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| Revised site plan with remaining retail space shown in red |
UPDATE - May 16, 2025, 7:32 AM: A correction has been made to the article regarding the number of parking spaces proposed in the amendment; while the number of residential parking spaces would be unchanged, the number of retail parking spaces for public use is being reduced.
Several significant changes proposed by the developer of a future apartment building at Westbard Square in Bethesda will be reviewed by the Montgomery County Planning Board this afternoon, May 15, 2025. Applicant Greystar Development East, LLC is seeking to delete nearly 20,000-square-feet of previously-approved retail space from the ground floor of the building, and to drop plans for an underground parking garage in favor of an above-grade parking garage that it promises will be hidden by the apartments around it. The jettisoned retail space, should the Board approve that change, will be replaced by street level townhome-style apartments.
Many questioned the level of demand for retail at this location during the 2016 Westbard sector plan process. They have been vindicated by the proposed elimination of almost 20,000 SF of retail from the development. In fact, representatives for Greystar at a community meeting last year predicted that the Westbard Avenue storefronts it seeks to axe would be "vacant" if the Board were to force the company to retain them in the plan.
The amount of residential parking spaces - 261 - will not be changed if the new garage proposal is accepted by the Board. That garage will be accessible to the public, with spaces designated for retail customers, and others for residents of the building. However, the number of those retail parking spaces for the public would be reduced by 30, in relation to the reduction in retail space.
Other changes proposed would modify building elevations, and changes to the locations of electrical transformers, loading dock access, and garage access. You can read the staff report regarding all of the proposed changes here. Planning staff are recommending approval of the site plan amendment.
15 comments:
Soooo. . . retail space will be cut because everyone agrees it would go unused if built, but the number of parking spaces, "accessible to the public," will remain the same. Doesn't that suggest too few parking spaces were initially allotted for the non-residents visiting the complex, calculated when commercial traffic included the extra 20,000 square feet of unfillable retail space?
Perhaps they might realize that (according to un-named sources), the “top secret” Westbard Purple Line station is coming soon, so less parking is needed…
Is most of the pink retail space on your map above what will be eliminated under Westbard's plan, or is that all the retail space that will remain if their plan is adopted?
Read closer...the number of RESIDENTIAL(i.e.Private) parking spaces doesn't change (since the number of residential units doesn't change), but the amount of RETAIL(i.e.Public) parking does go down.
Retail space? People hightail out of there.
@11:55, to whom are you directing your —curt— admonishment? Robert’s post says, “The amount [sic] of parking spaces will not be changed if the new garage proposal is accepted by the Board. That garage will be accessible to the public, with spaces designated for retail customers, and others for residents of the building.” Are you saying the actual proposal is other than what is written here?
This doesn't make any sense. The current retail is fully leased at crazy high rents, yet they're claiming the space would have been vacant? Who falls for that?
I was hoping maybe we would get a Barnes and Noble or some other great tenants who couldn't afford Bethesda Row rents. But maybe now the County will stop pretending Westbard Avenue is a grand boulevard and time the lights properly.
The amount of parking spaces IS being changed.
7:49: As noted in the caption below the map, the red represents the retail space that would be left under the proposed amendment.
11:55 and 6:58 are correct. The number of retail parking spaces would be reduced by 30 under the proposed amendment. I apologize for the error and confusion, and have updated the article to reflect the drop in retail spaces.
until they demolish Bowlero and totally revamp the Westbard Ave ( the road from Mass to the new development) it's going to be a grungy area. The path from Mass Ave to Westbard is all weeds and overgrowth with dead trees
You just described the Bethesda Landscape!
Maybe they should put a police station in this new unused space. You could run to the Giant and report all the criminal activity in one destination.
Looks like construction has already started...makes you wonder what would have happened if the Board had opposed the change? This planning board is a joke.
You have to laugh as the proposed area in red is taken up by new courts, so no new retail space. Developer profits and then doesn’t deliver what’s promised.
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