Marriott "excited" about new downtown Bethesda HQ and hotel (Photos)

Woodmont Grill scuttles plan

to acquire Tastee Diner corner

for project

Marriott Corporation and landowner Bernstein Companies are moving quickly to develop the new Marriott headquarters and hotel in downtown Bethesda, with groundbreaking now expected to take place in the third quarter of 2018. "We're excited to locate our new headquarters and flagship hotel in downtown Bethesda," Jim Young of Marriott said at a community meeting last night. Among the breaking news was that the reported agreement with Tastee Diner to sell their corner property to Bernstein now cannot be realized, because they were unable to also obtain the Woodmont Grill property. "The train has left the station," a Bernstein representative said of the potential assembly of that corner of the block.

Woodmont Grill can stay, but they will lose their private parking lot to the Marriott project, as the lot is also owned by Bernstein, which has owned 7750 Wisconsin Avenue for about 40 years. Boston Properties is now a co-owner of the property. The design will include a public plaza and cross-block pedestrian connection between Wisconsin and Woodmont Avenue. Architecture firm Gensler said the project is a great opportunity to create a "set piece of urban design."

Site plan

The renderings shown last night are works in progress, not the final design. What is known, is that the 21-story, L-shaped office building will be mostly glass and metal, with 18 floors atop a 3-floor podium. The 238-room hotel will be 12 stories, and both buildings are expected to earn LEED Gold certification.

Aerial view of plaza

Marriott wants to plant a large specimen tree on the plaza, to further represent the firm's commitment to the environment. To ensure the plaza is activated around the clock, the hotel bar and headquarters will both open to the plaza. The hotel restaurant will also be on the ground floor, and there will be suspended light fixtures above the plaza.

Plaza looking east

In a time of highly-controversial sidewalk closures, Marriott is promising to keep a covered walkway along Wisconsin Avenue throughout the construction process. The hotel is expected to deliver in October 2021, with the Marriott headquarters building following in July 2022.

View from Woodmont Avenue
at Cordell Avenue

Another controversial issue is parking. Marriott has signed a 10-year, $2 million-per-year agreement with Montgomery County to have full use of the Woodmont Corner garage across Woodmont from the Marriott site during business hours. Marriott said this is a transitional plan; they believe their workers will switch to transit over the next decade, and may not extend the garage agreement if that happens.

View from Bethesda Metro

That didn't convince some attendees last night, who said Marriott needs to communicate directly with businesses in that area about the loss of parking. The garage is often packed during business hours, and currently, 2500 of Marriott's 3300 employees drive and park at their existing headquarters north of downtown Bethesda in Rock Spring.

View from Norfolk Avenue

Other concerns expressed included traffic impacts and the lack of ground floor retail in the project, which one attendee said was a lost opportunity. One other problem with the failure to assemble the Tastee and Woodmont Grill properties: the new, wider sidewalks around the future Marriott project will end on both sides of the corner at the old, narrower sidewalks in front of those restaurants.

Green roof plan

On the positive side, Marriott promised a high bar of quality for the hotel and restaurant, noting that the CEO of the company will literally be looking down on them from the next building. The third floor of the hotel will be used as an "innovation lab" to test new concepts, designs and furniture for all of Marriott's hotel brands. There will be 100 bike storage units and lockers for Marriott employees in the headquarters building, and an 8000 SF meeting space in the hotel.

Plaza view

Young of Marriott said the company is delighted to be able to remain in Bethesda after 60 years here. He said the company will have a 20-year lease on the property, with rights for 20 more after that.

Attorney Bob Dalrymple said a concept plan for the project was filed for technical comments, and for a head start on design. He said Marriott and its partners intend to file the sketch, preliminary, and site plans together soon, and be before the Planning Board with all of those by the end of 2017.  Last night was a required pre-submission meeting for those plans.

Dalrymple said he expects a hearing before the Planning Board in mid-December, and to have approvals by the end of the year.

View from Veterans Park

View from Lionsgate condos

Illustrative site plan

Stormwater management plan

Properties assembled for the
Marriott project outlined in red