A few more details and questions came to light at last night's presubmittal meeting for the proposed redevelopment of the 7-Eleven at 7820 Wisconsin Avenue, and the former EagleBank building behind it. Attorneys Barbara Sears and Nick Mansperger represented the applicant shell companies, Bethesda Land, LLC and Bethmont, LLC. As I reported last week, the proposed 315' tall tower would include 403 residential units and 14750 square feet of retail and restaurant space. While the renderings are far more advanced than most projects at this stage, there are two factors that could significantly alter the final design of the tower.
One factor will be whether or not Montgomery County can deliver the proposed expansion of Veterans Park on the other half of this square block of Wisconsin. That park is prominently shown in the renderings for 7820, which led one resident to say it was "disingenuous" to show it as already complete in the images. If the park is not delivered by the County, the applicants will revise the design of the building.
A second factor, what to do about the small 4-story condo building next to the EagleBank building, shed light on what the two massing options shown in my previous report were all about. If the applicants cannot obtain the ground rights, they will at least attempt to obtain the air rights to build over the condo building.
Final parking space numbers are not yet available. The applicants plan to provide sufficient parking for residents, but none for the retail or restaurant patrons.
Two points of controversy emerged at last night's meeting. The biggest sticking point is the plan to place the garage entrance and loading dock on the Fairmont Avenue side of the building, which particularly offends residents of Fairmont Plaza who will face that side. Virtual "attendees" pressed the attorneys on this decision, and asked why no traffic studies on that loading dock plan have been conducted.
The attorneys argued that the County does not allow loading docks on Woodmont Avenue. When a resident pointed out that the new 8001 Woodmont has its loading dock on that side just yards away from the 7820 Wisconsin site, the attorneys could not immediately answer why it had been allowed in that case.
A second community complaint was the lack of a delivery pull-off area, which has caused trucks to block traffic at other buildings like Flats 8300 when they stop in travel lanes to make deliveries. Few buildings provide these in recent years, and the County Planning Board has shown little mettle in demanding developers provide them.
Rendering courtesy of Design Collective
8001 Woodmont only has frontage on Wisconsin and Woodmont, so Woodmont was selected as it has much less and much slower traffic, and no other option exists. The Bethesda Sector plan is very clear in its requirements that service entrances must be on the least busy streets, unless no other options exist. If a site has an alley frontage, like 7000 Wisconsin, the service and parking access must be placed along that side. This makes perfect sense to reduce conflicts on the most traveled roads.
ReplyDeleteDelivery pull offs can be a double edged sword. Yes they can get delivery vehicles out of the way, but greatly reduce either sidewalk width, street side parking or traffic lanes. The best option is a functional loading dock that is accessible, but even when one exists, most delivery drivers gust double park everywhere, as close to the entrance as possible.
ReplyDeleteBethesda Row has a block long alley, and UPS drivers just double park on Bethesda Avenue to save a few steps.