Silver Springer
February 9th, 2007, 09:25 PM
Planners approve hotel expansion in Bethesda
Ten-story hotel, two-story conference center and 30 additional parking spaces will be added
by Patrick Dunne | Staff Writer
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County planners have approved an expansion to the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel that would add 225 rooms and a two-story meeting area.
The hotel needs to expand to balance the large meeting space the adjacent Montgomery County Conference Center offers, according to Tina Benjamin of the county’s department of economic development.
‘‘The size of the hotel right now ... is very out of skew with the conference center,” Benjamin said.
The small number of rooms deters larger business conferences from renting the 55,000-square-foot center, which is the largest meeting facility in Montgomery County, according to the department.
Associations and government conventions frequently use several hotels for guests attending conferences, Benjamin said, but businesses like to have their rooms and meeting space in the same location.
‘‘It’s very difficult for the whole project right now to attract larger groups,” she said.
Adding 225 rooms, bringing the total to 450, would solve that problem and increase the hotel’s ability to handle families and tourists in addition to large conferences.
The center has more than 36,000 square feet of meeting space and the ballroom, at more than 23,000 square feet, is one of the largest in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, according to the department.
Benjamin did not have numbers of conference attendance since its opening in 2004, and could not speak to the growth of the conference center’s popularity.
The conference center did better than county officials expected last year and turned a profit of $2.7 million in fiscal 2006.
Benjamin said the county would benefit from a hotel expansion.
‘‘One of the reasons why we built the [conference center] was to bring in business from out of the county,” she said Tuesday. ‘‘We want people to stay in our hotels, eat at our restaurants and spend time in the county.”
Robert Kronenberg, a planner with the county development review division, said the additional rooms were always part of the hotel’s plans.
Planners split the hotel into two building phases of 225 rooms each when site plans were approved in 2000.
Jerry Early, a Marriott spokesman, said the company manages the hotel and the construction efforts are handled by developer JBG Cos. of Chevy Chase.
The site plans were designed by architects at BBG-BBGM of Washington, D.C.
The developers will need to accommodate increased traffic on Rockville Pike and nearby Old Georgetown and Montrose roads.
Most of the roadwork was done before the hotel opened in 2004, and county planners and developers expect to outline additional measures before final site plan approval.
Improvements mostly consisted of adjusting traffic lights and re-painting turning lanes to allow more cars to turn onto Rockville Pike.
For the expansion, county planners asked that the developers build a brick walkway in front of the hotel to increase pedestrian safety in front of the parking lot.
Ten-story hotel, two-story conference center and 30 additional parking spaces will be added
by Patrick Dunne | Staff Writer
E-mail this article \ Print this article
County planners have approved an expansion to the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel that would add 225 rooms and a two-story meeting area.
The hotel needs to expand to balance the large meeting space the adjacent Montgomery County Conference Center offers, according to Tina Benjamin of the county’s department of economic development.
‘‘The size of the hotel right now ... is very out of skew with the conference center,” Benjamin said.
The small number of rooms deters larger business conferences from renting the 55,000-square-foot center, which is the largest meeting facility in Montgomery County, according to the department.
Associations and government conventions frequently use several hotels for guests attending conferences, Benjamin said, but businesses like to have their rooms and meeting space in the same location.
‘‘It’s very difficult for the whole project right now to attract larger groups,” she said.
Adding 225 rooms, bringing the total to 450, would solve that problem and increase the hotel’s ability to handle families and tourists in addition to large conferences.
The center has more than 36,000 square feet of meeting space and the ballroom, at more than 23,000 square feet, is one of the largest in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, according to the department.
Benjamin did not have numbers of conference attendance since its opening in 2004, and could not speak to the growth of the conference center’s popularity.
The conference center did better than county officials expected last year and turned a profit of $2.7 million in fiscal 2006.
Benjamin said the county would benefit from a hotel expansion.
‘‘One of the reasons why we built the [conference center] was to bring in business from out of the county,” she said Tuesday. ‘‘We want people to stay in our hotels, eat at our restaurants and spend time in the county.”
Robert Kronenberg, a planner with the county development review division, said the additional rooms were always part of the hotel’s plans.
Planners split the hotel into two building phases of 225 rooms each when site plans were approved in 2000.
Jerry Early, a Marriott spokesman, said the company manages the hotel and the construction efforts are handled by developer JBG Cos. of Chevy Chase.
The site plans were designed by architects at BBG-BBGM of Washington, D.C.
The developers will need to accommodate increased traffic on Rockville Pike and nearby Old Georgetown and Montrose roads.
Most of the roadwork was done before the hotel opened in 2004, and county planners and developers expect to outline additional measures before final site plan approval.
Improvements mostly consisted of adjusting traffic lights and re-painting turning lanes to allow more cars to turn onto Rockville Pike.
For the expansion, county planners asked that the developers build a brick walkway in front of the hotel to increase pedestrian safety in front of the parking lot.