Public meeting scheduled for redevelopment of Jewelry Exchange/Old Georgetown Grille in Bethesda

Developer Stonebridge is preparing to submit its Preliminary and Site Plans for its proposed redevelopment of 7749 and 7755 Old Georgetown Road, and adjacent property along St. Elmo Avenue, in downtown Bethesda. It has scheduled a required pre-submittal public meeting for Monday, June 10, 2024, at 6:00 PM at the Connie Morella Bethesda Library at 7400 Arlington Road. Give Stonebridge some credit for having the meeting prior to when most people begin going on summer vacations. We've all seen public meetings for projects that were actually controversial sometimes held between mid-June and August, or during the December holidays.

The assembled project site includes the office building that holds the currently-operating Old Georgetown Grille and Colonial Opticians, and the former Jewelry Exchange retail building. Some one-level retail buildings directly adjacent on St. Elmo will be torn down as well, but Serpentine Dance Studio and House of Milae will remain between this new high-rise, and the Sophia Bethesda apartment tower.

7749 Old Georgetown Road redevelopment will include Old Georgetown Grille building property

Developer Stonebridge's proposal to redevelop the former Jewelry Exchange building at 7749 Old Georgetown Road in Bethesda will include the adjacent 7755 Old Georgetown office building property that is home to Old Georgetown Grille and Colonial Opticians. Renderings show the lots assembled for the project also include one-story retail buildings on St. Elmo Avenue next to 7755 Old Georgetown. They depict the Serpentine Dance Studio and House of Milae buildings remaining in place between the future high-rises of 7749 Old Georgetown and currently-under-construction St. Elmo Apartments.

Stonebridge is proposing a 175' tall apartment tower that would include up to 240 rental apartments, 15% of which would be Moderately-Priced-Dwelling-Units (MPDUs), the minimum required by Montgomery County. Up to 6000-square-feet of ground floor retail and restaurant space are proposed, as well as a 150-space underground parking garage. Rooftop features would include a partially-covered terrace, a not-yet-determined amenity, and a green roof area. 

The architectural firm contracted by Stonebridge for the development is Bethesda's SK+I Architectural Design Group. Renderings show the building will follow the base-and-tower massing design that has become ubiquituous among projects built under the guidelines of the 2017 Bethesda Downtown sector plan. VIKA is the engineering firm.

A required public meeting regarding the project Sketch Plan will be held tonight, Monday, June 26, 2023 at 7:00 PM at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center at 4805 Edgemoor Lane in downtown Bethesda. The meeting will be held in the Wisconsin conference room at the center. Stonebridge will present the project to the Bethesda Design Advisory Panel on June 28, and submit its Sketch Plan to Montgomery County in July. 

The Montgomery County Planning Board is expected to review the Sketch Plan at a future public hearing in October or November of 2023. It would then review the subsequent Preliminary and Site plans for the project in 2024. If all plans are approved, a Q1 2026 groundbreaking is anticipated.

Images courtesy Stonebridge/SK+I