Here's a look at the rubble remaining on the site of the demolished Apex Building at 7272 Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda, as well as views of the site with the building now missing from the skyline from various perspectives. The building will be replaced by a mixed-use project from Carr Properties, over a new Purple Line light rail station.
17 comments:
You should also report that the building will be located next to a new south entrance for the Metro, with six high speed elevators. I believe that this detail will essential change a large part of the dynamic of Bethesda. Folks arriving to Bethesda on the Metro, will soon have a very easy connection to the Bethesda Row area, which I believe will shift the epicenter of activity in the city. Of course many folks will still travel north to the Woodmont Triangle to access many restaurants and lost of new multi-famlily residential, but unless Metro Center 4 can create a viable destination, I think the CBD will remain primarily office and deserted at night. Most folks exiting the Metro now, simple walk through the bus bays to head north or southo on Woodmont, but not up to the largely vacant plaza level.
I still contend that a large destination anchor should be included in the new tower, or nearby, to create a reason to activate the plaza level. Of course many vital cities have multiple districts and a variety of activity, so a business focused CBD might be OK, but with all the planned development to the north and south, I suspect the center will not get much love.
I hope I am wrong and the the whole city can prosper.
Interesting points, but don’t forget about the new Marriott headquarters and other significant commercial activity going up in Woodmont Triangle. While Bethesda Row will probably remain the epicenter for retail and shopping, I see no reason why the northern part of Bethesda would not become a newly invigorated center for living and working in Bethesda, with restaurants, services, and other commercial activities as well.
Yes I agree the Woodmont Triangle is now and will remain a vital pedesrian focused area,especially with the new Marriott.I just hope that enough activity can be added around and near the existing Metro Plaza to make it a inviting place. I did not live here when the skating rink or food court was active, so I have never seen the plaza as a viable destination, other than to access the Metro, or maybe an office tenant.
I hope we can find a way to make all three districts, and even adding the Pearl District, become great urban spaces.The new south Metro entrance will be handy and enhance the Bethesda Row area, but I contend will reduce even further the traffic on top of the Metro Plaza.
Maybe a great destination retailer could add the required draw. A flagship Apple Store, an urban cinema, or some other “Silver Bullet” , as planners like to describe, could create that draw. Maybe others can think of a cool idea or tenant.
Really interesting points above.
In my opinion, either the Woodmont Triangle or Bethesda Row needs to go Car-Free on weekends - they are such nice places to be but there is SO much traffic that it really hampers them from becoming the pedestrian friendly places they should be (at least during warmer months). Anyone who has walked on Bethesda Row during a weekend knows what I am talking about.
Unfortunately, cars are a part of life. Removing them completely, even for only the weekend, can really harm retailers and restaurants. Cars and limited street parking help with tenant visibility. A properly designed streetscape can mitigate their negative impact. Places like Bethesda Lane in Bethesda Row are great for pedestrians, but unless a large and critical mass of pesdestrians pass by, urban pedestrian malls suffer.
Check out Walkable City by Jeff Beck to read how the right combination of adequate sidewalk width, interesting sidewalk paving, activated storefronts, street trees, street furniture including benches and trash recepticales, pedestrian scaled street lighting, two way traffic on the streets, protected bikeways and available bike parking, interesting signage, available street parking and yes, streets with cars are all required to create thriving urban streetscapes. The absence of one or two of these items can kill a street. Too much of any one can do the same thing, like too much sidewalk width, too much diagonal parking, or too much traffic and speed limit.
They should remove the street parking from Woodmont Triangle and Bethesda Row and expand the sidewalks.
No comments allowed on the Tastee article? LOL
Why no comments allowed on the Tastee post?
Looks like Tastee doesn't want to wind up like Fresh Grill.
That’s a horrible idea for the entirety of Woodmont triangle or Bethesda Row, there would be no parking and interior businesses would have only pedestrian access. A street or two I couls get on board with.
That wouldn’t be a bad exit for the owner of Tastee. He can’t get the huge money from any other buyer now.
Dyer faces a conundrum. Admit it’s true by deleting these comments, or leave them and still not answe why he disabled comments on Karr posts.
Or he’ll say it’s violation of his magical comment policy.
If he deletes this post it provides we were right.
@ 5:56 AM - Which Wells Fargo? The one at 7901 Wisconsin Avenue, or 4965 Elm Street?
6:37: No such report was posted by that publication. The guy is just trolling because he's still steamed about me breaking the story about Hank Dietle's yesterday. The expected redevelopment of that block on Wisconsin Avenue was old news discussion back during the Bethesda Downtown plan, but this guy is trying to fool you that there is something new this week about it. Total BS. No such article on that site.
Robert, thank you for posting these 18 photos of rubble. They clearly show why it was necessary to close the sidewalk and the lane of traffic adjacent to the site.
No need to give people a blank check to close a sidewalk for years. Same deal on Woodmont currently where a whole block is closed for years.
Looks to me like they're storing equipment and trash on the sidewalk. Kind of the sidewalk that's closed on Woodmont for the JBG project.
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