The new Giant building is up to three floors now at the future Westbard Square development at 5400 Westbard Avenue in Bethesda. You can see the angled corner that will face the intersection of Westbard Avenue and the yet-to-be-named street entrance of the new town center development. They are also constructing a bumped-out segment on the Westbard side of the building, which is for the lobby - and possibly elevator shaft - for the 2nd floor office spaces.
There will be storefronts for other businesses on the ground level, and the actual Giant grocery store will be on the 3rd level. Parking will be available in the parking deck on all three levels. The Giant building is anticipated to be completed by the end of 2023. All businesses in the rest of the Westwood Shopping Center property remain open during the construction.
So nice to see this transformation of one of the worst strip shopping centers in the area. Nasty docks facing the street? Parking and store entrances in the back? Who ever came up with idea should be tarred and feathered.
ReplyDeleteI bet that once the project is built out, the folks who own homes and condos within the walk-shed of this small town center will enjoy a big jump in their property values, not to mention a gaining access to a nice urban plaza, with several small new parks within an easy stroll. Having an urban format grocery store, without any large open parking lots, at the center of this type of development is considered one of the “silver bullets” of urban planning concepts. Sure its not a Wegman’s, Baldacci’s’s or even a Whole Foods, but a brand new Giant should be nice.
My guess as to why the shopping center backed to the street was that the same developer was marketing the residences at Kenwood Place - in fact, he lived there himself - and did not want the loading docks as the view for residents there.
ReplyDeleteWestbard currently the best Giant store in the region, so if they can maintain that and the large selection of products they have now, it should continue to be so. I'm curious what the difference in square footage is between the current store and the new ~60-something-thousand SF store. The current store is huge, as far as Giants and Safeways go these days.
I believe this is Giant best-performing store in terms of revenue, as well. Given that, I think you can be sure Giant is going to do whatever they can to ensure it stays that way.
Too bad the townhouses on this project are so repetitive and lack very much character. Too many drives lined with garage doors for my taste. It seems a small underground parking deck shared by multiple townhouses would eliminate many of these unsightly garage doors, and allow nice street level residence entries. The stacked four story high townhouses just seem so crowded and packed in. Stacked single level condominiums with a central hallway and elevator access like the new condos at Chevy Chase Lake seem so much nicer to me. No frequent stair climbing within the units.
ReplyDeleteI wish that developers were required to provide a dog park for their new residents (per a set number of units). Lots of new neighbors means there will be lots of new dogs, which will need a place to run and “do their business”. I don’t think that’s what the developer intended for the small park they will add at the North end, but it may end up that way.
ReplyDelete9:37: That issue is already being seen on the "green spaces" at some of the new downtown buildings. Suffice it to say, you would not want your kids crawling around on those surfaces after they've been used as a toilet by animal residents.
ReplyDeleteExactly, Robert! I was at an early Regency Development meeting - 5 or more years ago - and I asked about a dog park and they just were not interested. I also asked the County Council about it at a presentation of the "Westbard Sector Plan" and got the same response - crickets...
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother shopped at that Giant for many years, driving from Primrose Street to do her weekly marketing in the early 1970s. One-and-a-half carts full of groceries, enough to feed (well!) seven adults and elementary-aged me, set her back ca. $100 each week. That money today won't buy you enough popsicles for eight people.
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