MINI U.S. POST OFFICE OPEN AT NEWS EXPRESS IN BETHESDA

Tired of the long walks and lack of parking at the new Bethesda post office at 6900 Wisconsin Avenue?

If you live in the Woodmont Triangle area of Bethesda, there may be a better solution for you.

News Express, a convenience store that also doubles as a domestic and international newsstand, has opened a miniature U.S. Post Office inside the store.

Located in the ground floor of Triangle Towers apartments on Cordell Avenue, the postal section can meet most of your basic mailing needs, as well as stamp purchases.  You can also grab a beverage and foreign newspaper while there.

Of course, if you live in Triangle Towers, this is a great amenity. Residents of The Palisades, Fairmont Plaza, and - this winter - That 70s Building (a.k.a. The Gallery at Bethesda) will also find this handy.

EXCAVATION BEGINS AT FORMER ARLINGTON ROAD POST OFFICE SITE IN BETHESDA (PHOTOS)

The developer of a mixed-use project on the former site of the Arlington Road post office in Bethesda is wasting no time.

After demolishing the post office building, crews are now beginning the excavation process.

Oops. They've also ripped the Adopt-a-Road sign out of the ground and thrown it aside. Arlington Road's foster parents are not getting their money's worth.

HISTORIC BETHESDA POST OFFICE NOW UP FOR LEASE (PHOTOS)

EXCLUSIVE

Work has been going on inside the old Bethesda Post Office on Wisconsin Avenue, near the Hyatt Bethesda hotel, for weeks. Now the historic building is on the market.  The postal branch was turned over to Donohoe development last year, in a rapid closure of all of Bethesda post offices that raised questions about the level of developer and politician involvement.

The new post office at 6900 Wisconsin Avenue has no convenient parking for customers, much less customers with disabilities.  It is also too far from the center of town.

Only now is the property on the market for lease, because the USPS blundered in its negotiations, and was forced to pay Donohoe rent until now. That despite having vacated last year.

USPS has made no effort to find a new downtown site, and also never followed through on its promise to open a second branch in the 20816 zip code.

NEWS EXPRESS OPENS IN BETHESDA; CONVENIENCE STORE TO ADD POST OFFICE, WESTERN UNION SERVICES NEXT WEEK

Bethesda's newest convenience store, News Express - in the ground floor of Triangle Towers - opened yesterday.

The Cordell Avenue shop and newsstand will put its U.S. Mail and Western Union services into operation next week, the owner said last evening.

Those services, as well as the newsstand aspect of News Express, set it apart from what would otherwise be a standard convenience store.  Since Sheetz and Wawa are apparently barred from opening in Montgomery County, independent stores like News Express are the only competition 7-Eleven has to contend with in Bethesda.

Among lottery offerings, News Express has TV screens dedicated to Keno and simulated horse racing, as well as a table where players can sit.

The opening is a boon for Triangle Towers residents in particular, as well as for those in other nearby apartments and condos.

NEWS EXPRESS POSTS SIGN IN WINDOW (PHOTO)

CONVENIENCE STORE

AND NEWSSTAND

COMING SOON

Another Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row Exclusive

As I reported a few months ago, News Express is returning to downtown Bethesda.  The convenience store and newsstand will be in the ground floor of the Triangle Towers apartment building on Cordell Avenue.

Yesterday, a sign was placed into the window.  Which just says what regular readers here already knew.  Duh.

Great news (pun intended) for Triangle Towers residents, who can find coffee, ice cream, newspapers, potentially postal services, and maybe just a respite from all the construction noise behind their building, where That 70s Building (a.k.a. The Gallery at Bethesda) is currently being erected.

GNC LEAVING WESTWOOD SHOPPING CENTER - BETHESDA RETAIL SPACE FOR LEASE

Don't cry over spilled Muscle Milk.

Customers of GNC will be sorry to hear the nutrition store will be leaving its space in the venerable Westwood Shopping Center on Westbard Avenue.

But nearby residents can be optimistic:  the 1500 square foot space is now available for lease.  Could the Westbard area finally get a real, sit-down family restaurant?

I grew up near the shopping center, and can tell you that it is one of the most stable strip malls in the DC area.  Tenants stay for the long haul, and their loyal customers keep coming back.  The last major upheaval was in the 80s-90s, when Farrell's, Crown Books and the hardware store all closed.

Farrell's was the only sit-down, family restaurant in the neighborhood.  Today, there is a bar (Bowlmor), a Chinese restaurant, and Yirasai Sushi along the Westbard commercial strip.

Any smart, enterprising restauranteur - with a high-quality product - could make a lot of money opening a real restaurant in the GNC space.  There is a whole new wave of young families in the surrounding neighborhood, who don't have anyplace to spend their money right now.

The Shops at Sumner Place has Praline - why not a real, white (or checkered?) tablecloth restaurant for the Westbard area?  It's long overdue.

Of course, the spot would also make a great 20816 U.S. Post Office, with ample parking and drive-along sidewalk frontage, for drive-up drop boxes.  That's assuming the USPS would forgo 500 square feet of the 2000' it claims to currently be seeking in 20816.

The options are few, as the only other space currently available is an ample nearly-3000 square foot vacancy on the fourth floor of Westwood Cennter II.  That has plenty of free parking, too.

Can a nearly 30 year wait for a real restaurant on Westbard finally be near an end?  Stay tuned!

TIME TO "DWELL" ON

WACKY LOCATION

FOR NEW BETHESDA

POST OFFICE

Is 6900 Wisconsin Avenue Really the

Ideal Mail Hub for the Future of Bethesda?

You may have taken note of vague media announcements regarding the closure of Bethesda's post offices, and the "consolidation" of two mail operations into one new location at 6900 Wisconsin Avenue.

But no one is really talking about where that new post office will be, and the consequences of selecting that location.

Now, before we consider that, here's Grandpa, about to head out to mail in his tax return to the IRS. Grandpa lives in a building near the Bethesda Metro Center, and it's going to be quite a walk. So let's give Grandpa a head start here. OK, he's got his coat and hat on. He's picked up the cane. And he's off to the races...6900 Wisconsin Avenue.

While he's staggering along 355, let's consider this building at 6900 Wisconsin Ave. It has a modest parking lot between it and a mattress store. Behind the building is a sort of alleyway, which gives access to the rear garage doors of 6900, as well as some garden apartments.

This alley is accessible from both Leland St./Woodmont Ave, and Bradley Blvd. There is a narrow staircase that runs up to the future post office's surface lot. However, this alley is - by nature - narrow, and not really designed for heavy, bidirectional vehicle traffic. I'm not sure that the 6900 garage is even open to the public, or how many spaces it has.

How's Grandpa doing? He's made it as far as the Apex Building. Getting a little tired. Heading into Regal for a Coke.

Anyway, it's not clear at this point how the 6900 site will handle two post offices' worth of foot and vehicular traffic. The county, the developer, and the Postal Service are not volunteering answers, and the politicians and journalists don't seem too inclined to ask any questions. Maybe they've got a genius solution, but wouldn't it have been a good idea to tell us up front.

All I know is, the 6900 lot has less than half of the spaces the Arlington Rd. post office has. And 355 is a state highway. The current post office is a notorious congestion point on Arlington Road. But it's one of many such points in the Bethesda Row area, and is probably a positive for pedestrian safety on the busy crosswalk ahead of it.

Imagine that volume of traffic now zipping (crawling?) in and out of 6900 during rush hour. Yikes. Assuming they'll put a time limit on the spaces, the ingress and egress is bound to cause dist-ress. Can they allow the public into that garage? Will people illegally park in the alley, and run up the back stairs to mail something?

OK, Grandpa's as far as Starbucks now...

People like Grandpa, who live near the center of town, or even farther north in "Old Town" Bethesda simply aren't going to be willing and/or able to walk that many blocks. So they are likely to drive, and who could blame them? But Government and developers keep telling us they're going to "get people out of their cars" and make walkable communities. So why are they letting the USPS move to 6900?

It seems these days that there is no adult supervision for politicians and planners. Want to build something without the infrastructure to support it, while you make the profit and the taxpayer picks up the tab? Done. The folks are away, and the bigshots are throwing a party. We don't need a well-planned, underground subway; just throw some surface rail or bus line up so we can build, build, build!

Shouldn't Bethesda's main post office for the next 100 years be centrally-located in the urban core? After all, it is a basic utility everyone uses. You'd think the politicians could have worked out a deal to put the post office in the ground floor of one of these lackluster, boutique buildings they've approved recently, closer to the center of town.

The USPS chose not to reopen in the future development at its current Arlington Rd. site, Dwell Bethesda. There are no pictures of the proposal so far, but the name is already getting things off to a bad start. "Dwell Bethesda?!" And the historic Wisconsin Avenue Post Office, complete with Madonna of the Trail statue, adds no value to the community as a private building for the private profit of Donohoe, the new owner.

But the big problem is that both sites - which together provided walking-distance mail services to all of downtown Bethesda - are closing at once. Forever. And the new location woefully underserves the urban population.

Forget about the farmers market moving; this is the issue Action Committee for Transit should be at least equally concerned about. Farmers markets are informal affairs that can be moved at will, and it is certain to return to Bethesda Row once The Darcy opens.

But the post office is going to be stuck at 6900, way out of walking distance for the average busy person. For many decades. It's just poor planning, but it's probably too late to stop the process now. Just tell us what the plan is. Can the Bethesda Circulator add the Post Office, Safeway and Bradley Shopping Center to its route sometimes? That might be an easy but insufficient fix. Are they going to somehow expand parking, since they've chosen a site beyond walking distance?

And don't say we won't use mail in the future. Unless you know how to squeeze that box of shoes-that-were-the-wrong-size into the USB port, so you can email them back for a refund!

So let's check back on Grandpa. He's finally made it down to the new post office. The sun is going down. He's going in! He's mailing his package! He's coming out! Uh-oh! He's starting to get a chest pain from overexertion. Fortunately, the new post office is convenient to CVS, and Grandpa can get a refill on his heart medication. At least it's convenient for something!