Westbard Square construction update (Photos)

Let's take a look at the progress on the construction of the new Westbard Square development in June on the Westwood Shopping Center property at 5400 Westbard Avenue in Bethesda. This phase that you are seeing in these photos is the new Giant grocery store building, which also includes an above-ground parking garage, office space and street level storefronts for other businesses. You can see the entrance to the garage in several of the photos. 

One other thing that becomes clear: the future mixed-use building that will replace the rest of the shopping center after the Giant moves over is going to be even smaller than the renderings looked. Initially, I wondered why above-grade structures were rising several feet where I assumed the Town Square would be. Gradually, it became clear that the entrance street from Westbard and the Town Square are actually going to be where the current Giant store is. With a park and other street to be located between today's Anglo-Dutch Pools and Toys and the single-family homes on Ridgefield Road, that residential building with ground-level storefronts will have to take a narrower stance between the two roadways than the renderings suggested.