PIKE AND ROSE: ANOTHER MOCO MISADVENTURE IN ARCHITECTURE

Not again. The "new" designs for future mini-Manhattan Pike and Rose resemble the lackluster ones previously revealed. Clusters of non-descript office towers and mixed-use town centers sit, bump-on-log style, astride a once-bustling shopping center, a half-hearted paean to "The Man."

We're giving up Toys R Us for this?

In that case, I don't want to grow up, Geoffrey!

The plan aesthetically refutes all of the buzz phrases so-called "Smart Growth" development advocates enjoy deploying in planning work sessions nationwide.

To use one of their phrases, there's no "there" there.

Examine the close-up of what seems to be the Bethesda Lane or Rockville Town Square of Pike and Rose.  Context aside, where are you in this scene? Can you identify a single architectural feature that says Pike and Rose, White Flint, Montgomery County, anything? (Please leave it in the comments if you can!).

The comparison to Bethesda Row is indeed a stretch. Bethesda Lane is probably one of the few town centers anywhere that actually has an identity of sorts.  But at Pike and Rose, one could be in New Jersey or Portland or at any of the other bland, nondescript town centers in the DC area.

And why does it look like the grand curve of Old Georgetown Road has been whipped into an old-fashioned, 4-way urban intersection?  Not only is the new work disappointing, but they're going to iron out one of the few road stretches with character in the area to boot? L'Enfant may rise from the dead if he hears of this.

Speaking of roads... That trench labeled "Montrose Parkway" at the top?  That's supposed to be a six-lane Rockville Freeway. And without the Rockville Freeway (and additional MARC and Red Line capacity), this whole White Flint plan simply cannot handle the influx of cars it will bring.

It's no secret I opposed the White Flint plan as passed by the Montgomery County Council.  But if you're going to "transform" an area, at least do it responsibly, and utilizing designs that improve the aesthetics and quality of life for residents.

Despite my opposition to the WF plan, I would probably approve the 2 towers (one already built) and the "ziggurat" development proposed by JBG nearby.  While not Dubai-esque, at least they have something to offer artistically and help define a location.

Maybe it's early, and the buildings shown are placeholders for exciting designs to come at Pike and Rose. But at the moment, what's being touted is only reinforcing what I had predicted long ago.

In the richest county in the richest country in the world, why are we content to take an architectural back seat to Dubai, Hong Kong, and Shanghai?

BETHESDA SKYWALK EXCLUSIVE PHOTO TOUR!

Be a skywalker by taking this exclusive photo tour of the renovated Bethesda Skywalk, shot on its reopening night.

Take in the spectacular views, and consider that this skywalk at one time represented the future of downtown Bethesda. Alas, bad planning, recent dull architecture and a vertically-challenged vision of "the future," have caused us to go adrift over the last decade.

For now, enjoy the scenery!

RELIC NIGHTCLUB BUILDING TO BE AUCTIONED OFF

FORECLOSURE FINAL BLOW TO

SHUTTERED BETHESDA 

NIGHTSPOT

Another Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row Exclusive

The saga of the beleagured Relic nightclub will reach an end on Thursday, August 9, at high noon.  At that moment, the small building that houses the club and office space at 4936 Fairmont Avenue will be auctioned off to the highest bidder, on the sidewalk out front.

Apparently, Montgomery County's seizure of the club's liquor license - which forced its indefinite closure - sent the building into foreclosure when the property owner defaulted on the mortgage, according to Craig Haughton and Nina Basu, who have been named substitute trustees of the property.

The 15,000 square foot property continues to house several offices, as you can tell by scanning the lobby directory.

Thinking of placing a bid?  You'll need $100,000 cash or certified funds if you win.

The property has potential for either a long-term investor, or a large developer.  Someone wanting to run a nightclub or restaurant - and who has the capital and patience to wait 5 years for the rebirth of dilapidated and deserted Fairmont Avenue - will be rewarded with a prime spot in the new Old Bethesda.

Developers might be interested in the property, if they can buy adjoining plots to allow for a larger, mixed use development.

Whatever the future of this building, this block of Fairmont is dead, dead, dead right now, and not a street people like to venture down after dark.  Of course, that's because pro-developer tax and planning policies by the county have indirectly forced out many of the street's tenants.  Although Relic has been the source of many complaints, the tearing-up of its liquor license certainly came at a most convenient time.  The shark fins are circling most of the mom-and-pop shops on the most promising avenues across Old Town Bethesda.

So far, nearby residents have been displeased by the project proposed at Fairmont's corner with Norfolk.  A primary complaint is the developer's plan to have an "inactive" street level (i.e. no restaurants or shops to activate the area after business hours).  I share their concerns.  This block is one of the darkest and loneliest at night in town, and the entrance to the street should not be essentially a Berlin Wall.

As I've said many times, with little room to develop downcounty, it is imperative that the Planning Board ensures the most added value from each and every project it approves.  And the maximum height and density within walking distance from Metro in downtown Bethesda.

Otherwise, many of those projects will suffer the same fate as 4936 Fairmont Avenue, in the not-so-distant future.

ROCKVILLE TOWN SQUARE CELEBRATES 5 YEARS... WITH BETHESDA ROW CUPCAKES?

The same day that The Gazette published an edition bearing a gaffe-ridden ad sticker, the City of Rockville experienced a municipal pride faux pas of its own.

Last Tuesday, Rockville Town Square turned 5.  City elders and property owners held a celebration there.  According to The Sentinel, the birthday cupcakes given out were from... Bethesda?!

Yes, Georgetown Cupcakes at Bethesda Row, to be precise.

Of course, the fact that Federal Realty owns both Bethesda Row and Rockville Town Square explains why Georgetown Cupcakes would be involved.  But why would the city commit such an obvious gaffe, when cupcake shops like Cake Dreams and The Cakery are within their city limits? Predictably, it takes someone like me to point this out, but weren't Rockville residents offended by "imported" cupcakes to celebrate a city milestone?

Speaking of offense, I wonder how former Mayor Doug Duncan feels about being repeatedly referred to as "Dan Duncan" in the Sentinel article?

The City of Rockville and Federal Realty, for insulting the taxpayers of Rockville with outsourced confectionary goods, you are the winners of the Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row "Rick Perry Award."

"Oops."

NEATO VENETO

A PHANTOM CONDO PROJECT

AND THE

MYSTERIOUS FUTURE OF

4901 CORDELL AVENUE

Another Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row Exclusive!!!

Cordell Avenue is a tale of two blocks.  The first block, between Old Georgetown Road and Norfolk Avenue, has a number of good restaurants like Tragara and Matuba, but - with the major exception of the Caddies on Cordell patio - can tend to be fairly dead at night.  Once you walk east of Caddies, there just isn't much energy or activity there.

Go to the second block, however, and you have Freddy's Lobster and Flanagan's Harp and Fiddle with outdoor patio buzz, and residents coming and going at Triangle Towers and The Palisades apartments.  It's a lot more welcoming at night.

One of the "dead spots" is a small building at 4901 Cordell.  Six years ago, it was to be demolished and replaced by a boutique, mixed-use luxury condo building, called The Veneto.

Now, before I go any further, I'd say that there's no reason the existing building couldn't be renovated into a nice set of restaurants and shops.

But the owner and developer was intent on knocking it down for The Veneto.

I had mixed feelings about the Veneto project.  You can check out a nifty little Adobe Flash presentation of The Veneto at the architect's website.

Certainly the design is a lot more upscale than the current structure.

What's nice about it?

Well, it certainly was ambitious for the lot size.  It would really bring the corner of Cordell and Norfolk to life, but only if it had the right restaurants.

It had a clever parking solution in its odd, underground garage configuration.

What don't I like?

The design is still fairly bland.  It's not unique in any way, shape or form despite the claims on the website.  This building could be in Rockville, New York City or Clarendon, and nobody would know the difference or even care.

My biggest beef with The Veneto was its lack of affordable housing.  In addition to getting a free pass from the Planning Board on public-use space and parking minimums, The Veneto was almost the poster child for the infamous Bethesda concept known as the "boutique condo building."

As you can read on the website, there were only going to be 2 condos per floor, and then a sumptuous penthouse atop the building.

According to the planning document I saw, there was not even one affordable unit in the building.  You would think the Planning Board could have insisted on at least dividing one unit into 2 or 3 smaller apartments as MPDUs.

So the bottom line on this project's "value-added" score is pretty low.

The Veneto would definitely improve the neighborhood, by activating at least the corner, and part of two blocks which are currently dead at night.  It would bring light, energy and activity, perhaps like that found on Norfolk near Rock Bottom, Hanaro and BlackFinn today.

But it would add nothing architecturally, nor would it address the need for affordable apartments and condos to attract younger residents to Bethesda.  Strictly for the Daddy Warbucks set.

The bigger question, though, is what is the fate of 4901?

While The Veneto seemed to sail through the Planning Board's cakewalk of an approval process, it was never built.

After years of delay, there are vacant and abandoned storefronts.

Now, even the jewelry store is closing for good.

A sign is offering the existing building for sale or lease, and even suggests the seller will assist in renovating and updating the building.

We can speculate that The Veneto was a casualty of the real estate bubble bursting, especially given its high-end, limited target demographic.  I don't think it's a tragedy, given its many shortcomings.

But having said that, the location could certainly use some life at night, whether it's the existing building, The Veneto, or a more architecturally-imaginative blend of restaurants, market rate apartments and luxury units.

Let's hope a grander yet more value-added concept prevails.

BETHESDA ROW

DEVELOPMENT TO

IMPACT RESIDENTS

OF THE SEASONS,

SACKS SUBDIVISION

Parkmageddon is upon us at Bethesda Row, now that Public Parking Lots 31 and 31A have closed for demolition. But the two luxury residential buildings to rise in their places will most directly impact current residents of The Seasons apartments (pictured above) which border Lot 31A, and homeowners on Leland Street in the neighborhood known as Sacks, which is directly behind Lot 31 (top photo).

Sacks is named after the original landowner, George P. Sacks - now there's some Bethesda history for you!

Both communities have enjoyed fantabulous views of Bethesda Row and downtown Bethesda. But that will be lost for the apartments and homes directly aside the new buildings.

As one can imagine (and is quite obvious from the above photos) there is also going to be quite a bit of noise from the construction site over the next 2+ years. The unique quality of Sacks will be all but lost; up until now, a person walking through the neighborhood could fool themselves they were on a leafy, suburban street miles from the city. At the same time, residents could take a 1 minute walk to all of the downtown excitement at Bethesda Row. Now Sacks will be the literal manifestation of the Roger Lewis cartoon, which showed condo towers looming over a family's backyard barbecue.

Let's not forget that a developer tried to buy the whole Sacks neighborhood just 7 years ago, and extend Bethesda Row to Bradley Boulevard. That case became enshrined in history, as not only an example of the real estate madness of that era, but a warning to all that developers and the politicians they elect know no bounds. And that they will bulldoze suburbia in Montgomery County, if and when they can "change behavior and attitudes" regarding home ownership, backyards, trees, and white picket fences. I think urban living is great, and clearly, more and more people agree every day in the DC area. But so are suburban and rural living, and how boring would it be if Montgomery County lost that variety? Not to mention the environmental damage.

It's also hard to believe that, just a decade ago, residents behind the Giant/Trak Auto (I can hear some of you asking, "What's that?!")/Baskin Robbins shopping center were up in arms about a two-story grocery store and the relatively-short Upstairs at Bethesda Row project. While ridiculously low-density, short, boutique condo buildings near the Bethesda Metro station unbelievably - and foolishly - receive continuous approval from the county council and Planning board, the old "step-down" concerns where urban meets suburban seem to have been tossed out the window.

The fact is, in downtown Bethesda since the late 80s, the only constant has been change, as they say. For some residents near Bethesda Row, change is about to hit home.

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.

HO HUM:

BETHESDA'S LATEST

GATEWAY CONDO

PROJECT FAILS TO

IMPRESS

Following years of delay, the Trillium condo project at the northern gateway of downtown Bethesda has been altered yet again.

The long-empty site has its latest plan, and it leaves much to be desired. First, the proposed building is smaller and far shorter than it should be, within walking distance to Metro. Density in that spot shouldn't be the maximum because that walk to Metro is not a short one.

Second, the design is decidedly ho hum. A cross between a hospital and a cookie cutter office office building, the Trillium is poised to be the latest gateway property to disappoint.

At the south entrance to town, you are confronted with Staples. This was a chance to do something bold. When arriving in Bethesda, you should be greeted by bold architecture, glass, steel and innovative design. Maybe an 8 story fountain.

Instead, we're getting this bland, utilitarian and squat commercial style building. To top it off, the C-shaped courtyard design faces drivers entering Bethesda, from the plans I've examined.

The vague promise of a grocery store that will draw people to the site suggests one name: Wegmans. But will it really be Wegmans, or Harris Teeter, which the same developer has contracted with in one of its DC projects? I will say that getting Wegmans would go a long way to compensate for the underwhelming design.

It's not too late to come up with an alternative. The Planning Board needs to stop trying to throw up skyscrapers in residential neighborhoods, and start trying to build them in downtown Bethesda instead. And it's time to start rejecting the same old, cookie cutter designs every other town is using.

The building that stands at the gateway to Bethesda ought to represent Bethesda.