First look: New public plaza at Bethesda Place (Photos)

Here is a look at the new plaza at the Bethesda Place development at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue and 7701 Woodmont Avenue in downtown Bethesda. Stringed lights overhead will provide some atmosphere after dark; furniture, public art, plantings, and additional landscaping elements are still to come. There are also other renovations still being completed around the property, such as new stairways and a new Woodmont Avenue entrance to the vacant Safeway retail space. The property owners decided to completely overhaul the plaza after the waterproofing below it failed, and two years later, we are seeing the initial results.

Such updates are an example of proactive property owners making the improvements needed to remain competitive with new office and residential buildings coming onto the market in downtown Bethesda. We saw this just last week, with the Chevy Chase Land Co.'s plans to make major updates to its 2 Bethesda Metro Center office tower. Bethesda Place has both apartments and office space, as well as retail and restaurant tenants. Let's take a look back at the process that brought the project this far, which began one year ago after a pandemic delay, in chronological order: