Vacant Bethesda buildings boarded up after emergency response incident (Photos)

An emergency response requiring police, fire and water utility personnel at a vacant Bethesda building Monday morning has served as an "enough is enough" moment for some of the most-prominent eyesores in town...sort of. A set of empty buildings long awaiting demolition for the Artena Bethesda development has finally been boarded up, but only on the Wisconsin Avenue side. Glass windows facing Wisconsin Avenue - some of which were smashed over the weekend - of the former Saphire Cafe, Parvizian Rugs, and 8000 Barber Shop are now covered with boards. But no wood has been hammered over the windows on the Woodmont Avenue side, other than one that already was covered, and those on the front of the "beer house further up the block on Woodmont.

Following the smashed windows seen Sunday at the vacant properties, and next door at the new 8001 Woodmont apartments, police officers, firefighters and paramedics, WSSC water utility workers, and even a K-9 unit converged on the scene Monday morning. Montgomery County police and fire departments have been mum on what happened so far, but a reader who heard first responder communications via scanner gave a version of events that transpired. At least one suspect illegally trespassed in the vacant rug store, and apparently ignited a fire inside. This triggered the building's sprinkler system, and somehow resulted in the basement of the store flooding with 5 feet of water. Police were apparently informed that someone had been inside the store when the fire started, so they brought in the K-9 to search the building.

Most of the block north of 7900 Wisconsin Avenue and 8001 Woodmont Avenue has been vacant for several years, as the Artena Bethesda and 8008 Wisconsin redevelopment projects stalled out since 2016. The vacant storefronts along both sites have attracted vandals and vagrants repeatedly, with very little action taken in response by Montgomery County. It's unclear what prompted the overdue but partial boarding-up yesterday - a new sense of caution by the Artena developer, or the exasperation of police and fire departments having to deal with the ongoing problems at these properties. While the Artena project is finally expected to break ground soon, 8008 is still tied up in a pending land deal, after which that project is also expected to belatedly move forward.