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| Newly-acquired 8008 Wisconsin property is outlined in red; total land area now controlled by Aksoylu Properties is designated in blue |
Toll Brothers has made no public announcement as of this morning, but the homebuilding giant has sold its 8008 Wisconsin Avenue property to Aksoylu Properties, the real estate firm that owns the adjacent 8000 Wisconsin lot in downtown Bethesda. Aksoylu has been gearing up to break ground on its long-delayed Artena Bethesda project on that assembled site. Now it also has control of the property next door, which is about half the size of the 8000 Wisconsin lot. Alas, it would be very expensive at this late stage to throw out its approved Artena preliminary, sketch and site plans to reimagine the Artena as a much larger development.
Of course, that cost might be offset by both the additional residential and retail units that would come with a larger project, along with the massive savings of being able to excavate and construct on both lots using the same contractors at the same time. Aksoylu also has the option of going forward with the Artena, and using the newly-acquired 8008 land as a staging area for construction. The sale closed October 31, 2023, according to state real estate records. Aksoylu paid Toll Brothers $9,125,000 for the property.
The 8008 site is only zoned for a 14 story building, for which it is already entitled. The only benefit to revising the approval would be to consolidate the parking, loading and ramps. I suppose they could eliminate some of the duplicity of fire control rooms and mechanical/electrical equipment with a redesign, but that would involve ammending both fully approved projects.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Clark will likely stage on 8008, and later build the approved project later. As I recall, the original approvals looked more like a condo project, so separate entrances, services and parking access might still make sense.
These developer's dealings are really starting to take a toll on my mental health...
ReplyDeleteI am so mad that the 8008 property has been an empty eyesore instead of useful businesses for how long? Easily over 5 years?
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