Federal Realty is asking the board to restore building heights that were reduced on its "Woodmont East" and "Bethesda Avenue South" properties at a board worksession on the Bethesda Downtown sector plan on May 12, 2016. The Woodmont East building currently houses retail and restaurants, office space and the Landmark Bethesda Row Cinema. Bethesda Avenue South refers to a 90' residential building Federal Realty is planning, that would fit behind and above existing retail structures there, including the Apple Store.
In a letter to the board, SVP for Mixed-use Development at Federal Realty Ramsey Meiser argues that the height reductions will reduce the economic viability of redeveloping those sites in the future. He says the company will have the option to move forward on both projects well within the stated 20-year scope of the Bethesda Downtown Plan.
The board voted 3-2 to reduce the height for Woodmont East from 250' to 145', and Bethesda Row South from 90' to 70'.
Meiser points out correctly that the Woodmont East site is directly adjacent to the future Purple Line station and future south entrance to the Metro Red Line station. He writes that the board made an error by using the existing engineering limitations at the site to justify a reduction in height.
Adding stories to the existing building is not possible due to the below-grade theater space, Meiser writes. But when the Landmark lease is up in 11 years, he says, Federal Realty will be free to redevelop the site, and would have no problem constructing a 250' building there.
 |
| Proposed 90' residential building behind Apple Store, existing Bethesda Avenue retail |
"Because of the timing of the leases on Bethesda Avenue South," Meiser writes, "[Federal Realty] has the ability to move forward on its redevelopment plan as early as October 2018."
Federal Realty included several renderings that show its 90' building would not be imposing to single-family homes in the Sacks neighborhood adjacent to the Flats at Bethesda Avenue and Ourisman Honda. It is 300' between the proposed building and the closest house in Sacks, the letter says.
 |
| View from second floor rear of house on Leland St. in Sacks subdivision (click to enlarge) |
 |
| View of future residential building from Leland Street (that's the Ourisman Honda garage in the center background, and the Flats at Bethesda Avenue in the right background) |
In these seat-of-pants height decisions, I'm reminded of their worksession ruling to set the height for the Westwood Center II property by looking at a warped Google Maps image, which distorted the actual grade of the site. Only in Montgomery County!
Photo: Robert Dyer
Renderings via Montgomery County Planning Department
33 comments:
So now you support developers in Bethesda. What a hypocrite you are. Where's your coverage of 145' and 250' heights directly adjacent to residential areas in Bethesda - non-existent. Where's your coverage of the effect on the BCC cluster? on traffic in and through Bethesda? Non-existent. Major hypocrisy, archetypal NIMBY.
When these new heights are approved, as they most assuredly will, how will cars and pedestrians coexist? Increasingly, emergency vehicles are impeded by the congestion. It is reaching critical levels particularly at rush hour for emergency personnel to navigate North to South and visa versa through Downtown Bethesda. Bring the Purple Line into the picture. The level of congestion is clearly going to impact response times and transport to hospitals. Hope it's not me or my loved ones trying to get to Sibley or Suburban. Or my home burning to the ground as pedestrians and cars saunter along Bethesda Ave. Texting, oblivious to sirens blaring..
Bethesda Row 2.0 is going vertical in big way!
6:05 AM Do you not understand that each lot is different and needs to be considered individually. Building heights at a side road in Westbard might be a bit different than building heights on a major roadway in downtown setting?
N I M B Y
I
M
B
Y
@ 6:29 AM - How will the Purple Line cause all that congestion in Bethesda? It's going to be on a completely separate, grade-separated right-of-way east of Silver Spring.
I've never seen emergency vehicles driving along Bethesda Avenue, unless they are responding to an emergency that is actually on that street. It's not a through route and it's silly to treat it as such.
6:50 AM Woodmont Ave. is a main route for emergency vehicles
YES!!! Another opportunity to #PriceDyerOuttaBethesda
#PriceEveryoneButTheOnePercentOuttaBethesda
Do you think it's possible? God, I hope so #PriceDyerOuttaBethesda
7:01 AM - Yes, it is. Woodmont Avenue is not Bethesda Avenue.
For all you know he's already bought at The Lauren.
6:05: You're talking to the only reporter who has exposed last year's infrastructure/school capacity summit as a fraud, and the ONLY media outlet to cover the current attempt to give developers a 60% impact tax cut. Let's be honest here.
This comment is off topic and a violation of comment policy per Robert Dyer.
#PriceDyerOutOfMom'sBasement
Hey, if you aren't that guy from that other place, I bet you're pissing that guy off by pretending to be him.
I wish we could all get together and drive Dyer out of Bethesda. The world would be a safer place if we could only shut down his blog.
If we could drive Arlington based bloggers out of Bethesda, the Starbucks shitter would be a safer place.
So where is Dyer's outrage over the potential loss of a movie theater, this week?
8:38: This is not a mainstream cineplex playing the latest blockbusters. It is a draw for a higher-income, older-skewing well-educated filmgoer, which benefits the high-end businesses around the Row. It may well return in a new building. But the loss of art house movies is completely different from losing the Regal Cinemas; two different audiences, the latter being much larger.
So basically screw the senior citizens they don't matter.
So you're saying that the Regal doesn't benefit businesses nearby, but the Landmark does?
@354 another example of how there is absolutely no rhyme or reason to Dyer's rants he goes on. Consistent attempts to get enough publicity that Bethesda Mag may finally offer him employment that allows him to move out of mommy's basement by the time he turns 40.
7:01 Oh. You're saying they need Dyer to make their site viable. Indeed.
@ 7:06 AM - Think of Bethesda Magazine as Hillary Clinton and Robert Dyer as Donald Trump. The first party may not be perfect, but the sheer insanity of "the completion" makes them look great by comparison. So yes, Dyer's existence is in fact very helpful by comparison.
8:19 - So you're saying that Dyer has been gaining supporters right and left. That surprisingly constituents are tired of the same old lies and stale-mates and are looking for something to shake things up. Indeed.
@ 9:12 AM - Try a little more reading comprehension and a little less magical thinking.
8:19: The "completion"? Sounds like you could use a spell check. Surprised you'd use an "insanity" talking point given all the craziness surrounding their magazine.
3:54: No, I was very clear that Landmark is a draw that brings a lucrative demographic to Bethesda Row. I don't believe Federal Realty has said Landmark wouldn't be invited back. I think we need both, but the impact of losing Regal cuts across a broader demographic, and makes the damage that much greater to the local economy. The Landmark is tied more to the high-end retail and restaurants around the Row; the Regal audience is just as likely to go to Potbelly or Caddies after the movie as they are to Raku or Jaleo.
"I don't believe [Carr Properties] has said [Regal] wouldn't be invited back." would be just as true.
In any case, I can't remember the last time I've been to a Regal. Arclight has been my go-to.
9:28: ArcLight is great, but the Council can't say "walkable communities" and "nighttime economy" if they allow the Regal cineplex that essentially anchors downtown Bethesda to vanish into the night. As you can see in my report this morning, Carr's plan does indeed include a movie theater.
It's not like anyone under 50 goes to Bethesda anymore anyway. It's too expensive and the parking is ridiculous.
I drove for Uber last year and almost none of the trips in Bethesda involved young people, unless they were working the bars or arriving on Vamoose buses. I picked up some guys who had been drinking and they wanted to go to Dupont because all the women in Bethesda are married.
When you develop a place like Bethesda, double incomes, high-end everything, you can expect it to be BORING. And it is.
I've been in the area for over 20 years. I've lived in Wheaton, Kensington, Rockville, and Silver Spring. I've worked in Rockville, Silver Spring and Bethesda. Bethesda is a DEAD ZONE. People want to go to DC. And a few want to go to Silver Spring and Rockville. BUT nobody, NOBODY wants to go to Bethesda.
Post a Comment