Brown Development has released a very-detailed and comprehensive redevelopment plan for 4890-4900 Battery Lane in downtown Bethesda. Addressed as 4900 Battery Lane, the new apartment building that would replace those properties would be an 11-story structure housing 315 residential units, with an L-shaped tower, multiple courtyards and terraces, structured parking and a resident amenity rooftop.
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| A family exits one of the 2-level townhome units along the ground-level through-block connector on the west side of the building |
Units will vary from studios up to three-bedrooms. 15% of the units will be Moderately Priced Dwelling Units (MPDUs). There will also be some integrated, two-story "townhome"-style units with ground-level entrances.
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| Residents will gather in a "front yard" space along Battery Lane, with a verandah "front porch" and seating areas |
No ground floor retail is proposed. In an effort to still activate the streetscape, residential amenities will be placed on the ground floor. A more innovative feature will be a "front yard" with a verandah and open-air terrace in front of the 2-story lobby along Battery Lane. This was achieved by relocating a pull-off for deliveries to the Arrival Plaza on the east side driveway of the property. The idea is that residents will be gathering out front, providing some activity to improve the pedestrian experience, particularly after business hours and into the evening.
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| Two public through-block connectors for pedestrians and cyclists are shown in pink, connecting Battery Lane with Rugby Avenue |
One design element that will also benefit the community is the creation of two through-block connectors, that will create two new cut-throughs for pedestrians between Rugby Avenue and Battery Lane. This will improve access to downtown Bethesda for those living to the north, and to the Bethesda Trolley Trail for those approaching from the south. 35% of the property will be dedicated to landscaped green space. There will be a step-down design from the 11-story height of the front tower to the rear of the property.
Obviously, the tremendous, tremendous concern about the redevelopment of Battery Lane is what the net loss of naturally-occurring affordable units will be in another 10-15 years. But we are certainly seeing a great deal of thought put into the design of this phase by Brown Development, and a lot of detail in the renderings, for this "Site C" phase of Brown's larger plan.
Renderings courtesy Brown Development
3 comments:
So does the western pedestrian passthrough simply dump into AMR's private parking lot? That's awfully weird, if true.
9:00: I believe the eastern pass-through is the only one that currently can connect to the police station on Rugby. The western one, as you note, would currently dead-end at that private property. So it looks like they have some work ahead on that one.
The western pass-through is tied to future development of the adjacent property. The western pass-through is only a 5’ wide sidewalk by the way.
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