Who would have thought an assisted living apartment building would lease up its ground floor faster than many of the luxury residential towers have in downtown Bethesda? The high number of visitors expected to pass in and out of the Brightview Bethesda daily likely is a factor in attracting tenants here. Just days ago, I reported the
signing of More Than Java Cafe as the first Brightview ground floor occupant. Today, I can report a second tenant on board,
Vivant Salon.
Both retail spaces are now under construction. Meanwhile, the official signage for the Brightview Building itself was installed yesterday, and signage for the residential parking entrance was placed over the garage door. It's intriguing that they are also adding the label of "Woodmont" to the building, either to note the Woodmont Triangle neighborhood, or perhaps in expectation of future projects in Bethesda.
16 comments:
The inclusion of a coffee shop and a hair salon on the ground floor is actually a very clever strategy to engage their residents with the public. Most assisted living facilities have these amenities, but they are usually buried within the facility, and only open to residents. By placing them on the ground floor, and making them open to the public, their residents feel more included and a vital part of the community. Another benefit is that the coffee shop and salon can get outside business to expand their market.
I think I read that they might also include an ice cream shop. Another great way to engage residents with the community. I can imagine the younglings would be much more likely to visit grandmother if they knew that ice cream was involved. It is also nice that the base of this building includes retail that is open and accessible to the public, to help animate the streetscape. Many senior facilities are really walled off communities.
Kudos to Brightview for including these great ideas in their new project, and welcome to Bethesda!
5:16: I would definitely welcome another ice cream shop. Hopefully the plaza at the Gallery I & II across the street can get activated to add to the short-distance options for senior residents here, and create a more vibrant environment.
Somebody leased 60K SF at The Wilson. Should find out who. The building's almost 80% pre-leased at this point.
5:52: I'm very interested to find out, but no major corporate HQs so far - in fact, none in over twenty years in Montgomery County.
5:52: It's not ProShares, correct? They leased 55000 earlier this year.
It's an addition to them. The 60K SF lease was executed this month ... ProShares was in April. Additionally, another 20K was leased in May.
Leases at the Wilson so far...
Fox WTTG 58K 8/18
ProShares 55K 3/19
Enviva 80K 8/18 + 20K 5/19
This new 60K lease is probably the "major coworking company" that was looking for about that much space in Bethesda.
Why does it matter if these are not major corporate headquarters? The employees are still very well paid and generate a lot of economic activity in downtown. Both this building and 4747 Bethesda have leased at faster paces than the new Boro Tower in Tysons.
continued...
I can confirm that the 60K lease is WeWork
Co-working spaces tend to be fillers for un-leased spaces in older Class B office buildings. I suspect that any co-working landlord would not afford to lease three full floors, totaling 60K in a new 23 story office building, when many nearby, lower cost, alternatives exist.
Perhaps co-working environments are becoming more relevant in this new tele-work/tele-commute economy, and are getting more high-end. Maybe even demanding Class A space, but 60K in the Wilson would be a tough nut.
6:54: They do bring the workers into the neighborhood, but they don't have the halo impact that a major corporation does, neither on recruiting additional firms nor on the support business start-ups they create.
Salaries at most of these are not going to be Amazon HQ2-average-level.
I tried to inquire if Fox 5 was going to custom build a studio that would have windows out to the plaza, as that would at least generate some buzz and promote downtown Bethesda on a daily basis, but my recollection is that they are going to be walled-off. Perhaps you can shed some light on where that stands.
7:06 Maybe some providers, but Wework hasn't leased Class B space in years. If you look at WeWork's recent leases in Tysons, Rosslyn, DC, Baltimore etc...all of that space is best-in-class, top-rent space.
Co-working in general is without a doubt shifting upmarket. Most of the newer co-working space in Bethesda/Friendship Hts - Spaces and Serendipity - is high-quality Class A
I read that Fox5 News was proposing to install a scrolling electronic Fox News ticker on edges of the Purple Line elevator/escalator canopy in the new plaza. Not sure if this is going forward, but it would certainly help animate the plaza.
Not sure how well received a hyper-conservative Republican news station’s ticker would be welcomed in the new epicenter of liberal Democratic downtown of Bethesda...
I believe they are taking mid-level floors of the building, so a window toward DC is possible. Most news stations simple use green-screen technology in their studios to place variable images behind their newscasters. I wonder if they are creating a double height space in the tower for their studio?
Is this where the old ladies will go to get their hair blue-rinsed, right before they drive the Giant in their 1980s Cadillacs to hoard toilet paper for the next blizzard?
I love seeing this part of town being activated!
Meanwhile crickets from BTB on the other Senior housing development at a former gas station above the metro. Someone is slacking...
2:18: If you're trying to claim that two major developers would blow a large assembled site on top of the Bethesda Metro with...senior housing, that would be #FakeNews. If true, it is the developers who would be "slacking."
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