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| Rendering of the future Hampden House |
B.F. Saul is starting work on another landmark high-rise development at 7316 Wisconsin Avenue. Originally to be called Metro Tower, the project has just been rebranded as Hampden House. As approved, Hampden House will contain 366 rental apartments, and 10,110 square feet of retail and restaurant space. First, the existing office building has to come down, and that process is beginning at the site.
As you can see, the front entrance is now boarded up. B.F. Saul says it has already completed the interior demolition. Now the structure itself is next. A sheltered pedestrian walkway was constructed along the Wisconsin frontage of the site yesterday, to avoid the total sidewalk closures pedestrians have experienced at the nearby Marriott and 7272 Wisconsin sites in recent years. Some utility work was also being performed last night near the site, but it's not clear that it was related to the Hampden House project.
Rendering at top courtesy Saul Centers, Inc.
That should help darken the area nicely.
ReplyDeleteI hate to break it to all the building-boom supporters, but Bethesda is never going to be a mini-Manhattan, no matter how many 1:5 scale models of office blocks get tossed up along the way.
Now that's a good looking building.
ReplyDeleteThat design is eerily similar to the Chevy Chase Trust building and The Upton apartment project in Rockville Town Center. Is this a DuBall project?
ReplyDelete8:40: It's a B.F. Saul project; they also developed the Chevy Chase Trust building. It does very much resemble the Upton/Cambria building, though.
ReplyDelete5:58
ReplyDeleteGlad you admitted that. No one is trying to turn Bethesda into a "mini-Manhattan".
8:40
BF Saul loves using neo art deco architecture for their buildings. This project, the Waycroft in Arlington, Twinbrook Quarter in Rockville and the future 8001 Wisconsin Avenue project all have similar architecture.
B.F. Saul owns the Kennedy-Warren, or did at one point. I suspect that's their main source of inspiration based on a number of these buildings.
ReplyDeleteEvery new high-rise that has gone up in Bethesda in the past few years have massive, strong foundations. Most are used for underground parking. However, as we have all seen, every new building gets approval to be taller than the last. Now we're up to 315' to replace the 7-11 and Eagle Bank. Hampden House, renamed, started demolition on the old Bank of America building at 7316 Wisconsin Av. It will be a tower.
ReplyDeleteA 21-building is planned and approved for the site of the Farmer's Market on both side of Wisc. Av. Big Buildings are moving south of the exiting Bethesda Metro Station, preparing for the Purple Line and the new South entrance to the Bethesda Metro station.
The small footprint site of La Madeleine was bulldozed this past week for a skinny but tall, 225' tower.
Back to the recent new buildings built prior to the height limits raised. All have massive, strong foundations, including the Clark Building, to support buildings up to 454'. This is I believe the engineering mark from solid concrete construction to skyscraper construction having to do with wind and earthquake sturdiness. I remember going to the observation decks on both the Sears Tower in Chicago and The Twin Towers in NYC. The Tower in NYC, you could feel the movement, even if it was only 3 feet, and built on "Roller Skates" because we do get quakes right here in DC. You do the research on that.
My point is that just because a 15-20 Story Building is constructed in Bethesda, the developer can go back and make it taller.
Examples are the building across from Wheaton Metro was raised a modest 6 stories or so, and plans are in place to add 6 floors to the Guardian Building at Cameron St & Georgia Av in Silver Spring. My own opinion is the Guardian Building has for the past 2 years, gone through asbestos removal, it should be carted away in dump trucks and build a new building from scratch.
Anyway, the Community Building, the 2 newer buildings along Commerce St across the street from La Madeleine, and others could realistically be added to height wise, without vacating the buildings. Those 2 monsters above the Purple Line Station are still under some construction up top while the lower levels are filling up. It's like this in Manhattan. I remember staying at the Dumont Plaza Hotel on 34th St Manhattan, while it was still under construction on the upper floors.
My point to this diatribe, is that Bethesda can become a 24/7 Mid-Town Manhattan, as it should. Montgomery County is now and forever, on the map.
Don't forget of Metro Center 4 where Street Sense and failed food court above the MetroBus and Ride-On Bus bays are.
Also, the boarded up gas station and old Tommy Joe's location and the Dental Building on the othet half of the block closest to the existing Metro Elevator at Wisc. Av and Montgomery Ln.