Saturday, January 09, 2016

Bethesda construction update: Element 28 luxury apartments (Photos)

The Element 28 luxury apartment tower is really coming along since my last update. As you can see, glass is being installed on a number of floors. Located at the intersection of Commerce Lane and Old Georgetown Road, the building will feature a rooftop deck, bike shop and leaf sculpture public art at ground level.

Element 28 will include 101 apartments and 3500 SF of retail. According to the website, the 15-story project is expected to deliver in Fall 2016.





14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looking forward to this. hopefully the retail will help activate the area around the metro. Too bad it's so small retail.

Anonymous said...

Again, how are they going to fill these apartments??!!! The Norfolk is struggling to attract renters, after opting out of the condo market. Too damn many luxury buildings and not enough population nor local industry to support them!

Flynn said...

I don't think we know for sure Norfolk is struggling to attract renters. They struggled to attract buyers as condos but we can't really say about the renter situation just yet.

Gallery leased up really fast. Bainbridge took a little longer but is in the 90s now. So demand seems to be there still for luxury apartments.

Of course it would be nice to see more "affordable" housing but there seems to be no incentive for developers to do that. Land is so expensive and the development process through Montgomery County so slow and difficult. Costs seem to be too high to make it worth it to develop that way.

Anonymous said...

@7:32 I wouldn't worry about those units getting filled. I know myself and a lot of my neighbors in Somerset need a decent place for our non in-house help to live. This building looks perfect for that.

Anonymous said...

Flynn, today's "luxury" buildings are tomorrow's affordable buildings. plus new Class A units put downward pressure on the pricing of older Class A, B, and C units. No one's going to build a new building and not try and get top-dollar out of the units. That'd make no sense no matter the market.

Flynn said...

That's what I was saying. No developer has any incentive to build anything less than top-dollar units.

Anonymous said...

Some relatively recent buildings aren't top level luxury. I think of Rosedale Park for example. Hardly luxury and it has relatively cheap rent. Good place if you're not successful yet but want something better than a dump on Battery Lane.

Anonymous said...

I wonder what the Harris teeter building rents are going to come in at. Hopefully lower than Gallery or Bainbridge which are closer in.

Anonymous said...

Pricier than one would have hoped for this far north.

http://www.flats8300.com/floor-plans/

Sorry if this link gets deleted in violation of comment policy.

Anonymous said...

7:41 PM... Flats 8300 lost me at "Laminate wood flooring"
That's not luxury.

Wrol said...

Haha I didn't even notice that. Yeah, with that kind of finishes and at this northern tip location the pricing needs to come way down. Hopefully market pressure does bring them down soon.

Anonymous said...

I suspect the "list prices" will stay the same but they'll offer 2 months free, free parking, etc.

Robert D said...

Which is great for year one but they rarely offer the available deals to second year tenants. So it encourages moving and all its associated expenses and PITA.

Anonymous said...

1. Somerset resident: what kind of non- in house help would that be? Are you paying their rent?

2. Affordable: MoCo could have required or incentivized affordable units. If they didn't, why not? Downtown Bethesda offers the mass transit needed to make affordable units successful.

3. Rents for new apartment deliveries: my guess is that the earlier/best located deliveries will hit their pro formas. The later or less centrally-located deliveries will have problems. There is a substantial amount of new product arriving in a short timeframe-- some will have lease-up difficulties given the volume.