The former Jewelry Exchange building at 7749 Old Georgetown Road was purchased by Bethesda-based development firm Stonebridge last fall for $3.6 million. Stonebridge was represented in the purchase by Jack Alexander and Mark Rittenberg of another Bethesda real estate firm, AMR Commercial, LLC. At the time, speculation by local real estate observers centered on two questions: How soon would Stonebridge seek to redevelop the 0.165 acre property, and could it assemble it with any adjoining sites to create a larger potential project? We now have a solid answer to the first question, and are sixteen days away from a solid answer to the second.
Stonebridge initially leased the building to Nazlymov Fencing. But it now intends to move forward with redevelopment of the property. Stonebridge is proposing a mixed-use residential building with 240,000 square feet of residential space, and up to 6000 SF of ground floor retail and restaurant space. As proposed, the development would provide the minimum-required 15% Moderately Priced Dwelling Units (MPDUs). The site is zoned with a maximum height of 175 feet (approximately 18 stories) unless bonus density is sought through the optional points system, such as providing more than 15% MPDUs.
Here's the interesting part: The Jewelry Exchange site is 0.165 acres. Stonebridge describes its redevelopment project as being 0.43 acres. That would suggest it will be incorporating additional, adjoining property. The math of adding the 0.099 acre site of 7755 Old Georgetown next door doesn't quite add up for me. Perhaps one of my math whiz readers can figure out where Stonebridge is adding .265 acres of land to get to 0.43 acres?
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| 7749 Old Georgetown Road is outlined in green; potential adjoining properties are outlined in red; directly to the right of 7749 is the 12-story Fairmont Building at 7735 Old Georgetown, which at .52 acres is alone larger than Stonebridge's .43 acre plan, ruling it out as a potential addition to the project |
We'll have the answer soon enough: A required pre-submittal public meeting on the proposed Sketch Plan for the project has been scheduled for Monday, June 26, 2023 at 7:00 PM at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center at 4805 Edgemoor Lane in downtown Bethesda. The meeting will be held in the Wisconsin conference room at the center.
15 comments:
I hope they don't impact old georgetown grill. That's a true local establishment, great service and even better people.
https://mcgov-gis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=4aa66ff533e948d89493ea3bd1e01c99
addrnum sf acres
7747 7187 0.165
7755 no 0.000
4948 4312 0.099
4942 4312 0.099
4940 2500 0.057
4938 no 0.000
4934 no 0.000
0.420
If you leave out one of the 4312sf lots (above indicates Old Georgetown Grill) from the tax map and only take up to the Boxing place on St Elmo, it comes to 0.42 acres. The additional 0.01 is probably a walkway or something? anyway, close enough.
p.s. now that I think again, they might have to say 0.43 because of having to round up in their application? The calculated acres in my previous post are actually slightly over 0.42 with more decimal places.
Georgetown grill is awful number one. Number two, who didn't see this coming? No one. Another giant building. Number three, Georgetown Grill will be torn down sooner than later and won't be missed. The building has character though
Fast service and the food is not awful. The building was definitely going to be replaced eventually, about the only thing we agree on.
Are milae and old Georgetown grill going as well? Really enjoy those places, be a shame to loose them
It seems like developers are targeting every single low rise building in Bethesda for demolition and replacement by high rises. I do not understand the business aspect of this. Is there really a huge demand for these very expensive, mostly rental residential properties that have materialized here over the past several years? I wish we were a bit more like Takoma park where new development happens rarely, if ever and the character of the neighborhood is respected.
Bad take. OGG is a staple. Solid grub, no frills, good prices and a nice family that runs in. Been part of the community for a long long time.
7:45 - Bad take? I went there Sunday morning. The food is flavorless and uninteresting, the atmosphere is right out of 1960 and it was hotter than heck in there. It won't be there long term. I much prefer the mom and pop places over big chains and don't want it to go anywhere. What I want for that place and for Tastee, to be fair, is to step their game up a little bit. That entire place could be rebooted and be awesome. By the way, it was nearly empty. It's average at best.
"Is there really a huge demand for these very expensive, mostly rental residential properties that have materialized here over the past several years?"
Yes, obviously. Developers aren't in the business of sinking $$$$ into unprofitable projects. Even with the county requiring a laundry list of expensive public add-ons (MPDUs, funding school construction, paying into the parks fund, etc.) these projects are still profitable.
11:33: Mont co Council: Unwanted monstrosities for the but not for me.
Learning
Agree with you JAC. It's not good, but they think it is. Went there first thing when I came up North. Asked nicely of the experienced waitress, is this what you usually serve as an omelet and home fries because it wasn't close to what I was used to getting. She snarled yes, and I was through. The sausage was good.
Will this include Colonial Opticians? The map doesn’t name this.
6:21: The Jewelry Exchange property is the only one confirmed at this point. The exact footprint of any additions to the site will be detailed at the public meeting.
@11:33 We really don't want to be anything remotely resembling Takoma Park. Nut jobs over there.
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