Developer StonebridgeCarras broke ground this past week on their Avocet Tower office building project at the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and Montgomery Avenue, formerly the site of the 2nd District Montgomery County police station. It will be interesting to see if they can succeed where all other new Class A buildings have failed so far - none have been able to attract a major corporate headquarters. No major corporate HQ has relocated to Montgomery County in over twenty years.
19 comments:
Too bad you slept through the groundbreaking on Thursday.
You could have reported on fat communist Marc Elrich's gaffe.
8:09: Hans Riemer made the gaffe, not Elrich. What Elrich said was simply the truth; Riemer lied. Too bad you slept through Riemer's lies, old sport.
Safety cones, drilling rig and red clay soil.
Riveting.
I came here for the awful elevator music.
I did not fail to be disappointed.
9:08: And yet, it's how you spent your whole weekend. Sad!
First of all, it was an attempt at humor. Dual meaning of rivet and riveting?
Secondly, if that's true, then you've spent the whole weekend here with me.
Was it everything you'd hoped for?
Anna, did you know that the color of soil - yellow-brown, orange-brown, deep-red-brown, is due to the presence of iron oxides? These iron oxides, by themselves, are used as pigments for paints. E.g. Ochre, Indian Red, Sienna and Umber.
9:36AM, that makes sense. I remember a bit from Geology classes. Like less than 5% iron oxide can color 100% of the soil.
I've thought of it more as an indicator of how the soil was formed. And we all know what red clay does to white softball clothes! (by coincidence, currently the tennis version is visable at the French Open)
10:42am apparently there's value considering the "mallwalker" blogs Dyer has inspired.
We're in the peak "openings & closings" blog era. Sit back. Appreciate it.
11:19AM & 11:37AM = Haters gonna hate...
It must drive you insane to see so many cranes across "moribund" Bethesda. Millions of sqft of office space that are leasing up before the buildings are even completed. You look more and more like a fool every day, Bob.
1:15: Your comment is pure fiction. Avocet Tower is being built on spec, as was 4500 East-West Highway and others. "Millions of square feet" are absolutely not being leased, as developers have turned to taxpayer-funded subsidies to fill unleaseable space with smaller, less-desirable tenants.
Why is everything all-or-nothing with you, Dyer? Just because all of the space isn't leased prior to delivery doesn't mean that none is.
Marriott.
JBG Smith.
Fox 5/20.
And many more.
Why would anyone build on spec if they didn't have confidence in Bethesda's demand for office space?
Answer that question, Mr. Economic Genius.
Robbie, did you report that stray oxygen tank visible in Photo #1? I'm pretty sure that's a safety violation.
Avocet is indeed a good test of our ability to attract high-quality businesses. It’s a great location and a fine project.
I’m guessing it will be 50% leased on completion. But I hope it’s more.
Anyone else care to say what they expect?
At the Washington Business Journal Conference on new development in Bethesda last year, the assembled speakers seemed to agree that Avocet will likely be the last new trophy office building to be constructed in the near term. They mentioned that Bethesda is really still a boutique office market, and that all the lesser class older office spaces will take some time to fill up before demand increases again. They indicated that Bethesda is a very strong residential, hotel and mixed-use market, but never has had a really robust office market. Physically a bit too far from airports and massive freeways to compete with Arlington, especially Tyson’s. Not quite integrated enough with the urban fabric of DC to really compete with the CBD of the DMV.
Regarding 4747 Bethesda, it’s was indeed a spec building that was 82% leased, 1 year before completion, but as Robert has pointed out, several tenants are relocating from elsewhere in downtown Bethesda, or Chevy Chase. The Wilson still has quite a bit of space available, but won’t be available until the fall of 2020. It’ will be interesting to see how Avocet fares in the market. The Marriott HQ Tower is obviously not a spec building, even though it is being built by a developer and leased by Marriott. The new ten story Biotech Office Tower on the Sunoco station site is also spec, and likely will be underway soon. The 150,000 SF office addition proposed for the Air Rights Building and a three story office/retail building south of the Apple store (in the parking lot) are still on hold, but fully approved, so they could go up quickly if the demand increases.
So in summary, the WBJ concluded that we will not likely see any more brand new offices in constructed in downtown. There still is a large market for upgraded and renovated older office space in downtown Bethesda, not unlike many, many older office building in Crystal City, where class B offices get a makeover to increase their quality, energy efficiency and services. Perhaps this will help clean up some rather tired office buildings in Bethesda and make them more attractive from new tenants and to retain existing tenants.
Let’s start with the Clark building and reskin it with a modern glass and metal facade. Open up the base to the proposed plaza renovation at 4 Metro Center and along Old Georgetown Road. Even 3 Metro Center could use a refresh and a bright new facade, and an open and inviting base with enhanced connectivity to the plaza and street frontage.
Perhaps a sleek and slender 250’ tall triangular glass tower could be built on the northwest corner of Old Georgetown Road and Wisconsin to complete the Bethesda CDB. A small office footprint no doubt, but it could easily create an iconic new flatiron shaped landmark in the epicenter of town. Maybe a clever developer could prepare a design and market this as a build to suit office tower to lure one of Robert’s corporate headquarters. The candle on top of the birthday cake massing of our skyline.
@5:56 - Thanks for the comprehensive breakdown!
"Millions of square feet" are absolutely not being leased, as developers have turned to taxpayer-funded subsidies to fill unleaseable space with smaller, less-desirable tenants."
Who are these subsidized tenants. Learning
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