Tower crane assembly is now complete at the future sites of the Hampden House and St. Elmo Apartments developments in downtown Bethesda. Hampden House is at 7316 Wisconsin Avenue, and St. Elmo is at 4922 St. Elmo Avenue. B.F. Saul is the developer of Hampden House; Duball, LLC is the lead developer on the St. Elmo project. Both buildings are anticipated to be completed by the end of 2024.
Nice to see five tower cranes on the skyline. These two new cranes at St. Elmo and Hampden House, like the one at the former La Madelines site are as tall as they can go as self-supported structures. All three will be extended much higher as the buildings rise, and can provide bracing at a higher level.
ReplyDeleteIt’s quite amazing to watch how a crane can lift extensions and actually increase is own height. Very clever. These three already have special sections at the top to allow the cab and boom to be hydraulically raised to allow telescoping sections to be inserted as the crane rises.
The crane at the Hampton House will likely grow to be more than twice as tall as it is now, to construct the tower that will be nearly as tall as the Elm.
@7:44
ReplyDeleteYep, it's great to see all the activity! There was kind of a lull in multifamily development in Bethesda while the sector plan was being drafted, and then there was a rush of office construction. Now the apartment building boom has really started to hit it's stride.
It's the next wave of high-rises along Wisconsin that will be really transformative though: 7820 Wisconsin, 7126 Wisconsin, and 7340 Wisconsin (and possibly 8000 Wisconsin).