More of the facade has been added to the 17-story luxury apartment tower Gallery Bethesda, under construction between Del Ray and Auburn Avenues.
Check out these photos, including two shots that show just how close your balcony could be to the rooftop patio of next-door neighbor Tia Queta.
Hey! Pass those margaritas over here!
6 comments:
Perhaps you are unaware that a second apartment tower is planned next to the Gallery, which will include what appears to be a fantastic pedestrian streetscape to rival Bethesda Row. Perhaps you need to do a little research before you denegrate the design work of others.
This corner apartment and balcony you seem to ridicule will soon be one off the coolest places to live in town. Please do a little research before you make statements.
Oh, brother. Where in this post did I "denigrate" any of the design work? I am aware of the second tower. I simply pointed out the proximity of some balconies to the rooftop patio next door. I didn't even express an opinion about that either way. If you were a regular reader, you would know that I've been posting photo galleries at every step of this building's construction.
"That 70's building" systems to indicate you do not like this design. I am a frequent reader of your blog, and often find it insightful. My only criticism is that you seem to take pleasure at how new development disrupts the town. Oh my the mall is closing, the mall is closing, but in fact the mall is improving. But, I strongly believe that you are a supporter of high density, walkable, transit friendly places to live. I just get confused by the mixed messages.
You've got to break a few eggs to make an omelet my friend.
Anonymous needs to lighten up a bit! Anyone following The Gallery knows there will be a second building. Robert has been informing citizens about the progress. Yes, it's cool to see a balcony over Tia Queta.
Reporting news isn't a negative. That's like saying reporting on part of Bethesda Ave being closed for a couple days for The Darcy crane to be built means you hate the The Darcy project?!
I happen to like architecture from the 70s, so that wasn't a slam. But the actual building is turning out to be a bit more modern than the artist renderings, which made it resemble The Willoughby in Friendship Heights (of which I am a fan also, but you wouldn't confuse it with Singapore or Dubai). There is a bit more glass than the renderings indicated, as well. So I think this project was underserved by the renderings, and is turning out better than expected.
I never take pleasure in disruptions. If people are tripping over sidewalk repairs, or they're left unfinished when tourists are about to descend for the inauguration - I absolutely am going to criticize that. Civic pride is an important thing.
White Flint Mall isn't getting better, it's closing. I happen to think that is a mistake from an urban planning standpoint, as well as an economic one. So I'm expressing my opinion about it.
I do support transit, with the exception of the flawed BRT system proposed by the county. I also think density makes sense in our edge cities of downtown Bethesda and Silver Spring. But I do not support urbanizing bedroom communities like Glenmont, Wheaton, Rockville, Westbard, etc. Those areas are already walkable, and the county is not generating enough high paying jobs to justify taking on those infrastructure costs associated with urbanization of the suburbs. It's wrong to replace trees and green space with concrete, and it is economically unsustainable.
I'd want to be sure I had the right recipe, before making the omelette.
Me again! I just want to tell you that I very much appreciate your reportage of current and proposed development in the area. As a bit of background, I do not currently live in the DC area, but hope to retire to the area in a few years with my wife. I am a practicing architect in a large Midwestern city and find the criticism of local bloggers to be a very good sounding Board for my design work. Many of my projects are similar in scale to work in DC. Sometimes their comments and those of guests can be well intentioned, but somehow less than fully informed. Many people fear what they do not understand, and Nimbism, is rampant in my region. So people just do not have the vision to accept change, and fight hard to derail anything new or different. Just as I would hope local design professionals in the Bethesda area would visit your blog to get a sense of how well received their work is received, and perhaps even improve their future work based upon those comments, I just hope your efforts will continue to report development in an unbiased manner.
With the demise of DCMud, non-locals have lost a portal into the development news of the region. I encourage you to continue to keep us all informed.
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