Slurpee fans' despair is returning as a stalled plan to redevelop the Bethesda 7-Eleven at 7820 Wisconsin Avenue and former EagleBank property at 7809 and 7815 Woodmont Avenue is being moved back to the front burner again. A virtual community meeting has been scheduled to present a revised plan to replace the properties with a high-rise building, but only half the size of the once-envisioned redevelopment of the entire square block.
The new proposal to be unveiled at the meeting includes 455,000 square feet of total development on .77 acres of land. Included will be 450 apartments and 14750 SF of retail and restaurant space. To participate in the virtual meeting scheduled for Monday, January 25, 2021 at 7:00 PM, follow the instructions below:
Boy, first McDonalds, then Madelaine's and now 7-11. What is this town coming to?
ReplyDeleteI demand a WaWa
Learning
Is anyone surprised? The CVS across the street, that you reported on recently is awesome with its plentiful parking lot and drive-thru pharmacy. But there's no way in heck that that site is not going to be blown up and a big building constructed there. The muffler place next to them is going and CVS will not survive long term. Move now while you can.
ReplyDeleteI believe I read that when the muffler shop site redevelopment was being reviewed, the developer indicated that the CVS has a very, very long lease. Of course their lease could be bought out or CVS could be relocated into the base of a new project.
ReplyDelete6:45 AM...Yes, I fully agree. Move TO downtown.
ReplyDeleteSuburban drugstores, drive through pharmacies and huge surface parking lots have no place and are not “awesome” in a walkable urban downtown. The CBS site highly underdeveloped, and is diagonally across the street from a 22 story high building, and is zoned for a 110’ tall building. If you really need to get in your car to go to a drugstore, drive another 2 minutes to a less urban location on the Pike. Or better yet, just walk to a drugstore in the base of a mixed use building in an urban area.
Perhaps if you walked a bit more, you might need a pharmacy a bit less.
7:31 - That's prime real estate and may be needed for a mixed-use project. You're right that the lease could be broken, etc. Bottom line, if a developer wants CVS and its parking lot, they'll get it.
ReplyDeleteI seem to recall that the top floors of that Eagle Bank building were converted into some super fancy high-end condo(s) some years back (maybe 10ish years ago?). But it seems like it was never sold or consistently occupied so perhaps it's back to commercial space for the time being. I don't think of myself as a "stuck in the past" person but I feel like Bethesda is losing more and more of its personality and will soon just be a giant canyon of high rises without any kind of neighborhood feel.
ReplyDeleteThat 3 story tall building is that old... interesting
ReplyDeleteThe drive thru CVS has been very useful during the pandemic. No contact prescription pickup and covid-19 testing. I'd rather see the venerable Arlington Road location shutter. They've already cut hours drastically there.
ReplyDeleteHopefully Bethesda doesn't become Ballston with a sea of souless highrises. Atleast they have the new Ballston Quarter.
I agree that drive-through pharmacies are indeed helpful, especially during this pandemic. But since you are in a car, why not drive to a more suburban location, and encourage higher density uses in the walkable downtown of Bethesda? Any development on the CVS site would likely fill almost all of the ground floor, and likely add much more retail, restaurant and cafe space that East Bethesda residents might find useful.
ReplyDeleteI’m not sure I would classify a Dryvit clad drugstore has a lot of “soul”.
Modern drugstores are indeed very handy, and have morphed into being more like a classic general store. I am always dismayed when I see how drugstores refuse to include transparent windows into their stores. They provide very little life and visual activity along their street fronts. The margins must be so tight in a drugstore that every square inch of wall space needs to included merchandizing. Large decals on any exterior windows don’t count in my book. All drugstores should be required to provide a larger percentage of transparent views in and out of their stores, and not blocked by opaque shelving. I suppose security might be an issue, but pull down interior gates at night could solve that problem of required. Most drugstores are now open 24/7 so it’s probably not an issue.
Having less opaque and blank walks would put more eyes on the street. If they refuse to add transparent windows, perhaps they could line these drugstores with other retail and restaurants that crave wide open storefronts and activate the facade.