Wegmans sets opening date for store near Tenleytown in Northwest D.C.'s City Ridge + sneak peek (Photos)

Wegmans is opening stores just about everywhere but Bethesda these days. There's one under construction in Rockville, and now this Wegmans is set to debut next month in the new City Ridge development at 41 Ridge Square NW in Washington, D.C. You may be seeing ads for the store online, and depending where you live in Bethesda, you may have received a large postcard in the mail over the weekend. It touts the store as being "near Tenleytown," but it's actually south of Tenley Circle on the former Fannie Mae site - yet Wegmans is considering you in their target audience of potential customers, so let's take a look!

Here's sneak peek at the exterior, and of the interior of the supermarket's Market Cafe. You'll also notice they will sell beer, wine and liquor at this store. Here in Montgomery County, such grocery store sales of adult beverages are forbidden by our archaic liquor laws. The cafe looks great. I also like that the postcards were mailed from Rochester, New York, one of America's greatest cities - and not just because Wegmans is headquarted there. This Wegmans is scheduled to open Wednesday, July 13, 2022 at 9:00 AM.

STREETSENSE SEEKING RESTAURANT FOR BETHESDA APT. BUILDING, ENVISIONS WEGMANS AT WHITE FLINT MALL SITE

Bethesda-based real estate firm Streetsense is seeking a restaurant tenant for the future Element 28 luxury apartment building at 7535 Old Georgetown Road. A 3500 SF space with 18' high ceilings is expected to become available in the building's ground floor by the end of this year. The space is steps away from the Bethesda Metro station, but also steps away from a location where bars and restaurants have had a high rate of turnover, until Tyber Bierhaus took it over.

Wegmans at White Flint Mall site?

In less solid, but even more intriguing, news, it's interesting that the worst-kept secret in local commercial real estate - Wegmans' intense interest in taking over the footprint of the now-demolished Bloomingdale's at White Flint Mall - pops up on a Streetsense promotional brochure for a different Pike District property. Long rumored, but as of today not confirmed yet, Wegmans would surely help deodorize the gaffe-filled demolition of the thriving mall. The Rochester-based grocery chain's desire is for the grandfathered footprint left from Bloomingdale's, which would allow a far bigger store without complicated exceptions being requested from the Planning Board.

BETHESDA ROW

PARKING LOTS

NOW CLOSING

APRIL 10

But What Grocery Store Will

End Up in The Darcy?

Remember I said to be skeptical about the last announcement of a closure date for Bethesda Avenue lots 31 and 31A?

Well, you were ready then for the latest delay. Yes, they've moved it (again) from April 1 to April 10.

And 60 days later, Woodmont Avenue will close between Bethesda and Miller Avenues.

I'm wondering just what the parking impact will be. The new electronic signs at the Elm Street Bethesda Avenue garages claim there are between 100-something and 400 spaces available during the evening rush hour/dinner time.

Are those all dining/shopping-suitable spaces? And with 279 spaces being lost, you can tell that 150 spaces in the garage won't cut it. Some people refuse to park in a garage, and some of those folks may be gone for good.

The future replacement parking will be all garage.

The Darcy is one of the two buildings going up on the site, and there are new questions about what grocery store it will have onsite.

Rumors last fall suggested that Harris Teeter would come to Bethesda Row. I seconded that prediction based on the comments of a real estate veteran, and the fact that the same developer snagged Harris Teeter for a building it opened in the District.

But talk of Harris Teeter coming to the (disappointing) Trillium replacement project at Wisconsin and Battery Lane, starts the debate anew.

Can there be two Harris Teeters that close, just as Safeway has two downtown Bethesda stores? It's certainly possible. Will the developer turn to another chain (alas, fellow Wegmans fans, there isn't enough room on the ground floor for Rochester's finest grocery store - unless they give them two floors!)?

Or will the promised grocery concierge simply go down the block to the Bethesda Row Giant?

Stay tuned!

HO HUM:

BETHESDA'S LATEST

GATEWAY CONDO

PROJECT FAILS TO

IMPRESS

Following years of delay, the Trillium condo project at the northern gateway of downtown Bethesda has been altered yet again.

The long-empty site has its latest plan, and it leaves much to be desired. First, the proposed building is smaller and far shorter than it should be, within walking distance to Metro. Density in that spot shouldn't be the maximum because that walk to Metro is not a short one.

Second, the design is decidedly ho hum. A cross between a hospital and a cookie cutter office office building, the Trillium is poised to be the latest gateway property to disappoint.

At the south entrance to town, you are confronted with Staples. This was a chance to do something bold. When arriving in Bethesda, you should be greeted by bold architecture, glass, steel and innovative design. Maybe an 8 story fountain.

Instead, we're getting this bland, utilitarian and squat commercial style building. To top it off, the C-shaped courtyard design faces drivers entering Bethesda, from the plans I've examined.

The vague promise of a grocery store that will draw people to the site suggests one name: Wegmans. But will it really be Wegmans, or Harris Teeter, which the same developer has contracted with in one of its DC projects? I will say that getting Wegmans would go a long way to compensate for the underwhelming design.

It's not too late to come up with an alternative. The Planning Board needs to stop trying to throw up skyscrapers in residential neighborhoods, and start trying to build them in downtown Bethesda instead. And it's time to start rejecting the same old, cookie cutter designs every other town is using.

The building that stands at the gateway to Bethesda ought to represent Bethesda.