Rental apartment development firm Greystar unveiled its plans for the site of an abandoned Exxon gas station at 7340 Wisconsin Avenue in downtown Bethesda at a virtual meeting last night. The meeting was presided over by the applicant's attorney, Pat Harris. Greystar has recently completed the CSX East project at the Navy Yards in Washington, D.C. They are shifting the concept from a previous developer's plan for senior housing to an all-ages, mixed-use high rise.
Andy Czajkowski of Bethesda-based architecture firm SK+I called the property a "long-awaited infill site," in one of the understatements of the year. The site has been an eyesore and waste of prime real estate for years as previous developers tried and failed to deliver a project. Most recently, a sketch plan was approved for a senior housing project, which ultimately fell through.
Renderings followed a refreshing new trend, in presenting a fully-realized design for the tower. Czajkowski described the massing, design and shape of the building as a "pinwheel." It will include 315,000 gross square feet of development, around 300 to 308 residential units, ground floor retail, and around 158 parking spaces (.52 spaces per unit). The latter is possible due to the site's relative proximity to nearby parking garages. The Montgomery Avenue bikeway next to Avocet Tower will eventually continue down Montgomery Lane alongside this building.
Greystar hopes to file its application with Montgomery County this week. The approval process is anticipated to take 7-8 months, a bit shorter than most because some of the groundwork was laid by the previous senior housing approval. A Q2 or Q3 2023 groundbreaking is expected. Construction will take 24-28 months; John Moriarty & Associates of Arlington will be the construction contractor.
14 comments:
This looks like a nice project, and certainly is well located, close to transit. The pin-wheel shape and angular sloping curtain wall at the top creates an iconic and memorable profile. I like how the eight stacks of deeply recessed glass balconies help articulate the facade, reduce the massing and emphasize the verticality of the tower.
I think this tower will be a nice counterpoint to the neo-traditional, art-deco inspired Hampden House, and the more Jenga-like Wilson office building nearby and the future Hampden East mixed-use office and multifamily residential on the same block.
I count three future 25 story high towers (Hampden House, Hampden East and this tower), two 22 story high towers (Wilson and Avocet), a 30 story high twin residential tower (Elm), a 15 story office tower (4747 Bethesda), a 22 story residential tower at the former Starbucks and a 17 story residential tower near the Farm Women's Market. That’s ten new high rises between 15 and 30 stories in the space of about three blocks, adjacent to the future new Metro entrance, Purple Line Station and BRT station. Quite an amazing amount of transit oriented development.
"158 parking spaces (.52 spaces per unit)." Well played, RD.
@12:43 Quite an amazing amount of urban canyonizing. Say goodbye to the sun, Bethesda.
Should be much taller given the location next to the Red Line & Purple Line, and should have more parking per unit. Otherwise, I cant wait for that gas station blight to go away.
They originally said 3 Underground parking Levels. Then the guy on the Zoom Call said “Oh I just noticed there are 4 underground parking levels. Sorry bout that”. Anytime you have an apt building like this that is high up but not that far from side to side you need at least 4 underground parking levels ! And even with that you only have enough spaces for one of every 2 apartments to have one space.
The Key here that they are hoping for is that with it being right on top of the METRO Station that over half the people living there will not have cars. Interesting Assumption ! May or may not work out that way…………..
"158 parking spaces (.52 spaces per unit). "
"The latter is possible due to the site's relative proximity to nearby parking garages."
Yup overflow cars can just park and clog up the public parking garages. Sounds like a solid plan.
1:53 PM
Perhaps you might be more comfortable living in Olney. Where do you suggest we add density, other than near mass transit?
Looks great. PLEASE let this one finally get off the drawing board.
@12:43: I can certainly understand missing the older "quaint" Bethesda. Still infill is
better than sprawl. Better Bethesda than up county. I also agree that it would be nice if representative represented current residents who pay their salary via taxes rather than only listening to developers.
Learning
@4:02 - The story points out that there are nearby parking garages. Presumably residents with a car for occasional use could rent long-term spaces in these garages which are used mainly for office commuters.
No one has yet used the phrase, "activate the space"!
The land under the gas station is probably contaminated with lead. How does the developer plan to make the apartments safe for children? It wouldn't have been a problem for seniors.
Nice. I can't wait until this eyesore is redeveloped.
12:43pm
Agreed. This is the best looking residential high rise project in Bethesda (Wilson is best overall) and Greystar certainly has the vast resources to follow it through to fruition.
1:43pm
95% of Bethesda is suburban single family developments and strip malls, not to mention the rest of the county. Why can't the other 5% be dedicated to far more sustainable dense development?
6:04pm
It is a solid plan. The public parking garages are practically empty overnight which is when the residents would need to park their vehicles. In fact residential only and office only parking garages are very wasteful because they're both empty half the time but a joint garage is much better utilized.
10:51am
The environmental remediation at the site was done a long time ago. Gas station redevelopment isn't exactly new in Bethesda. The TD Bank on Old Georgetown, Cheval apartments and Solaire apartments were all gas stations previously.
Other former gas station sites - The TD Bank on Wisconsin. The 7-11. The office complex where the Hot Shoppes, Dart Drug and the Shell station used to be. The office complex on the southeast corner of the same intersection. Two more former gas stations on the west side of Old Georgetown Road north of Woodmont Avenue. In fact, there were as many as 23 gas stations in downtown Bethesda in the mid-20th Century.
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