The pedestrian plaza between the Sophia Bethesda and Bainbridge Bethesda apartment towers has opened to the public. It is technically a reopening of the public space that was first created via the Bainbridge project, but the plaza has been revamped with new features by the Sophia contractors, including a new art installation and new lighting. Lighting is still of the stringed variety, but utilizes larger, cylindrical fixtures rather than tiny bulbs.
The plaza also provides a pedestrian cut-through between St. Elmo and Fairmont Avenues. There is still a hope that the plaza can be activated by future tenants in the ground floors of both buildings, such as the Paris Baguette Bakery Cafe that has already signed a lease at the Sophia. In its previous life at the Bainbridge, the plaza has been a well-lit but lonesome path after business hours.
3 comments:
I think it’s important to note the width of this space has doubled from about 22’ to about 45’ making it a more pleasant space with much more daylight. It still seems a bit narrow, but many streets in NYC are only slightly wider at 50’, and are often lined with much taller buildings on both sides. Too bad they didn’t include any trees that would eventually form a nice tree canopy.
8:19 Good points. Talk to the Planning Board and County Council about where all that new green space is that they said we'd get under the 2017 Downtown Bethesda re-development plan 'cos they're waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay behind on delivery on that part of the plan (among others).
Well there is hardly any space between those two apt buildings to you might as well do something decent with it…………
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