TIME LAPSE PHOTOS OF BETHESDA MCDONALD'S SITE CONVERSION TO OFFICE BUILDING

The newest residents of Bethesda may think 4500 East-West Highway always was an office building, not realizing a community institution - McDonald's - once stood there. A reader who provided aerial views of the demolition and construction at the Bethesda McDonald's site for this blog in the past has put together a photo album of the topic in chronological order. (The above photo is mine)

There's also a video he shot of the blasting done when excavators encountered rock beneath the site, which you may recall me posting in the past.

Enjoy Diarmaid's photos and video for a literal "blast" from the past!

BETHESDA CONSTRUCTION UPDATE: 4500 EAST-WEST HIGHWAY OFFICE BUILDING

4500 East-West Highway, a gleaming new Class A office building in what some are calling the future "Pearl District" of downtown Bethesda, is nearing completion. One minor detail - the building still has no tenants, reflecting more upon the moribund office space market in Montgomery County than on the building itself. Viewed from different angles, the glass facade has a very modern look, while other sides of the building echo some of the more traditional office towers of the downtown area. Carr Properties redeveloped this former home of the Bethesda McDonald's, and the project is being constructed by Bethesda's own Clark Construction.

Click on photos to enlarge for greater detail:

PEARL ST. TO BE ONE WAY DURING CONSTRUCTION AT FORMER BETHESDA MCDONALD'S SITE AT 4500 EAST-WEST HIGHWAY (PHOTO)

Pearl Street, between East-West Highway and Montgomery Avenue  in downtown Bethesda, will become a one-way street during construction of a Class A office building at the former McDonald's location.

According to the developer of 4500 East-West Highway, the southbound lane of Pearl Street will be closed indefinitely "on or about" February 18, 2013.

For the duration of the building construction, Pearl Street will be a one-way, southbound-only street. Drivers will be unable to turn left onto Pearl from Montgomery Avenue.

Reader Diarmaid McGleenan submitted this aerial-view photo of the former East-West Highway McDonald's site.  The restaurant was demolished a while ago.  At the top of the lot is the auger that just finished drilling for the installation of the steel I-beams you see around the perimeter of the growing hole.

The excavation machine is already filling dump trucks, and eventually a crane will arrive onsite.