.
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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:
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Here's how you set up
a Plan B ribbon-cutting |
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Leggett has the giant
scissors at the ready |
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| 1...2...3 |
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| Success |
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Now on to the party,
starting with PAUL Bakery,
a tenant in The Flats |
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Dave Dabney,
Executive Director of
Bethesda Urban Partnership,
who is also known as
the unofficial
Mayor of Bethesda |
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| More treats from PAUL |
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Representatives of Silver, which will also
be in the ground level retail space of
The Flats... |
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...display some of their popular
menu items |
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Matt Bush of WAMU radio
interviews Ike Leggett |
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The official towel of
The Flats at Bethesda Ave. |
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Another preview of
Silver, which will
open at The Flats
later this summer |
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Coffee table centerpiece
in the Flats club room |
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| Lamp in the Club Room |
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Pyramid of pillows in
the Club Room |
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| More Club Room! |
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| Rack 'em up |
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A mermaid and fresh sushi from
future Darcy tenant
PassionFish, opening
later this summer |
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More from PassionFish's
table at the party |
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The PassionFish sushi chef
at work |
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| Some of his handiwork |
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| Ready for its closeup |
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One of two grand water
features in the park
behind The Flats |
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Montgomery County Council
President George Leventhal (at right)
shakes hands with PN Hoffman CEO
Monty Hoffman as
StonebridgeCarras principal
Doug Firstenberg looks on |
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Water feature number two
in this peaceful space behind
The Flats |
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| Here comes the wine |
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With the storm passed,
attendees explore the park |
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The outdoor bar is up
and running |
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| Between two fountains |
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| Doug Firstenberg (center) |
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| One of the men of the hour |
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Now joined by the other
man of the hour, Hoffman (L) |
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| The whole team, Part 1 |
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| The whole team, Part II |
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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.
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| Let's go inside |
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| Granite countertop |
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| Kitchen |
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I like the lighting in this
corner of the counter |
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| Dining area |
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| Living room |
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| Your new TV couch |
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| Where's the remote? |
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| Master bedroom |
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Walk-in closet, complete
with Pottery Barn bags |
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| Your view from the bedroom |
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| Master bath |
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Sink counter, and
some guy with a camera |
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| Shower/tub |
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Back to the
well-appointed lobby |
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Lobby view of the
courtyard |
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| Fitness center |
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| Got water? |
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Got to burn off those
eclairs from PAUL Bakery |
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Official Flats at Bethesda Ave.
yoga mats. You know
you want one |
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Dramatic lobby wall, but
topped by... |
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...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 |
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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:
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Let's enter Unit 407, a two
bedroom condo overlooking
Bethesda Avenue |
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View from the kitchen toward
the living room |
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| The chef is in |
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| That's a gas range |
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Here's where you'll sample
the fruits of your labor - or
maybe just takeout from
PassionFin downstairs? |
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Even on a cloudy day,
a good amount of natural light |
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An equestrian aficionado
lives here, no doubt |
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Comfortable corner with
a view... |
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...of Bethesda Row. I see them
setting a patio table for me
at Mon Ami Gabi. Bring the
car around, Jeeves! |
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| Master bedroom |
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| Master bath |
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| No official Flats towels, though... |
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| Big shower |
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Master bedroom with
Juliet balcony |
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| Bedroom dresser and lamp |
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Time to turn in?
Not yet |
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This could come in
handy if you're new
in town. Of course this
blog will be even more
helpful... |
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The guest suite that
may just be too good
for your Monster-in-law |
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Remember I mentioned history?
Here's some on the wall in the
guest suite - Gifford's Ice Cream |
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The guest suite is more
like a fancy hotel room |
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This isn't exactly like
throwing a visitor an
Aerobed for the weekend |
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This mirror is
something else |
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| More history |
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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 |
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Fitness center - and
the ball game is on |
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| No pain, no gain |
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| Club Room |
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You can try to get some work
done in here... |
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| ...or not |
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| They've got Sports Weekly |
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| And a fireplace |
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You'd better have a sophisticated
book if you sit here |
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| Those stairs over there... |
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...let you make a quick escape
to the lobby |
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This desk is open 24 hours,
but the staff moved aside
so I could take this picture |
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| Where we just came from |
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| Cool light fixture |
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| New sign just installed |
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| Goodnight from Lot 31 |
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.
ReplyDeleteThis 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.
ReplyDeleteYeah, waaay toooo many photos.
ReplyDeleteAs 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.
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.
DeleteThe units look nice. Any idea on pricing? Are they condos or apartments?
ReplyDelete6:32: I didn't hear any pricing yesterday, but the Darcy is condos and The Flats, apartments.
DeleteI'm on 3G and the photos loaded fine.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the wifi having problems at the Bethesda Mag offices today?
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
ReplyDelete7:15: 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.
Delete"If they even know he's there." They invited me, you buffoon.
Come on guys, for all the crazy things Dyer says this is actually a nice in-depth coverage of the event and space.
ReplyDelete7:42: 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.
DeleteI 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.
ReplyDeleteIt 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?
8:36: I'll check on that. I did link to the websites in the post, assuming they would have pricing on those.
DeleteLooks great. And the photos are welcome...I felt like I was there on the tour.
ReplyDeleteCertainly better than attending an event and posting two photos.
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.
ReplyDeleteIt also shows that Ike Legget is fully in the hands of the developers. We need a different council, soon.
Official towels for the Flats? WTF kind of place is this?
ReplyDelete1:35: A luxury apartment building.
ReplyDeleteThe 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.
ReplyDelete