BETHESDA APARTMENTS HAD NO HEAT, NO ELEVATORS

The patience of residents at downtown Bethesda's 8200 Wisconsin Avenue apartment tower was sorely tested Thursday, as a transformer issue cut off heat and elevator service in the building. Temperatures were below freezing all day.

According to the building's management, melting snow flooded a transformer Thursday morning. A resident said the heat went off at 8:15 AM Thursday. He and the management said that heat was restored around 9:00 PM last night, after Pepco worked on the issue throughout the day.

Late last night, elevators in the high-rise remained out of service. Building management said they hoped to have them running by this morning. But there is no certainty as to how long the repairs will take.

8200 WISCONSIN AVENUE APARTMENTS FRONT ENTRANCE CLOSED IN BETHESDA

8200 Wisconsin Avenue residents are probably aware of this, but the Wisconsin Avenue lobby entrance of the building is closed for construction. Until an unspecified future date, residents and visitors will have to use the rear Woodmont Avenue access to the building.  A new ground floor office is being constructed for Aldon Management.

Meanwhile, the Mitchell Eye Institute has moved to the 8218 Wisconsin Avenue Bethesda Medical Building.

RESIDENTS VACATE THE HAMPDEN APARTMENTS AHEAD OF DEMOLITION (PHOTOS)

The Hampden apartments at 4905 Hampden Lane in Bethesda are now vacant. Cannon Upholstery also moved out of the complex this week, into a new location on Cordell Avenue.

Once Montgomery County issues a permit, The Hampden will be demolished to make way for an ultra-luxury condominium project, The Lauren. The Hampden was one of the few (relatively) affordable buildings in downtown Bethesda.

7770 NORFOLK LUXURY APARTMENTS CONSTRUCTION UPDATE (PHOTOS) - BETHESDA APARTMENTS

Here's the beginning of construction at the site of developer JBG's future 7770 Norfolk luxury apartment tower.

Located at the corner of Norfolk and Fairmont Avenues, it will rise 16 stories over Veterans Park and the Woodmont Triangle.

GALLERY BETHESDA APARTMENTS WEBSITE GOES LIVE - PLUS NEW PHOTOS

#TheNewHeight has #ANewSite.

Luxury apartment tower The Gallery is still under construction, but a new website features more information and floorplans. Among the amenities are a dog run and dog-washing station ("Arf!").

The Gallery is not quite ready to lease yet, as all of those high-end finishes, chef-inspired kitchens, and rooftop pool are going to take time.

Delivery is expected in early 2014.

While we're waiting, here are some new photos of The Gallery at night. (The Night Gallery?). It looks pretty impressive with the current lighting in place. You could almost imagine driving down into the garage entrance. As you can see from this vantage point, as well as from Arlington Road by Bethesda Row, The Gallery has quickly established its place on the Bethesda skyline.

BAINBRIDGE ACQUIRES 7340 WISCONSIN AVENUE, WILL REDEVELOP GAS STATION SITE AS LUXURY APARTMENTS (PHOTOS)

One of the most-coveted properties near the Bethesda Metro station has been purchased by developer Bainbridge.

The former gas station site at 7340 Wisconsin Avenue is near not one, but two entrances to the Bethesda Metro station. As such, one would expect the proposed building to be of the maximum allowable density.

We'll find out what Bainbridge has in mind, when Linowes and Blocher attorney Heather Dlhopolsky presents their plan for a mixed-use apartment building with ground floor retail at a Pre-Submittal Community Meeting, Tuesday, July 9, 7:00 PM, at the BCC Regional Services Center. The center is at 4805 Edgemoor Lane, near the Bethesda Metro Center.

Bainbridge quietly acquired the long-quiet 18,679 square foot property on May 9, 2013. The property has a current value assessment of $4,721,700. Bainbridge acquired the land as Bainbridge Wisconsin Avenue Apartments, LLC.  According to real estate documents, the seller was the Exxon Mobil Foundation.

The developer has another luxury, mixed-use building now under construction in Bethesda, on St. Elmo Avenue.

Map image: Google Maps
Photo: Robert Dyer

BAINBRIDGE BETHESDA CONSTRUCTION UPDATE (PHOTOS)

While unexpected excavation issues caused lengthy delays, the Bainbridge Bethesda project is finally climbing above street level between St. Elmo and Fairmont Avenues.

The luxury residential building will actually bridge both streets, enhancing walkability, and activating both avenues after dark with ground floor retail and restaurants.

Currently, what's rising doesn't yet resemble the artistic rendering, but construction is really picking up steam.

ASSAULT AT TRIANGLE TOWERS IN BETHESDA - BETHESDA CRIME UPDATE

An assault was reported to police at the Triangle Towers apartments in downtown Bethesda Saturday, according to crime data.

No further details were available at the moment.

Another individual was assaulted at Montgomery County Public Parking Garage 40, at 4935 St. Elmo Avenue on Friday, March 22.

A third assault took place at BlackFinn on Fairmont Avenue a day earlier.

BETHESDA CRIME SPIKE IN GROSVENOR AREA

Residents in the Grosvenor area should be aware of increased crime activity there over the last few days.

3 of the 4 crimes occurred at or near apartment complexes; the fourth took place on Hatherleigh Drive, a residential street of single family homes off Grosvenor Lane.

Buildings along the affected blocks include The Jefferson at Inigo's Crossing, and Archstone Grosvenor Tower. There is no specific information to confirm at which complexes, if any, these crimes occurred.

Until the police report further details, this is a good reminder to keep doors locked, stay aware of your surroundings, and to report suspicious activity or vehicles to police.

Here is the full list of crimes:

December 8:

Theft. 10200 block of Grosvenor Place.

Burglary. 10200 block of Hatherleigh Drive.

December 9:

Theft of vehicle. 10300 block of Grosvenor Place.

December 10:

Theft. 5400 block of Tuckerman Lane.

BAINBRIDGE BETHESDA CONSTRUCTION UPDATE (PHOTOS)

Construction crews building the future Bainbridge Bethesda luxury apartment building are making progress after early delays.  As regular readers recall, when I broke that story, excavation had caused an adjacent building on Fairmont Avenue to become unstable.

With that issue no longer holding up work, the site's crane has been busy moving concrete from cement mixers on Fairmont down into the chasm.  The beginnings of the 17 story tower's foundation can be seen.

There's still a long way to go, and it will be quite amazing if the building is actually finished by next summer.

To Bainbridge's credit, their crane (whose tower can be seen in this picture) has red warning lights on it at night.  The crane over at the future site of That 70s Building (a.k.a. The Gallery at Bethesda) is unlit.

MY FIRST BETHESDA APARTMENT - A YOUNG PERSON'S WEEKLY GUIDE TO APARTMENT HUNTING IN BETHESDA, MD - BETHESDA APARTMENTS, RENTALS

Welcome to the fifth installment of My First Bethesda Apartment:  a weekly, urban guide to the intimidating task of apartment hunting in Bethesda, and scoring and furnishing your dream pad once you find it.

BETHESDA APARTMENTS

OF THE

WEEK

1 BR/1 BA  THE CHRISTOPHER (Click for listing) - $1750 a month

Once again, the rate is a bit steep, but not too bad if you have a roommate to pay half.  The tradeoff is a luxury building right by the Bethesda Metro Station.  Utilities are extra, but parking, storage and water are included in the rent.  Please note that the move-in date is not until December 1.  Lots of amenities, in a modern building, and location, location, location!

PRIVATE SUITE IN BROOKMONT HOME (Click for listing) - $1100 a month

Although I am usually directing you to the best units in the best downtown Bethesda buildings, this suite in a private home is worth considering if a) you work near the Sangamore Intelligence Campus, Georgetown, American University, Sibley Hospital or on the Red Line (Ride On bus to Friendship Heights passes by the home); b) price is more important to you than the excitement of downtown living.

This house is within walking distance of the Shops at Sumner Place shopping center, with a great CVS, a Safeway, Bethesda Market (opening soon), Praline French bakery and restaurant, Passion Fin sushi bar, and a Starbucks.

Obviously, you'd want to do a thorough inspection, but $1100 a month is a very good price in Bethesda.

=[]=

SPLURGE OR FAKE IT

Spend lavishly, or just make everyone think you did!

Let's consider another basic piece of furniture that everyone has - the coffee table.  There's nothing wrong with the traditional wood coffee table, but maybe you want something a bit more contemporary.

SPLURGE

Skye Indigo coffee table from Crate and Barrel - $319

FAKE IT

Wall Street coffee table - $149.09

Both of these have similar lines and designs, but faking it will save you about $180 this week.  Nothing says "living large" like Wall Street, right?  Gordon Gekko would approve, and so will your wallet.

FIRST-TIME RENTER

TIP OF THE WEEK

Security.  An unsafe apartment isn't worth any amount of money.  When apartment hunting, do your own security audit of the building, and the particular unit.  Do doors and windows lock securely?  Do blinds or curtains give you privacy when you want it?  Is the garage or parking lot secure?  How easy is it to gain access to the building?  Is the front desk manned?  Is that "man" on duty 24 hours a day?  Can you have a dog?

Have a great weekend, and hurry out to check out these apartments before they're gone.  I believe that every Apartment of the Week I've featured so far, has been leased by the end of the weekend.  Let me know if this guide helps you to find the apartment of your dreams, in the Richest Town in America!

WOODMONT AVENUE CLOSURE POSTPONED UNTIL AUGUST

Another Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row Exclusive!!!

Back in March, developers PN Hoffman and Stonebridge Carras had scheduled the closure of Woodmont Avenue, south of Bethesda Avenue, for mid-June.

Yesterday, it was announced that Woodmont will likely remain open to traffic until an unspecified date in early August.  This is mildly good news for patrons of shops and restaurants at Bethesda Row, as the closure is expected to only further snarl traffic in the area.  It could be good timing, if they hold off the closure until students return to college in August.  That would reduce at least a small amount of the high summer traffic volume.

What's the closure all about?  Well, in addition to The Darcy condos being constructed on former Lot 31, The Flats is going to be built across Woodmont on former Lot 31-A.

With over 160 apartments, The Flats - well - ain't gonna be flat enough to fit the current layout.  And excavation needs to be done for the massive, 940-space public parking garage that will be under there, too.  So Woodmont Avenue is going to slightly shift from its historic course, and the famous Barnes and Noble intersection is not going to be the same anymore, either.  Take pictures of it now, while it's still there, folks!

These delays come in bunches with this project, so I will be shocked, shocked if there is another postponement in August.

Happy driving.

EXCLUSIVE PICS

OF

BIG PLANET COMICS'

NEW BETHESDA

STOREFRONT

The first sign - literally - of the new Big Planet Comics shop in Triangle Towers is up.

A neon sign is about all there is right now, but this Wednesday, April 18, Big Planet moves from its current location at 4908 Fairmont Avenue, to this landmark Bethesda apartment tower at 4849 Cordell Avenue.

The storefront will be behind the car in the above photo.

An interesting fact about Triangle Towers: WHFS first broadcast from this building, and there is still a radio broadcast antenna on the building's roof.

FIRST IMAGE OF

CAPITAL CRESCENT TRAIL

AT-GRADE ALONG

BETHESDA AVENUE

7200 Woodmont Developer Offers to

Construct Trail as Part of Streetscape Improvements

Another Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row Exclusive!!!

Just weeks after the Montgomery County Council determined the popular Capital Crescent Trail would be relocated in downtown Bethesda to make way for the Purple Line, a developer has offered to build one section of the new route along Bethesda Avenue.

Friday evening, the Montgomery County Planning Department released the above rendering prepared by developer JBG, incorporating the CCT into its expanded 7200 Woodmont development.

There are no 3-D street scenes to show what the finished trail will look like. This is a preliminary sketch showing the shared-use CCT bike path (running along the bottom of the image, above and parallel to Bethesda Ave.) between Woodmont and Wisconsin Avenues. As such, there is no way to know if the design fits council president Roger Berliner's demand for a "gold standard" at-grade CCT. Of course, no one has yet defined what gold standard means in this case.

Some things that are clear from the illustration and the Planning staff report, are that the trail will have some physical separation from Bethesda Avenue parallel to it. Whether that is a mountable curb, a median or insurmountable barricade is not specified yet.

In terms of safety, there are at least two vehicular curb cuts that will cross the new CCT, certainly more dangerous than the separate tunnel route today. As one of those entries is for the hotel on the property, there will be taxis zipping in and out of there across the CCT.

7200 Woodmont has grown in size. The new project is requesting approval of a 182,950 sq. ft. hotel with 230 rooms, 755,739 sq. ft. of office space, 81,165 sq. ft. of retail, and a 210-unit apartment building, the latter to be located on the current Elm Street parking lot.

Not only does the development stretch from the Woodmont/Bethesda Ave. intersection to that Elm Street site, but now also all the way along Bethesda Avenue to Wisconsin, as you can see in the site plan above.

The plaza at the corner of 355 and Bethesda will be replaced with a building, and JBG will donate some of the property fronting Wisconsin to the state highway's right-of-way. This is partly to facilitate CCT-related safety improvements to that intersection.

The only amenities for the CCT noted right now are landscaping and "terraced seating platforms" along its Bethesda Avenue route.

There are a number of other stipulations. JBG must place a bike wayfaring sign to direct riders near the Woodmont intersection. The CCT will remain open through the tunnel for the duration of the 7200 project construction. JBG must complete the CCT along Bethesda Ave before the county will issue occupancy permits for the ground floor retail on that side. And it must submit the detailed plans for the CCT concept before construction may begin on 7200.

Furthermore, JBG is going to pay over $400,000 for a comprehensive study of constructing the trail between JBG's portion and the original right-of-way beyond the Air Rights Building.

The tallest building in the project will be about 14 stories, by my calculation. This seems too short for a site walking distance to Metro, on the Bethesda Circulator route, and literally above the future Bethesda Row Purple Line station. And there are only 210 apartments, which is too few for a 5 acre project at this site. Sacrificing density here puts more pressure on areas like Westbard where such heights would be inappropriate.

In my opinion, the residential portion should be at least 20 stories. I can't comment on the architecture yet, because we don't really have the full illustrations of the buildings yet. The simplistic rendition in the staff report didn't make it seem very impressive. Let's hope they're more like North Bethesda Market I and II, and less like JBG's Rockville Pike Safeway proposal in terms of architecture.

We need more distinctive buildings that people will associate with Bethesda, not cookie cutter mixed use, Soviet-style apartment blocs.

But the project deserves some leeway, if JBG is going to pick up the tab for a major stretch of the new CCT, because that's money that won't have to come out of the taxpayers' pockets.

So it's a little early to make final judgements, but I wanted to let everybody know about this new Bethesda Row "neighbor," and in particular that there is a surprising twist here in the CCT soap opera with this unexpected - and welcome - offer from JBG.