Public use hours of the Woodmont Corner Garage 11 at 7730 Woodmont Avenue in downtown Bethesda are now scheduled to change on or about August 1, 2022. The general public will only be able to park in the garage 6:00 PM to 7:00 AM Monday - Friday, and all day on weekends. Due to an agreement between Marriott International and Montgomery County, only Marriott employees have use of the garage between 7:00 AM and 6:00 PM. Marriott's employees are being moved down to the new headquarters across from the garage during this month.
16 comments:
It’s nice to see that area residents can still use the garage if they are out by 7:00 AM and don’t return until 6:00 PM on weekdays. This is important for all the parking constrained apartment towers in the area. Certainly not ideal, but workable if you drive to work every day. If you take a day off work, you would have to move your car to another deck.
I’m really looking forward to seeing the actual impact of 3500 or more Marriott employees on the Woodmont Triangle businesses, and ridership on the Metro and buses. As I recall, Marriott predicted that 40% of their employees and visitors would not drive to the new HQ, but use transit, bike, rideshare, carpool, or walk.
What did MoCo get in return for this public property giveaway to Marriott? We gave them millions of dollars in taxpayer money to keep them in MoCo AND we gave them a taxpayer-funded and maintained parking lot so they don't have to build their own. What does the taxpayer get in return? What is Marriott doing to encourage use of alternate means of transport?
So a public parking garage, built with our money, is now being turned over for private use. I know this was coming, but has anyone challenged the assignment of exclusive private use of pubic facilities? How much, if anything, is Marriott paying the country? Or, is this a giveaway for Marriott plunking down the HQ in our town?
Marriott is paying the existing hourly parking rate for every space in the garage.
Do Dyer commenters not have access to google? If you're not familiar with a subject, try educating yourself about it rather than going straight to whining. Marriott is paying the county $40M over 20 years to use the garage during business hours.
@5:17 I'm confused. I thought all those apartments were built so Bethesda would be the model of a "walkable city," where residents abandoned cars in favor of bikes and Nikes, and we'd reduce roadway congestion because so many people would no longer be driving. Now you tell me all those apartment people are maintaining their automobile lifestyle anyway? I feel betrayed by the Utopian vision promised me by the Planning Board. I guess that does explain all the car dealerships being built and updated in downtown Bethesda, though.
Thankfully, I'm sure several battalions of Marriott workers will not just meet, but surpass that 60% public transit figure.
Marriott has agreed to pay the full parking fees for the county parking garage at 100% occupancy for the full workday, so the parking fund gets quite a bit of income each year for a fully utilized parking deck. This deck never was fully utilized in the past, and often had several levels completely unused.
Marriott also built their own five level parking deck below their new HQ. Together, the two parking decks provide only 0.6 spaces per employee at Marriott. This doesn’t include visitors or hotel guests and employees, so its probably about 0.5 spaces per person over the whole site. This would be considered heavily constrained parking in most cities in America, intended to encourage the use of mass transit.
Marriott also has indicated that they will not provide free parking in either deck, or sell monthly parking passes, but will require employees and guests to pay each day they use the deck. Marriott indicated that they will give their employees a transit stipend, but by making them pay every day, employees quickly learn that taking the Metro, or Purple Line, or buses, or future BRT, or car pooling or simply walking to their workplace can save them money and allow them to pocket some or all their transit stipend. Seems like a great way to encourage employees to at least consider using transit some of the time.
Of course evenings and weekends, the deck will function as before, and all are welcome to use it.
@9:45AM "I know this was coming", you seem to be speaking in another tense. "paying the country"? Marriott is surely paying America millions, try focusing on our "county".
This whole move of Marriott Hqs from a quiet Campus setting on Fernwood Rd to the middle of TRAFFIC NIGHTMARE
DOWNTOWN Bethesda is a fiasco and tells u something about the IDIOTS on the MONTCO Council that supported the move.
This move will COST , NOT ADD, jobs for MONTCO Residents as Suburbanites will shun this traffic-congested commute BUT
Residents of DC will happily ride METRO to Downtown Bethesda.
So we give Marriott big tax breaks for what exactly ? ?….And then we throw in a free Parking Garage previously available to
the Public ?…..Total INSANITY ! !…..Must have been some considerable Under-The-Table payoffs…..Just RIDICULOUS !!
So as a Bethesda resident who for decades helped fuel the economy of downtown by dining and shopping there, am I no longer welcome because I cannot walk to my destination? What about all the small businesses that have relied on local patrons who have had to drive? Where do they put THEIR cats?
"IDIOTS on the MONTCO Council that supported the move."
Exactly. Why did "MONTCO" let Marriott move where they wanted to? Soviet Russia would have never let such a thing happen. Stupid "MONTCO" should have forced Marriott to stay in their dated and unappealing suburban office park. The top-end talent in downtown Bethesda is reserved only for the glory of the State.
I've never seen so many uneducated people whine about a Fortune 500 moving before. It's not even people who live in downtown Bethesda who are whining about it moving here. How psycho.
"So as a Bethesda resident who for decades helped fuel the economy of downtown by dining and shopping there, am I no longer welcome because I cannot walk to my destination?"
If you're shopping or dining during M-F, 7AM-6PM then, yes, you'll have to park in any of the other dozens of downtown Bethesda garages or surface lots or along the street or Uber or take a bus or ride a bike. This one garage being busy some hours of the day doesn't limit your non-walking options at all. Please don't be so dramatic, Karen.
This was almost a great response. Why resort to name calling? Doing so diminishes your message.
@2:25 PM, the locals should keep their cats at home, obviously.
So basically our tax dollars which paid for and continues paying maintenence and repair is being given to a corporation? Gotcha. And when was this corrupt decision made and why weren't we the people informed so as to make our voices heard?
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