From what I understand, TD Bank does continue the bank traditions of offering free pens and lollipops to customers. What's different are their more modern hours. This will present quite a contrast at their 7628 Old Georgetown Road branch, where HSBC across the street closes at 4:00 PM sharp, and has no weekend or evening hours.
The other location is at 8101 Wisconsin Avenue, formerly home to Bethesda's "last gas," the BP station. Here is a tour of the Old Georgetown Road exterior, interior and drive-thru. Once again, take note of the impressive art piece that depicts the historic Bethesda Theatre.
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| Expect the jiffy johns to vanish by Friday |
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| Right this way to the drive-thru |
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| There's the Christopher condominium building in the background |
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| The canopies at TD Bank drive-thrus have solar panels on top |
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| I have to say the drive-thru is well-lit for after-hours use |
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| The "green" theme continues with this advice to cut your engine while banking; not sure I would take that advice working with cash outdoors at night |
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| LEED certified |
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| Bank on your bike |
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| HSBC has some serious competition from its new neighbor |
I like TD Bank and these are really nice branches, but are also really out of place (well the Old Georgetown one at least).
ReplyDeleteIt would have been much, much better if the Old Georgetown branch was on the ground floor of a 200 ft. residential high-rise with no drive-through and beside a restaurant/entertainment business open past 10pm.
Or maybe they just wanted to buy and hold. Build a little bank and get a phenomenal price later on. I don't think that corner will get less valuable.
ReplyDeleteThe county should have forced the gas stations to stay here.
ReplyDeleteHope the Christopher Condo losers are happy.
ReplyDeleteSomeone here or on Bethesda Magazine noted that the very small lot size would make it hard to build an underground garage there, thus making a high-rise less feasible.
ReplyDeleteWho needs a high rise? Heck decent retail or restaurant options would be more welcome. Maybe something open pass 6PM. Dead block adjacent to the Metro station. Crazy.
ReplyDeleteEven if they couldn't do a high rise, two or three stories would be better than a standalone one story bank. But the county can't force it. :(
DeleteTotally dead block between Woodmont Triangle and Bethesda Metro.
11:59: Yeah, and the Metropolitan is like a brick wall on the other side, and then Peet's and retail on the end of the previous block are dark at night. A disaster in terms of pedestrian urban environment.
DeleteIt's not just any bank. I haven't seen any bank take being green as serious as TD.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting to see all the ways they take the environment into account!
oh and that makes it suddenly better? No, not really. Still crappy to have single story banks there.
DeleteOnce they add some EV charging stations, no one will miss those crappy old gas stations.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they could sell soda, candy and hot dogs, too.
Actually I am surprised they didn't include EV charging stations. Would have been a good marketing piece.
DeleteI checked out the Wisconsin branch today. It's a really tiny building but nice inside and out. They didn't really take advantage of the lot at all - aside from the "they should have gone multi story" bit, the parking is limited for the amount of space they had to work with and the grading is strangely sloped even lower than street grade, presumably for some water runoff system as part of their LEED certification.
The landscaping and brick sidewalks are nice, but the side street sidewalk is crazy wide without any adornment whatsoever. Plus there's an ugly metal railing there. Could definitely use some green, whether it's trees or planter boxes or something!
Also the huge parking lot behind the bank is completely separated with a drop off retaining wall and no access point or stairs or anything.
Seems like a really elaborate billboard. I think they care more about people seeing the bank then going online than going in.
ReplyDelete#rethinkTDbank!!!
ReplyDeleteNothing to see or excite us here, just another unnecessary bank few people will use, move along...
ReplyDeleteFree smoothies, snacks, water bottles, back rubs, face painting, and harp music at the Old Georgetown branch.
ReplyDeleteFree crepes, balloon animals, water bottles, games, tall lady, and steel drum at the Wisconsin branch.
#rethinktdbank but they had me at free.
I had a strawberry-Nutella crepe at the Wisconsin branch. Yum!
ReplyDeleteToo bad the party wasn't going at 3 AM when Dyer makes his rounds.
A waste of prime real estate, period!
ReplyDelete