The permanent sign is up at the future Chase bank branch at 4749 Bethesda Avenue. Workers installed it yesterday, and it's now a dominant sign at that busy intersection. As banks go, J.P. Morgan Chase is about as big as it gets. But yet another bank branch in downtown Bethesda is an underwhelming result for the promising new 2-story building, which has a rooftop deck and room for outdoor patio dining at street level.
Here's hoping for a more-exciting tenant for the remaining space in the building. But the cratering of the County's nighttime economy at the hands of the County Council's Nighttime Economy Task Force certainly isn't helping attract hot nightlife tenants. Heckuva job, Brownie!
Super hard hitting today, Bobbykins. That pulitzer's coming.
ReplyDelete"In Bethesda, a girl ordered a hamburger, asking for a 'fuck ton' of mayo"
DeleteActual Bethesda Magazine "news" article that is still up in their site.
How that didn't win an award, I don't know.
Actually, they just installed three signs for the bank, one large one on the canopy facing west, and two smaller ones over the doors on Bethesda and facing the future Capital Crescent Urban Park. I agree a bank at that corner is unfortunate, but it is nice to see at least some activity at the corner. I remember the renderings at one time showed a large Bethesda Market placeholder, so we know that JBG Smith really wanted a Market there. Dean & Delucca’s troubles obviously forced them to back out of their lease here and many other locations in NY. The rumored Eataly Food Hall never seem to get legs, and now that the Farm Women’s Market Food Hall seems to be a possibility, perhaps we can eventually have a much larger food hall in Bethesda.
ReplyDeleteI think the big problem with that location is how the Purple Line Construction Staging area blocks views into the site. It’s bad enough that a large portion does not face a street, let alone a bunch of fenced construction equipment. Of course, eventually the future park will be a great destination, but for a few years, any retail tenant in the dead end corridor will struggle. Maybe over time, the park facing retail, and even the corner where the bank is, will be more of an attractive retail or restaurant destination. The bank is certainly better than four more years of barricaded storefront and this awful painted circular graphics.
I feel duped by the original signage showing a bustling market and a restaurant/bar with rooftop space.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the third level roof will still include active uses, just controlled by JBG Smith as their private roof terrace overlooking Bethesda Row. I think public access to that roof space was really never in the cards. Even the second level as retail space never really made much sense, unless a single multi-level retail tenant could be located. I doubt that Dean & Delluca ever planned to use the second level or roof terrace.
ReplyDeleteI suggest that restaurant on level two, and outdoor dining on the roof, were a bit of a dream by the architectural illustrator.
The second level now appears to be part of the JBG Smith HQ. The very tall ceiling height and dramatic arched windows will create a very dynamic space. Perhaps a great location for their conference center, eventually overlooking the future urban plaza.
Has anyone heard any new rumors about the large restaurant tenant adjacent to the lobby on Bethesda Avenue? I see they are installing very large and expensive operable glass windows along the street, so I assume they already have a specific tenant signed up, but still unannounced. I wouldn’t think they would spend that kind of improvement on spec.
7:32: It's going to be problematic to activate that future park space next to the building, and the corner in general, if it is only banking/business uses that end at 5 PM. Of course, that "park" is going to eventually be the Purple Line tracks running west to Westbard and Sumner, so it may make no difference ultimately.
ReplyDelete6:52: I'll admit it's a tough competition with Jennifer Barrios' hard-news piece on the Silver Spring Hand Lettering Society. What a high bar to leap.
ReplyDeleteVery happy to see Chase establishing a presence in MD. If only it happened before I decided to switch from them due to no branches here.
ReplyDelete7:40 AM I imagine Barrio's "on-boarding" at the Post went like this:
ReplyDeleteDemocrat good, Republican bad
Republicans can't win; the Democrat primary is the election [Sounds election coverage in Russia]
Ficker is good for a quote but remember to mention he is a "heckler"
Don't criticize elected officials [Patch handbook]
Here's a lead on the Hand Lettering Society, go get it. Follow the hand lettering...
I was viewing the cherry blossoms in Kenwood over the weekend and I was thinking how awesome that view will be from the extended Purple Line, whilst I'm riding a train for my two-seat ride from Bethesda to Dulles, to catch a direct Air India flight to Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, and from there, connecting flights to over a hundred cities in India.
ReplyDeleteAnd even the once-deprived Lyttonsville area will enjoy this privilege. Sadly, those riding from Westbard will have to back-track to view the cherry blossoms in Kenwood.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete8:14am is the phrase Bethesda Magazine used ("fuck ton") in the AP style book?
DeleteAs I have stated before, even if the Purple Line is extended to the west, the only impact on the plaza will be two or four embedded steel rails in the pavement and overhead power feed. Just like any other place where the light rail crosses plazas or streets. It’s just like streetcar rails, not a dedicated rail corridor like electrified heavy rail.
ReplyDeleteOf course no furniture or lighting can be in the path, but pedestrians and bikes can freely walk across the plaza when the light rail cars are not passing by, just like a streetcar.
If the line is not extended to the west, the only impact on the plaza will be short “tail tracks” that extend slightly beyond the station platform, so trains can move west to switch to the other side before reversing direction and returning eastbound. These tracks will be mostly in the west end of the tunnel, but a short section will extend into the plaza according to the engineering plans. The plans also show a cross over track section east of the Bethesda station that will allow light rail trains to switch sides before they arrive at the station. This is logical as most trains that arrive will have the driver switch ends and head back eastbound. Incoming trains will likely switch to the southern side of the station, so folks transferring from the Red Line never have to walk across the tracks. Tail tracks allow more flexibility, and do not require modification of the existing station if in the future, the line is extended to the west.
I love the fact that our expert hyper-local blogger can not seem to figure out how to post a photo of himself next to his comments without the photo squeezing his head into a distorted pinhead shape. He does not seem to realize that the software compresses all images to fit in a square shape, so when he posts a rectangular shaped image, it is always distorted in to a square. Or on the other hand, maybe that’s really what he looks like...
ReplyDeleteRegarding banking hours, most urban Chase Branch Banks are open 9AM to 6PM M-F and 9AM to 1:00PM on Saturday, and closed Sunday. Of course the ATM lobby, with two glowing blue ATM machines (which fills most of the entire corner), is always open to the public. Of course way less than a nice restaurant or shop but it will never be a dark uninhabited corner.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly will be handy for those shopping and dining in Bethesda Row who might need cash or to make a deposit in a highly visible, safe, enclosed and well lighted interior lobby space accessed by swiping your ATM card, unlike many street side exterior ATM’s in the area.
I miss Fuzion Bar and Lounge at Reed Street.
ReplyDeleteHeckuva job, Brownie!
ReplyDelete1:10: Just because the Google programmers can't figure out how to display a photo properly, you can't blame me.
ReplyDelete1:04: The issue is the fake park green space, not the impact on cyclists or pedestrians. That touted park between Mon Ami Gabi and the Chase bank is a hoax designed to cover the purchase of land needed for the Purple Line extension. Same thing at River Road along the CCT. At Bethesda Avenue, they need the additional width to hold the trail, two tracks, etc.
"Just because the Google programmers can't figure out how to display a photo properly, you can't blame me."
ReplyDeleteThose in the free [blogs] are the first to boo.
3:07 PM I thought we'd eventually get to a debate around blog templates.
ReplyDelete"I'm a Wordpress man"
Yes, we can blame you for not posting a square photo so it is not reformatted by Google. I guess you do not understand the concept of posting images that don’t need to be reformatted.
ReplyDeleteAlways the victim...
ReplyDelete“An error doesn’t become a mistake until you refuse to correct it. Orlando Aloysius Battista
LOL...you're a speck on a little blog insulting Ms Barrios who has a real journalism job, makes her own way in the world, and writes for an influential national paper. She got national recognition for her hand-lettering article, btw.
ReplyDeleteEvery day I get up and Robert Dyer is spewing hate for Montgomery County and journalists.
A prisoner of envy, stuck in a hell of his own making.
4:02: And her big investigative expose since arriving at the Post was...what? She hasn't gotten any national recognition for shilling for the MoCo cartel - but she should get recognized by the FBI if she colluded with them during the 2018 election. Her employer sure can afford to pay for all these hires with that $600 million he got from the CIA.
ReplyDelete3:17: I guess you do not understand the concept of outdated software that can't recognize and resize any photo you throw at it. But then again, your Council bosses were caught still using Windows 2000 in 2014. LOL
ReplyDelete4:02pm, the man who posts under a fake woman's name, is now calling Dyer's readers "specks". Wow.
ReplyDeleteI only post under my name. We've been over this.
ReplyDeleteMaybe your normal is posting under many names or anonymously, but I'm not playing your little game.
I'm simply an outspoken, normal professional woman. I guess you don't believe we exist. Misogynist much?
4:25pm you're a man posting under a fake woman's name. We've been through this.
DeleteYou threatened Dyer and tried to bully him.
You called his readers "specks"
You sound just like the nut that shot up the capital newspaper in Annapolis. You're both obsessed with harassing a local journalist.
LMAO at Dyer's Little Helper commenting just 3 minutes after Dyer's previous two signed comments. And pretending that he does not realize to whom "little speck on a blog insulting Ms Barrios" referred. None of Dyer's readers insulted Jennifer Barrios, just Dyer himself.
ReplyDelete5:35pm Barrios certainly bought into the Patch style of local reporting.
DeleteShilling for a loser candidate like Nancy Floreen was humiliating.
"Her employer sure can afford to pay for all these hires with that $600 million he got from the CIA."
ReplyDeleteWait, Jeff Bezos was paid $600 million by the CIA? Was this the Deep State conspiracy payment to collude with the MOCO Cartel to block Dyer's election?
7:22: No, the $600 million was for Bezos/The Washington Post as CIA assets in the Deep State's attempt to overthrow the duly elected United States government. Makes Watergate look like a pickpocket. Fortunately, it sounds like Bill Barr is putting a team together to investigate the whole thing.
ReplyDeleteBlogger Anna said...
ReplyDeletespeck -
noun: speck; plural noun: specks
1. a tiny spot.
"the figure in the distance had become a mere speck"
synonyms: dot, pinprick, spot, fleck, speckle, stain, mark, smudge, blemish
Speck – A pork-product very similar to prosciutto, this meat is smoked as a final step in the curing process.
@5:35PM - indeed
4:29 AM 8:20 AM 4/11/2019