Sneak preview of Silver restaurant interior in Bethesda (Photos)

Here's another sneak preview of Silver, the new restaurant from the Silver Diner owners opening September 22 in the Flats at Bethesda Avenue luxury apartments. This is the best and most detailed look yet at the finished dining room. There is even a list of some of the local farms where the ingredients are coming from on the wall.

Assault on St. Elmo Ave., items taken from cars on Woodmont, Westbard + more - Bethesda crime update

Here's a roundup of crimes reported across Bethesda on September 5, according to crime data:

Assault. St. Elmo Avenue at Woodmont Avenue at 1:58 AM.

Theft from vehicle. 7200 block Woodmont Avenue.

Kidnapping. 7200 block Wisconsin Avenue at 1:42 PM.

Kidnapping. 5300 block Westbard Avenue at 6:42 PM.

Vehicle burglary. 3400 block Thornapple Street (Martin's Additions).

Theft from vehicle. 5300 block Westbard Avenue at 2:45 PM.

Theft. 5300 block Western Avenue.

Theft. 5100 block Baltimore Avenue (Westgate).

Vehicle burglary. 5800 block Edson Lane (Old Georgetown Village).

Drug arrest. I-270 off-ramp at Montrose Road.

Drug arrest. 9900 block Mayfield Drive at 9:45 PM (Georgetown Village).

Assault. 12000 block Rockville Pike (Pike District).

Kidnapping. 12400 block Village Square Terrace.

Bethesda Art Metal Works recovering from car smashing into its storefront (Photo)

Bethesda Art Metal Works is recovering from a bizarre but increasingly common incident - a car having plowed into the front of its Bethesda Avenue space - on August 4. Inventory is back in the store, and the glass and brickwork have been replaced. 

The shop provides service, restoration and repair for everything from cookware and lawn furniture, to candlesticks and fireplace screens.

Bethesda Art Metal Works

4955 Bethesda Avenue

301-656-1445

Sidewalk closure for Bethesda Medical Building work (Photos)

Here's a rare thing to find in downtown Bethesda - a sidewalk closure that actually includes the now-required public notification sign. A new ADA-accessible ramp is being added to the Bethesda Medical Building's Woodmont Avenue entrance, and a sidewalk closure notice is posted at either end of the block between Battery Lane and Cordell Avenue. There are signs of other work that may be involved, such as a wooden structure just south of the building entrance.

The dates of the official closure are not filled in yet, but it is already closed in practical terms, via the size of the signage. Pedestrians were crossing to the other side of Woodmont on Sunday.

Capital Crescent Trail meeting tonight in Bethesda

A supplemental community meeting will be held tonight in Bethesda regarding the alignment of the proposed Capital Crescent Trail Connector, which would connect the popular trail to the nearby Little Falls Trail.

This meeting is for those who have not yet had the opportunity to give Montgomery Parks Department staff their thoughts on the project, which would include a pedestrian/cyclist crossing of Hillandale Road.

The meeting will begin at 7:00 PM tonight at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center.

Mural added to Lot 667 redevelopment plan on St. Elmo Ave. in Bethesda (Photos)

A paneled mural is the latest addition to the Greenhill Capital Lot 667 redevelopment plan, as part of the project's public space along St. Elmo Avenue. The lower-case "b"-shaped lot is bordered by St. Elmo, and Norfolk and Fairmont Avenues, in downtown Bethesda's Woodmont Triangle. It includes the former BlackFinn Bethesda nightclub building and current Bold Bite properties (4901-A/B Fairmont Avenue), the former Fresh Grill and Dansez! Dansez! building adjacent to those on Fairmont, and former BCC Automotive and Red Tomato Cafe structures on St. Elmo.

The redevelopment plan, created by the architecture firm of Steven J. Karr, AIA, Inc., would add floors to some of the existing structures, delete one current vehicle driveway, and create new public space. Greenhill seeks to increase the maximum developable non-residential space on the site from 19,835 SF to 25,259 square feet. The Montgomery County Planning Board will take up the project at its September 17 meeting. Planning staff is recommending approval of the project.

Proposed public space on the site will be on both Fairmont and St. Elmo Avenues. A previous design rendering for public space on St. Elmo was shown on the SJKAIA, Inc. website, but the mural described in planning documents isn't shown in that earlier image. The latest blueprint-style rendering indicates that the mural will be on an existing wall of the Red Tomato Cafe building. Amenities will include landscaping, Bethesda Streetscape-standard brick pavers, a scored concrete surface, and chess/checkers tables.

An early design study did show a large mural on the Fairmont side, but that space was eliminated by a later design (it was where the vehicle entrance is off of Fairmont today). SJKAIA also designed a mural for a new retail building on Cordell Avenue, which has attracted a lot of attention for its New York via Las Vegas theme.

The driveway off of St. Elmo (depicted in the top image) will become the sole vehicle access for deliveries and trash removal, creating a better walking environment for pedestrians and a more unified design. Located within the urban parking lot district, Lot 667 does not have to include parking in its design.

Here are new aerial/blueprint-style renderings of the proposed public spaces on Fairmont (901.67 SF) and St. Elmo (975.39 SF):

Renderings courtesy Steven J. Karr, AIA, Inc.
All rights reserved

Car stolen from Strathmore, assault on Cordell Ave. + more - Bethesda crime update

Here's a roundup of crimes reported across Bethesda on September 4, according to crime data:

Theft. 7900 block Woodmont Avenue.

Assault. 4900 block Cordell Avenue.

Theft from vehicle. 4800 block Battery Lane.

Theft. 4800 block Battery Lane.

Theft. 6900 block Clarendon Road (Edgemoor).

Theft. 5600 block Chesterbrook Road (Springfield).

Vehicle burglary. 5300 block Pooks Hill Road.

Stolen car. Strathmore Hall at 8:03 PM.

Assault. 10400 block Old Georgetown Road at 9:12 PM.

Theft. Lord and Taylor.

Drug arrest. I-270 ramp at Rockledge Drive.

Theft. 11400 block Rockville Pike (Pike District).

Theft. Westfield Montgomery Mall.

"Other sexual offense." 6100 block Stonehenge Place at 7:42 AM.

Underwraps reopens in Bethesda

Underwraps has reopened in the Shoppes of Bethesda on Hampden Lane, after a car drove into the front of the lingerie store on August 21. Pure Barre Bethesda, a fitness studio next door, was also damaged in the wreck, but reopened August 25. The driver of the vehicle sustained injuries, but they were not life-threatening.

JBG project at former Thyme Square building underway in Bethesda (Photos)

Developer JBG Companies requested a sheeting and shoring permit from Montgomery County in late July, for its project constructing a new retail building on the site of the former Thyme Square restaurant at 4735 Bethesda Avenue. Construction contractor Coakley Williams has fenced off the property, which is right by the Capital Crescent Trail and the green space by Mon Ami Gabi and the Landmark Bethesda Row Cinema.

JBG has publicly only shown a larger retail structure with a largely glass facade labeled, "Market", as you can see in my earlier post linked to in the above paragraph. This is one part of a block-length JBG project along Bethesda Avenue that also includes 7200 Wisconsin Avenue, and 4733 Bethesda Avenue.

Fire evacuates high-rise apartments in Friendship Heights (Photos)

Update - 5:02 PM with more photos

A kitchen fire on the 7th floor of the North Park Apartments at 4615 N. Park Avenue in Chevy Chase has evacuated the building. Shortly before 3:00 PM, firefighters responded to the small blaze, which was quickly extinguished but has flooded many floors of the building with smoke.

The Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad went door to door to check for any residents who might need assistance, and to ensure everyone was out and accounted for.

Residents and firefighters
outside the building

Residents in the unit where the fire occurred will require emergency shelter. Fire personnel are currently assessing how many more residents - if any - will need shelter, as a number of units below the fire have sustained water damage, according to scanner reports.

Firefighters had to obtain a master key to open several units to check for injured or sheltering residents. There are no reported injuries so far. An ambulance transport was requested via radio during the incident, but that report remains unconfirmed.

An air-conditioned Ride On bus is being summoned to provide temporary shelter from the heat outdoors to residents who are waiting outside. Ice water is also being requested for a number of elderly residents outside. Residents on floors 1-5 are just getting the go-ahead to return to their units, although elevators remain under fire control, so it's unclear how quickly they will be able to get back in.

One complication is that the building's elevators will not reset to normal operations as long as there is any residual smoke present. "As long as there is any smoke, at any smoke detector, the elevator system will not reset," the building's management told firefighters, according to radio communications.

Residents above the 5th floor must wait until firefighters can finish ventilating the upper part of the building.

The fire has been preliminarily ruled as accidental, from cooking in the apartment on the 7th floor. Responding departments included Bethesda Fire Department, Silver Spring, Kensington Volunteer Fire Department, NIH and U.S. Navy Fire Departments, BCC Rescue Squad, and Cabin John Volunteer Fire Department.