I believe the proposed St. Elmo Apartments project at 4931 Fairmont Avenue has set a record for the number of public meetings held for a downtown Bethesda development. But given that each revision of the plan has significantly improved the project, the long process has been beneficial to both the developer and the community. Yet another public meeting will now be held
October 21, 2019 at 7:00 PM at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center, located at 4805 Edgemoor Lane.
Since the last meeting, issues such as the width of the plaza the building will share with the Bainbridge Bethesda have come up
at the Design Advisory Panel, and some
demolition of structures currently standing on the site has been completed. Given that the former was raised over one year ago, it will be interesting to see if the developer has made the demanded changes, or decided to go with the smaller tower it already has approval for.
If the developer is going forward with the smaller tower, which is fully approved, why would they be coming in for another meeting? At the last meeting they were instructed to step the building back along the shared open space to create more tower separation. Previously they proposed a lame idea of creating two different balcony styles to somehow make the narrow tower separate more palatable. Nobody bought that, and let them go forward only if they revise the massing and create a more generous space, at least on the upper floors.
ReplyDeleteIt might be time to find another apartment if you have a southwest facing unit of the Bainbridge. By the way, I think the Bainbridge is by far the nicest looking new tower in Bethesda. A very elegant collage of vertical brick clad masses, with a very rich pattern of brick stripes. This will surely be diminished by the tacky fake art-deco, neo-traditional St. Elmo tower that is clearly trying to ape the past, instead of creating a building of its own time, like the Bainbridge has done. The architectural design firm of the new tower is quite notorious for their historically inspired designs. Not even a single modern or contemporary building is shown in their online portfolio.
5:54: I do like both approaches - I am a huge fan of the towers in Dubai, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. But I also like NYC and retro designs. My favorite of the new buildings so far has been the Stonehall, and I like the plan for the Metro Tower, another retro design.
ReplyDeleteI really like Stonehall too but I have a few quibbles.
DeleteThe battery lane facade is sorely lacking. The retail entrance (being a bank is another issue) is on Woodmont, a non pedestrian street. So activation is nil. It’s also higher than street level. It also only has glazing on part of the wall. The rest is a brick wall, which could be done nicer as it now only has an empty facade and some sort of emergency exit door. Yuck.
The alley side has a huge tall blah gaping entrance with trash cans visible. Tacky design.
5:54 AM
ReplyDelete"the Bainbridge is by far the nicest looking new tower in Bethesda"
I strongly disagree with you here. Bainbridge is such a cluttered mish mash of tones, materials, and styles apparently designed to give you a headache, especially the northern side.
None of the new high-rises in Bethesda are particularly eye-catching, but they all look better than Bainbridge. 7770 has a much cleaner and more contemporary design. The brick-clad Gallery towers have a traditional, handsome look. Even the somber-looking Cheval is easier on the eyes.
Really though 7900 is the only truly inspired looking building in Woodmont Triangle
"This will surely be diminished by the tacky fake art-deco, neo-traditional St. Elmo tower that is clearly trying to ape the past"
You probably won't be a fan of Saul's "Metro tower" either
Not sure why you think new buildings need to look old to be good design. The 1920’s called and wants all this fake retro-crab back. These new towers should be sleek and modern, and use materials in a sustainable way. Why clad the top of a 22 story building with brick, when you can’t even sense that scale of a brick from the street? Yes, the Metro Tower is disappointing. Some architects aren’t very clever, and just choose to copy a building or style from the past. Of course I love “real” old buildings that have been preserved, but this retro crap needs to stop.
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