Traffic issues return as Pepco project resumes on Little Falls Parkway

Lane closures on Little Falls Parkway are backing up traffic during busy commuting times again. It's not the Montgomery County cartel puppets on the Planning Board and County Council mandating the closures this time, however. It's that major Pepco project starting up again, as drivers discovered last week. To note the obvious, these photos were not taken during a weekday rush hour, but do show the lane closure between Dorset Avenue and Hillandale Road.

Wisps of liquid nitrogen used by the utility for this project are once again wafting from the shoulder. A major underground line is being replaced, which runs to the Harrison substation in Northwest Washington. There is also a traffic impact on River Road where it meets the parkway, and a detour for Greystone Street. Pepco has a permit from the Maryland State Highway Administration for this project. This project was supposed to have concluded by this past summer, so it's not immediately clear why this is happening again this fall.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at Anthropologie & Co. at Bethesda Row (Photos)

You may be in the process of making your final Halloween costume decision, but Anthropologie & Co. at Bethesda Row is much further ahead of you. The store is already decked out for the Christmas season, with a hint of fall and Thanksgiving, for good measure. Reindeer, Christmas trees, and Christmas lights abound. The holiday shopping season is underway.

Groundhog Day in Bethesda as MoCo Govt. continues to refuse to repair garage elevator outage

It's Groundhog Day in Bethesda, as one of the main elevator banks in the Montgomery County Government-owned parking garage at The Metropolitan remains out of service. The ADA violation has continued since August, as our elected officials continue to thumb their collective noses at taxpayers. Our "leaders" are astonishingly unable to deliver the most-basic functions of government, as anyone who presses the button to summon the elevator here will quickly surmise.

Even as Montgomery County Councilman Evan Glass is proposing more taxes amidst already-record-high County taxation, the County has failed to repair a major elevator bank at its own Bethesda government headquarters for months. If the elevator could talk, I suspect it would say, "I just want to give you your money's worth. You paid top dollar for me." Just more evidence that we need to convert the At-Large seats on the Council to smaller district seats, as currently no councilmember is addressing basic Bethesda issues like this.

Chase Bank tests controversial lights in downtown Bethesda (Photos)

On a damp and foggy evening in downtown Bethesda, Chase Bank conducted a new test of its controversial blue accent lighting on its new branch at 7901 Wisconsin Avenue. As you may recall, when the lights were first activated on August 21, they cast a blue light all over the neighborhood. By the next week, the lights were being discussed on local television, and the controversy led the bank to power down the display.

Last night, community members stood in front of the building as Chase Bank officials activated various lighting modes for their review. As you can see, the brightness was massively toned down from the initial display in August.

Resurfacing begins on Cordell Avenue

Road resurfacing work in the Woodmont Triangle neighborhood of Bethesda has now extended to Cordell Avenue. Watch out for lane closures and bagged parking meters during the paving operations.

Del Frisco's Grille closes at Pike & Rose

Del Frisco's Grille closed yesterday at Pike & Rose. According to a sign posted in the window, the charter tenant of the Federal Realty development is "permanently closed." I enjoyed many meals at this location, including the best Thanksgiving turkey I've ever had at a restaurant.

Cheval Bethesda condo tower gets retail tenant, new glass railings

The long search for a retail tenant appears to be over at the Cheval Bethesda luxury condo tower at the corner of Old Georgetown Road and Fairmont Avenue. And it's not going to be a bank! Duball, LLC President Marc Dubick confirms a "fitness-oriented tenant" is signing a lease agreement for the space.

In other Cheval news, every glass railing on the building has been replaced after part of one fell from the eighth floor on July 7. Duball immediately installed scaffolding around the building to protect pedestrians and residents on the sidewalk below. That scaffolding will be coming down as early as next week, Dubick says.

There are currently 15 units still available in the Cheval, Dubick reports. The Cheval has 71 units total on its 17 floors.

Duball, LLC partners with Lenkin on St. Elmo Apartments project (Photos)

The latest of many public meetings on the St. Elmo Apartments development, in the works for five years, produced big news. Developer Duball, LLC has joined the project as a partner, after the Lenkin Companies concluded they didn't have an adequate team to bring it to the finish line. This immediately raises expectations for a building that already looked promising in the renderings. Duball has become one of the most prolific developers of luxury properties in downtown Bethesda, with the Lionsgate, Stonehall Bethesda and Cheval Bethesda condos already in their Bethesda portfolio.

View of sketch plan version (left) and proposed
version (right) from Old Georgetown Road

Now Duball is steering the St. Elmo Apartments project, which will be located next to the Bainbridge Bethesda at 4930 Fairmont Avenue. Duball President Marc Dubick reassured attendees of the firm's experience in delivering large buildings in downtown Bethesda, their ability to manage construction of such projects with as little impact as possible on neighbors, and their long-term commitment to the community compared to out-of-town developers that build and quickly sell to others.

St. Elmo Apartments site plan; line
running lengthwise across shared plaza shows
actual property line between the two developments,
indicating how far the St. Elmo has been moved back
to create a larger promenade 

Dubick and attorney Steve Robins had additional breaking news about the St. Elmo project Monday night. By lowering the ceiling heights of the residential floors, the building has gained an additional floor, jumping from 21 to 22 stories. Lenkin has relocated from its now-demolished offices on Fairmont Avenue at the building site, and therefore will no longer need office space in the St. Elmo tower. This has freed up more floor space for other uses, and allows the number of units to increase from 245 to 280 apartments.

Site plan for the shared promenade plaza

The number of units, Dubick said, figured prominently in Duball's decision to maintain the original plan for rental apartments. He said it would take too long to sell 280 units in the post-recession market. Retail space has been slashed in about half, dropping from 15000 SF to 7000 SF. That retail will be located on the Fairmont Avenue side of the building.

View from St. Elmo Avenue of
ground floor and promenade

One novel solution to the issue of truck deliveries at the future building will be the inclusion of garage doors on both the Fairmont and St. Elmo Avenue sides of the building. Residents will enter from St. Elmo, but trucks will enter on Fairmont, and then drive through the building and exit onto St. Elmo. Duball was one of the few developers to provide a pull-off driveway downtown in recent years, at the Stonehall, again addressing a source of complaints about curb lanes and sidewalks being blocked by deliveries.

From the Fairmont Avenue side

Parking will be provided in a four-level garage under the building - unlike Marriott Corporation's sweetheart deal with Montgomery County to take over the Woodmont Corner public parking garage during business hours when their relocated Bethesda headquarters opens. The Marriott scheme was brought up by the owner of a building across the street from the future St. Elmo Apartments. He said his complaints about the Marriott garage takeover were ignored by officials, and the expected loss of nearby parking has harmed the viability of his property.

View from Fairmont Avenue looking east

Dubick concurred. "What were they thinking?" he said of the garage deal, adding that the loss of the garage adjacent to the Cheval and Lionsgate was a sticking point for retail tenants considering the ground floor space at the former. There was a consensus among many at the meeting last night that the Marriott takeover will continue to have a negative impact on commercial leasing in that part of the Woodmont Triangle.

View from Fairmont Avenue of original sketch plan
version (left) vs. new Duball proposal (right)

The architectural design of the St. Elmo Apartments has been tightened up on several sides, particularly the side that faces the plaza it will share with the Bainbridge. Those who had expressed concern about the ultimate width of that plaza will be pleased to learn that Duball has slightly pulled the St. Elmo back from the plaza there. They are also fine-tuning the balconies to make them "pieces of sculptural detail on the building," and to refine "how the building meets the sky." Let's hope that includes lighting detail, which really helps the skyline of downtown Bethesda.

Massing diagram

Duball and Lenkin want to start construction as soon as possible, they said. If there are no delays in the approval and permitting process, they hope to break ground in the first quarter of 2021. Construction will take about 30-36 months, for a 2023 or 2024 delivery.