Residents and other stakeholders are invited to weigh in on the proposed redevelopment of the Bethesda Crescent buildings at 7475 Wisconsin Avenue at a required pre-submittal meeting on Thursday, March 26, 2026. The meeting will be held in the first floor conference room of Montgomery Towers at 4550 Montgomery Avenue in Bethesda at 7:00 PM. If the proposal is approved, the existing office buildings would be demolished to make way for 439,000 square feet of mixed-use development, with 420 apartments and 11000 SF of retail. 17.6% of the apartments would be Moderately-Priced Dwelling Units.
Don't waste your time, it's already been approved by the county cartel and the monies been transferred to all the off shore accounts that elrich & jawando continue to use. I used to attend those meetings and it's a joke.
ReplyDeleteReminder - all comments published here are pre-approved by Robert Dyer.
DeleteGood lord how many apartments do we need in a couple block stretch.
ReplyDeleteThe Elm - 456 units
Hampden House - 366
The Charles - 310
Since 2008, downtown Bethesda has constructed, fully approved or partially approved 63 brand new mid-rise and high-rise buildings between 7 and 30 stories. All of these are within a 3/4 mile or much shorter walk to the Bethesda Metro Station. Most are very close to a free Bethesda Circulator Bus stop for those who can’t walk that far, or during inclement weather. This densely populated, transit oriented downtown is the perfect place to develop and build mixed-use buildings. Bring it on!
DeleteSounds great!! My understanding is that the office space there is currently unoccupied. But there is tremendous demand for housing. And that is literally right in front of the Metro stop, so it makes sense to put as many apartments/condos as possible there because people living there won't need cars, which could increase traffic. Of all the locations, this is where you want large apartment buildings!
ReplyDelete9:37am Indeed. I can't recall our planning board in the past decade ever holding up an apartment high rise project in Bethesda to extract community benefits from the developer.
ReplyDelete1:42pm Apparently there isn't demand for the current new highrise apartments at these prices- 4909 Auburn is offering 3 months free rent. So, no, don't keep building luxury 1 bedroom units without demand.
More affordable housing of all types is needed in all areas of the county- single family, townhomes and apartments.
If there's no demand at a certain price, then the price comes down. That's basic micro economics. And the housing price coming down is the whole point. So that would be a success!
ReplyDeleteAll projects in downtown Bethesda need to get approval of the Downtown Bethesda Design Advisory Committee, a group of six architects, landscape architects, planners, local residents, owner representatives and a member of academia. This body extensively reviews each submittal and often requires major changes from developers and their architects to grant approval. Their review includes compliance with the extensive design guidelines, conceptual massing, appropriateness of materials, view corridors, shading studies, and design excellence. The DAC review process often requires three or four meetings, and often requires extensive revisions, before approval is granted, and the project can move forward to the planning commission. Plans are submitted and available online before each meeting. The public is welcome to make comments and even attend and speak at the meetings, just like at the planning and design review meetings. If you are unhappy with the direction of downtown Bethesda, you are all welcome to participate in the extensive review process, and not just complain on this forum.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, I would agree that by the time the project makes it to site plan approval before the planning commission, the approval is for the most part perfunctory. If you want to have your voice heard, and potentially shape the outcome, you need to attend the required community presentations, the design review board, and the DAC, and speak up to offer constructive criticism to shape the project. To stand up at any meeting and scream that this project is too big, and you prefer a nice one storytelling high barber shop, you will be ignored. All of these projects are required to adhere to height, density, setbacks, building separation, base, middle, top requirements and many, many other carefully crafted design guidelines in the zoning ordinance. Your best chance to shape the outcome is to propose reasonable improvements to the design, not outright condemnation of a project that clearly meets hundreds of county requirements. Certainly some discretionary decisions are required, which is where your voice can truly impact the finished product.
DeleteWhat a nightmare! People should be able to build what they want on their own private property. This is supposed to be a free country. This kind of ridiculous red tape drives housing costs through the roof and why young people can't afford to start families and settle down.
DeleteHere is a link to review and comment on plans submitted to the DAP.
ReplyDeletehttps://montgomeryplanning.org/planning/communities/west-county/bethesda-downtown-plan/bethesda-downtown-design-advisory-panel/
Here is a link to the Downtown Bethesda Implementation Advisory Committee, another review committee that tracks how the zoning ordinance is implemented, and reports back to the planning board. Another forum follow, comment, attend and to have your voice heard.
ReplyDeletehttps://montgomeryplanning.org/planning/communities/west-county/bethesda-downtown-plan/bethesda-downtown-implementation-advisory-committee/
The developer will get a big 20 year property tax break for converting an empty office building into multifamily housing.
ReplyDeleteIt is odd that the county gives the same tax break to a nearly empty office teardown and rebuild as a true adaptive reuse of an office building to residential.
ReplyDelete