Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Blackwell Building winding down for Marriott in Bethesda

While the Bethesda Court Hotel is still operating, the Connor Building next to it is gone, and another neighbor is nearing the same fate. The Blackwell Building is one of several properties that will be redeveloped as part of the future Marriott headquarters and hotel in downtown Bethesda.

As a result, ground floor tenant Foot Solutions at 7758 Wisconsin Avenue is getting the boot (pun intended). Despite the "Moving Sale" signage, no new location has been announced. Stay tuned.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

that moribund moco economy will get you every time!

Thanks to Hans Riemer and the council for keeping Marriott here long term, what a win for the County!

Anonymous said...

12 hours, 57 minutes.

Robert Dyer said...

Hans Riemer had no role in the negotiations whatsoever. Secondly, all that's happening is the giant Marriott deck chair is being slid down the deck of the Titanic from Rock Spring to downtown Bethesda. We're no further ahead at all. We only saved the humiliation of losing one of our pathetic 3 Fortune 500s to Virginia. The Council as a whole did not even play a role in the deal.

Anonymous said...

So Dyer has conceded that 1970s-style office parks are moribund.

Victory!

Robert Dyer said...

1:02 No, they're only moribund because the County Council's policies have resulted in no one wanting to move their companies here to fill them.

Defeat!

Anonymous said...

You mean like this one?

https://ggwash.org/view/62775/vornados-skyline-portfolio-tells-the-story-of-office-vacancies-region-wide

Whoops, that's in Virginia.

Anonymous said...

And next comes the diner. Good riddance

Robert Dyer said...

4:15: First of all, consider the source - Greater Greater Washington is funded by developers who have a financial interest in being allowed to convert office space into more-profitable residential housing. So the story is going to be biased from the start.

Second, you tend to focus on a couple of infamously-struggling projects, specifically, Vornado's and the 1812 N. Moore in Rosslyn. Judgement errors by two developers don't erase the fact that Montgomery County hasn't attracted a single major corporate HQ in two decades. Ultimately, 1812 N. Moore successfully beat out every building in Montgomery County to attract the Nestle headquarters, another humiliating defeat for MoCo.

Third, Virginia simply has more office space than we do. When the geniuses on Capitol Hill voted for sequestration, because most of the region's contracting action is in NoVa, of course they took the biggest hit.

More office had been built, because it had been anticipated demand would continue to be as strong. To try to use that to somehow make moribund MoCo sound better is not a valid argument.

Anonymous said...

Shorter Dyer: "But that's Virginia, not MoCo. MoCo is moribund!"

Betsy said...

If you want others to consider the source and motivations, then equally one could say your own bias against the current county council can be linked to your losses in campaigns against them. So to say GGW is biased because of developers would suggest you also may be motivated as well from the purest of journalistic intentions of delivering the "news"

Betsy said...

Regarding your comments on Virginia, you yourself have said on multiple occasions that Montgomery County offices and jobs due to the federal government and shouldn't be counted in the discussion, yet here you are saying NoVa's hit due to Capitol Hill's vote for sequestration is to blame for NoVa's lackluster performance? Which way is it that you want it?

So if VA has more office space, and they have more vacancies, and they have a higher vacancy percentage, then how is that not worse? Can you explain that?

Robert Dyer said...

2:21: All you have to do is follow the companies: Northrop, Volkswagen, Nestle, Intelsat, CEB, Hilton Hotels - they all went to Virginia. MoCo got zippo.

No, I said private sector when we're talking about jobs, because those are the only ones created, rather than government jobs that are bestowed rather than created.

2:19: I'm not being paid to write this blog by special interests, whereas GGW is.

Anonymous said...

Northrop and Intelsat would not exist without the federal government.

CEB is not a Fortune 500 company.

What is your source of income?

Anonymous said...

What percentage of the total jobs in NoVa are at these coveted Fortune 500 corporate headquarters? That would be a good number to know.

Anonymous said...

ALL HAIL HANS RIEMER ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US!!!

Riff Rafferty said...

@4:29am I suspect you're paying yourself to write this blog? So in fact, you are are being paid by a special interest, your own. Whether your care to admit it or not, your substantial bias against the Montgomery County Council is evident in many of your posts, both legitimate news and your nonsensical rants.