Marriott International's new downtown Bethesda headquarters officially opened in September, and the company was hoping its new office tower at 7750 Wisconsin Avenue would be filled with employees this fall. That hasn't happened. The working-from-home movement continues to have legs, and the company's CEO has said he was not yet inclined to force employees back into the office with Draconian measures. But the company has now reduced the hours of the business day that it has exclusive use of the Woodmont Corner Public Parking Garage 11, which sits opposite the Marriott property across Woodmont Avenue.
Instead of the public being barred until 5:00 PM from entering the garage Monday through Friday, it can now park there beginning at 11:00 AM weekdays. Marriott's agreement with Montgomery County, in which it pays for its employees to have exclusive use of the garage on weekdays during business hours, was reached years before anyone had heard of COVID-19 or "WFH." But the company was wise enough to put options in the agreement for just such unpredictable events, through which it could reduce its control of the garage.
One big winner with the new garage hours is Black's Bar and Kitchen. The popular, longtime restaurant sits next door to the Woodmont Corner garage at 7750 Woodmont Avenue. It had lost business due to the inability of its patrons to park in the garage for lunch or early happy hours. Now the restaurant has posted a large sign to let customers know that parking is once again convenient during those periods of the day.
9 comments:
Smart move by Marriott to be a good neighbor here
That garage is so empty all day
That's some pretty decent news with which to start the new year.
A deserved victory for the local community. An embarrassing climbdown by Bethesda's great dictator
I remember all the complaints from Mr. Black when that garage went through major renovations way back when with county money, being concerned about people not being able to get conveniently into his restaurant for lunch. He was a whiner and a vociferous complainer in the press and on the news, but things did turned out wonderfully for him despite all of his worries and cincerns. Black's is basically a gold mine in an impeccable location and the Marriott situation is worthy of him speaking out this time.
Glad this situation has improved. Now can we fix Woodmont in front of the Marriott hotel (across from the parking garage). It has only one lane of travel and no stopping lanes, so all the delivery trucks just double-park in the travel lane, effectively blocking all traffic.
Do we know what, if anything, Marriott is paying for the exclusive use of the garage in the morning?
3:42 - FYI, Jeff Black is a stand-up guy. My business used to share an alley with Black's, and Jeff Black was the only tenant who cared about keeping the alley free from trash. I wish more business owners shared Jeff Black's sense of responsibility.
@6:24 AM - It's none of your damned business what Marriott paid, if any, stay in your tight-wade ultra-conservative lane.
8:18 - This is a public facility. It definitely is the public’s business to know the details of the agreement.
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