Bethesda-based real estate firm B.F. Saul held a virtual community meeting on its 8001 Wisconsin Avenue redevelopment proposal last night. Most of the information was identical to that revealed at a similar meeting earlier this year, but with some new details and an updated timeline.
B.F. Saul has decided that the residential units in the building will be rental apartments. There will be 15000 square feet of retail and restaurant space facing Wisconsin. New sidewalks, trees and lighting will be added on all sides of the square-block-scale project. Parking access will be from Highland Avenue.
The firm suggested looking at its retail tenants in the Van Ness area of the District to see the quality of brands it will bring to 8001 Wisconsin's storefronts. That retail will have its own underground parking; residential parking will be barricaded off separately as in the Capital Crescent Garage, with a gate and security.
Each apartment will have one parking space, which is more than is required by Montgomery County at this location. B.F. Saul surveyed downtown Bethesda residents on how many parking spaces they use at their existing buildings to determine how many spaces to provide here.
Another new detail is that there is a public alley on the property. B.F. Saul is currently asking Montgomery County to abandon that alleyway to them.
A downtown Bethesda Design Advisory Panel review of the 8001 Wisconsin project will likely be held in February on March. Expect a site plan by the middle of next year. A public hearing on the plan before the Montgomery County Planning Board could be held around the same time.
2 comments:
I still think that this project will be a great addition to the East Bethesda neighborhood, by providing a buffer between the single family homes, stepping up from a wide park, then 7 to 9 stories on Wisconsin. The 70’ wide green space is twice as wide as the required 35’ wide East Bethesda Greenway, and it looks to include some nice landscaping. At the meeting, they committed to saving any large and healthy trees as possible.
I know that the East Bethesda residents fought hard to reduce the height allowed along the east side of Wisconsin, and even were able to eliminate the proposed height and density bonus available to developers if they increase the MPDU percentage above 15% as allowed in other areas of downtown. I think you can see how their efforts paid off and this project, which to me seems like a good compromise.
The sloping roof forms on the eastern edge will also create a more residential feel. I think the building kind of feels a lot like the iconic Dakota in New York, and will be a very handsome project. Their other projects in the DC area have been extremely high quality in their details and construction. Many less sensitive developers would have filled every cubic inch of the available building envelop, but these guys are proposing to break down the massing by having four exposed courtyards on the north and south sides.
Of course any construction project is noisy, dirty and messy, but once completed, I think the project will be well worth the inconvenience, and greatly improve the immediate area. Hopefully other thoughtfully scaled and designed projects like this can happen at the Funeral Home, Benihana, CVS and Chase Bank sites.
The elephant in the room is that this guarantees the demise of Peter's Carryout.
Being an original Toddle House, I'm surprised it hasn't already been designated historic.
Toddle Houses were built to be moved, so perhaps the diner can be relocated.
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