Bethesda construction update: The Pinnacle senior housing (Photos)

Here's a look at the latest progress on The Pinnacle, a senior housing project that is located at 11565 Old Georgetown Road, about a block west from Rockville Pike and a future north entrance to the White Flint Metro station. It is across the street from Pike & Rose. The 17-story building will house 113 independent living apartments, 40 assisted-living units, and 48 units reserved for memory care and early-stage-dementia Bridge patients. It will have its own 15,000-square-feet of restaurant and retail space, and will appear outwardly as a luxury apartment building, rather than a retirement or nursing facility. Developer Silverstone Senior Living anticipates a Q2 2026 delivery for the project.

Signage installed at The Kensington Bethesda (Photos)

The first permanent signage has been installed at The Kensington Bethesda, the new assisted living facility at 5485 Westbard Avenue in Bethesda. It is over the future garage entrance. Developed by Kensington Park Senior Living, the facility is scheduled to open in mid-June. It features assisted living, memory care, and couples care residential options. More information and tour scheduling are available at the property website.

Bethesda construction update: The Pinnacle senior housing (Photos)

The Pinnacle, a senior living apartment complex, is now about four stories above street level in White Flint. Located at 11565 Old Georgetown Road, it will eventually rise to 17 stories. Inside will be 113 independent living apartments, 40 assisted-living units, and 48 units reserved for memory care and early-stage-dementia Bridge patients. Residents who are still independent will be right across the road from dining, shopping, and entertainment at Pike & Rose, and walking distance to the White Flint Metro station. The building itself will have its own 15,000-square-feet of restaurant and retail space, and will appear outwardly as a luxury apartment building, rather than a retirement or nursing facility. Developer Silverstone Senior Living anticipates a Q2 2026 delivery for the project.

Kensington Senior Living opens info office for new Bethesda development

Kensington Senior Living has opened an information office for The Kensington Bethesda assisted living residential building at 5485 Westbard Avenue in the adjacent Kenwood Professional Building, located at 5272 River Road in Bethesda. The development, constructed on the sites of the demolished Westwood Center II mini mall and Citgo gas station, is scheduled to welcome its first residents next summer. 

Delivered with 112 units, the 75' tall building will have an estimated capacity of around 155 residents. There will be several cafes, and an all-day dining program. Living, media and activity rooms will be joined by a library. There will also be a salon and spa, and a fitness/rehab center.

Montgomery County now collecting durable medical equipment at Shady Grove Transfer Station

Do you have medical equipment you no longer need, and is just taking up space in your home? Now it can be put to use for less-fortunate residents in need of it. Montgomery County is now collecting durable medical equipment at the Shady Grove Transfer Station at 16101 Frederick Road (MD 355) in Derwood. "Gently-used" wheelchairs, canes, shower chairs, and other commonly-used medical equipment will be accepted, and will be refurbished and donated to residents who need it. The new initiative has been made possible by the Montgomery County Department of the Environment's entry into the Maryland Department of Aging’s Durable Medical Equipment (DME) Re-Use program.

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich

“There is an ongoing need for medical equipment in our County,” Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich said in a statement. “Many of us have medical equipment in our basements, garages or attics that is no longer used, but is too good to throw away. This program helps our County’s efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle, while providing critical assistance to those in need. I encourage everyone to donate if they have any equipment that can still be used. This program isn’t just helping our planet—it is also helping our neighbors.”

Technicians from Maryland DME Re-Use take the donated equipment to a 56,000-square-foot facility located in Cheltenham in Prince George's County. There, it is sanitized, repaired and stored for future distribution. Equipment that is beyond repair will be broken down for parts that are saved and later used, rather than going into the trash.

To find out more about Maryland DME Re-Use, including collection site locations, acceptable donations or how to apply to receive durable medical equipment, go to dme.maryland.gov, call 240-230-8000 or email dme.mdoa@maryland.gov.

Senior housing replacing luxury apartments proposal for Westwood Center II site in Westbard redevelopment

A residential-style roofline on another
Kensington Senior Living development

The rumors that one of the proposed apartment buildings in Regency Centers' approved redevelopment plan for the Westbard area of Bethesda would be replaced by senior housing has now been confirmed. Kensington Senior Living, a Reston-based senior community development firm, is the partner for the project. KSL has an existing senior housing development in Montgomery County, Kensington Park in Kensington.

An assisted-living senior housing development is being proposed by KSL for the sites of the Westwood Center II mini-mall at 5110 Ridgefield Road, and the Citgo gas station at 5471 Westbard Avenue. It will include 112 units, structured parking and unspecified amenities. Current zoning for the 2.92 acre site, under the 2016 Westbard sector plan, is CRT-1.5, C-0.5, R-1.5 with a maximum height of 75' - significantly higher than either of the developments pictured here.

KSL was founded 10 years ago, and now operates six senior communities it built in Virginia, Maryland, New York and California. The company says it favors urban settings for its developments. Some of their projects have a more urban-style of architecture, but others like Kensington Park feature a more-suburban design, with rooflines more appropriate for a residential neighborhood like Westbard.

KSL's Kensington Park development

Which style of design will be implemented here, and other details about the project, will be discussed in a virtual online public meeting on Thursday, April 23, 2020 from 7:00-8:00 PM. All residents, business owners, and the general public can join the meeting that evening by calling 1-888-757-0728 and entering passcode 301-517-4804.

The meeting presentation materials will be made available online by the day of the meeting; I will post those or links to them here as soon as they become available.

While we don't yet know what the design of the building will be, the overall plan continues to incrementally improve following the legal efforts of residents in court. Senior housing, particularly assisted living, will eliminate any burden on already-overcrowded local classrooms for these two sites in the plan. It will also restore the option of in-neighborhood assisted living care for nearby residents with aging relatives that was lost when the nursing home across Ridgefield closed several years ago. 

A residential-style slanted roofline would be a nice bonus if KSL can provide one. That has always been a desired look for whatever would be developed there (from a neighborhood standpoint), as it would emphasize the residential character of the area as one enters the new development on Westbard from River Road. It would also fit with the residential townhomes that will be built on the nursing home site across Ridgefield. However, Regency may want an urban design to fit with the more box-like buildings they have proposed for Westbard Avenue.

The change also reflects trends in the local real estate market. Residents who questioned the demand for mixed-use at Westbard over the last six years, when many retail storefronts sit vacant even in downtown Bethesda, have been vindicated. No retail is mentioned for this senior housing project so far, whereas retail was a key feature of the apartment/condo building it replaces in the plan.

Some neighborhood amenities will still be lost in the new project. The Citgo offers full-service, which is valuable for seniors and the disabled in the neighborhood; there is no other full-service gas station in the area to my knowledge (if you know of one, please post it in the comments). Hopefully the remaining Citgo II down Westbard Avenue will add full-service to wisely keep those customers who depend on it. 

There are also several businesses that serve the community that will be lost, including a dry cleaners, a surgery center, two Japanese schools, the popular Yirasai Sushi, and Domino's Pizza. It remains unknown how many, if any, of these businesses from Westwood I and II will wind up in the new retail spaces on Westbard two or three years from now.

But overall, this is a positive development, as these businesses were already slated for demolition under the original plan. Senior housing will have much less negative impact on the neighborhood than the original proposal of luxury apartments.

Photo courtesy Kensington Senior Living

New images of 7340 Wisconsin development in Bethesda

Developer South Bay Partners has submitted additional renderings and documents for its 7340 Wisconsin Avenue senior housing project to the Montgomery County Planning Department. Many are more of a technical nature, but here are some of those likely of most interest to nearby residents. Above is a slightly-more-detailed rendering of the building's massing than was shown at the public meeting in September. Some of the others give you a sense of how the tower will look from various downtown vantage points.

I noticed there are a good number of street trees proposed compared to other recent projects. It's still somewhat disappointing that we are not getting a 29-story office tower with a Fortune 500 anchor tenant at this location on top of Metro; Montgomery County has not attracted a single new major corporate headquarters in over twenty years. On the other hand, this does place seniors who may have limited walking capacity in close proximity to existing and future restaurants and shopping, as well as to the Purple and Red Lines.

At least 11 street trees shown around the block