Montgomery County Development News - Page 6

bamboo stick · May 6th, 2009, 10:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ImBoredNow

I like the green lawn on the roof top.
So is this supposed to be near the Super Giant, old navy, Marshalls, Mikasa, Sticks n' stuff shopping center?

Yes, it's across Randolph Road from the Montrose Crossing shoppping center. It was originally presented March 5, 2009 by WRIT to the Planning Board (http://www.montgomeryplanning.org/co...esentation.pdf). It is on the south side of Randolph Road and on the west side of the railroad tracks.

bamboo stick · May 6th, 2009, 10:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dank City

That's right next to where the new MARC station is supposed to be right?

It's about 3/4 mile north of the new MARC station's recommended placement.

sovman · May 20th, 2009, 01:58 PM

Does anybody have any news on North Bethesda Market? For the longest time the residential tower was going up and up, but for the past few weeks it always seems like it's stopped between 12 and 15 stories... I hope they didn't cut off the top half of the tower because of the economy... Or is it still rising, but just very slowly?

bamboo stick · May 22nd, 2009, 12:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sovman

Does anybody have any news on North Bethesda Market? For the longest time the residential tower was going up and up, but for the past few weeks it always seems like it's stopped between 12 and 15 stories... I hope they didn't cut off the top half of the tower because of the economy... Or is it still rising, but just very slowly?

As far as I know, it's still going up. There hasn't been any news concerning it. If you're that curious, you should email JBG to ask what's going on. Make sure you indicate you don't want their bullshit PR answer.

hpal3 · May 24th, 2009, 07:41 PM

http://www.gazette.net/stories/05202...00_32526.shtml

The Montgomery County Planning Board has rebuffed widely varying alternatives proposed for the Belward Farm in Gaithersburg, forging ahead under a blueprint that would allow up to 4.5 million square feet of buildings up to 143 feet high.

The 107-acre farm off Darnestown and Muddy Branch roads is the largest undeveloped parcel in and around the Shady Grove Life Sciences Center. It is a lynchpin in a widely hailed vision to turn the 900-acre area into a live-work research hub with 20 million square feet of laboratory, office and commercial space that will support 60,000 jobs over the next 30 and 40 years.

County planners must first draft the Gaithersburg West master plan to lay the groundwork for transit, density, roadways, congestion and other infrastructural needs.

The alternatives floated at Planning Board sessions on Gaithersburg West on Thursday and Monday — proposed by Johns Hopkins University, which owns Belward, and two civic groups created by residents living around the farm — differed by more than 4 million square feet.

Hopkins has been a leading catalyst behind talk of transforming the Life Sciences Center. As part of that plan, Hopkins wanted as much as 6.5 million square feet of development on Belward to create a research campus with enough "critical mass" to draw federal health and scientific research agencies.

The extra transit trips that much development would generate would make federal transit officials more likely to approve funding for the Corridor Cities Transitway, a proposed mass transit line that would form the backbone of Gaithersburg West, Hopkins officials said. And because federal agencies plan in broad, far-reaching time horizons, small projects will not make the cut, said David McDonough, senior director of development oversight in Hopkins's real estate division.

"It makes us more competitive. Size matters," he told planners Monday night. "… If you want to have their interest, then you need to have a plan that entices them."

But the Planning Board was unconvinced.

Multi-decade horizons are too murky, said Commissioner Jean Cryor, while the CCT argument is not the salient issue.

"It's going to come or it's not going to come. It's going to be a political decision, no matter what anyone wants to say," she said. "It's going to take the muscle that you have and everybody else has to make it happen. If [we] think it's just going to be on numbers, we're just kidding ourselves."

An alternative proposed by Residents for Reasonable Development, a civic group made up largely of residents from Belward's surrounding neighborhoods, called for no more than 2 million square feet of construction. They also want the CCT to go north up Great Seneca Highway, not across Belward to get to Muddy Branch Road.

The group suffered nearly as deflating a fate: Commissioners dismissed the notion of minimizing development at Belward by giving Hopkins "transferable development rights" to boost development at Hopkins's existing county campus, and picked apart the group's traffic projections.

"It makes little sense to have several transit stops in an area that isn't going to have the density to make the transit system cost-effective," said Planning Board Chairman Royce Hanson. "Certainly, we won't get any federal aid for that."

After parsing details for nearly six hours over the two sessions, the planners told staff to move forward with the 4.5 million square feet and 143-foot-tall buildings. Even that, several board members said, is not guarantee to work.

"The staff recommendation alone is going to be a struggle," said Commissioner John Robinson.

The Planning Board has had to resign itself to leave the realignment of the CCT through the Life Sciences Center unsettled in the master plan that it transmits to the County Executive this summer before County Council hearings and final OK by the end of the year.

State transit officials will not complete their study on the impact of realigning the CCT until late summer or early fall. Planning staff have not modeled a version of Gaithersburg West that does not realign the CCT. WHAT'S NEXT

The County Planning Board has two more work sessions scheduled for the Gaithersburg West master plan: May 28 and June 11, times to be announced. The board's headquarters are at 8787 Georgia Ave. in Silver Spring. The sessions can be seen live and in recording by following the links on www.montgomeryplanningboard.org.

Dank City · May 28th, 2009, 02:43 AM

http://dcmud.blogspot.com/2008/12/go...-downtown.html

Quote:

Originally Posted by DC MUD

Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School students will have one less parking lot to congregate in now that New York-based developers, the Clarett Group, have gotten the go-ahead to demolish the existing McDonald’s franchise at 4500 East West Highway and replace it with 223,300 square feet of new office and retail development.

The site – which currently houses the fast food chain, a small office building and a vast amount of surface parking – is to be re-appropriated for a new 98-foot, nine-story high-rise that will feature 13,300 square feet of ground level retail. The prominent downtown Bethesda location – just a block from the aforementioned high school and the Bethesda Metro Center – is intended to house a new restaurant and a few commercial outlets above three levels of below-grade parking. The rest of the Shalom Baranes-designed development will go towards Class A office space and a green roof.

However, to receive the approval of the Montgomery County Planning Board (MCPB), the development team was forced to acquiesce to a laundry list of county demands: the building must be completed in one construction phase, achieve a LEED silver certification, provide – at a minimum - 20% public use space.

In order to live up to the latter of those specifications, Clarett will install a 4500 square foot public plaza with “plantings, a water feature, and artwork” at the corner of East West Highway and Pearl Street. A final decision on the choice of artwork lies with the Montgomery County Art Review Panel, which is expected to announce their decision soon. According to Planning Board staff, the proposed plaza is a “direct response” to the provisions of Bethesda Sector Plan and will “serve as a gateway to downtown Bethesda.”

Furthermore, the site is also to be incorporated into the Georgetown Branch Trail, a local biking path that shadows the route of the upcoming (and much debated) Purple Line. Two 5-foot wide on-street bike paths will be laid along Pearl Street in order to connect it with the popular footpath, for a total of 6885 square feet of on-site public use space. Pearl Street itself was once proposed a Purple Line stop for Bus Rapid Transit –before the MCPB instead moved in favor of a light rail system. Given the close proximity of the high school and the heavy hiker/biker traffic in the area, Planning Board staff pledged that these infrastructural improvements will keep the “emphasis on safety and pedestrian access.”

After a preliminary hearing last October, Clarett’s final project plan was approved by the MCPB on December 4th. The MTA Purple Line Project team has also ruled that the plans present no conflict with their plans for a light rail system, as have the Maryland State Highway Administration and Montgomery County Department of Transportation. Construction is expected to commence in the fourth quarter of 2009. James G. Davis Construction Corp. will serve as general contractor.

Dank City · May 28th, 2009, 02:46 AM

Just when you thought Downtown Bethesda couldn't have more construction during the recession...
Great news for Bethesda's eastern gateway. With the police station redeveloping and the new building eventually going up over the metro center I see that clump of dt Bethesda that goes East of Wisconsin Ave starting to thrive. If the Purple Line gets built through there it will only add to the gentrification in that part of dt, especially along East-West Hwy.

hpal3 · May 28th, 2009, 02:53 AM

That's great news.

Ambitious · May 29th, 2009, 03:56 AM

Very good news.

hpal3 · May 29th, 2009, 09:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ambitious

Very good news.

Welcome to ssc, Ambitious.

Htay9500 · May 30th, 2009, 02:43 AM

Quote:

Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School students will have one less parking lot to congregate in now that New York-based developers, the Clarett Group, have gotten the go-ahead to demolish the existing McDonald’s franchise at 4500 East West Highway and replace it with 223,300 square feet of new office and retail development.

Thank goodness. You won't believe the crap that occurs during our lunchtime. I'm looking forward to what might be next for this area even though I graduate in another year!

BibsTor · June 21st, 2009, 04:06 AM

Does anyone have any updates on this project - Wilgus East (6000 Montrose Parkway)? Last I heard was that they were completing a traffic impact study, and working out the details as to who would pay for the road connecting their development and the adjacent subdivision to Montrose Parkway.

I'd be interested in any more details regarding this project, and when this Site Plan is expected to go back to the Montgomery County Planning Board and break ground?

Thanks!

Dank City · June 21st, 2009, 11:29 PM

Wow, haven't heard of that project. I'm surprised I haven't seen it on the MNCPPC White Flint website. Is it under the jurisdiction of the White Flint Sector Plan...couldn't be Twinbrook could it?

Doesn't look like it engages the street or embraces mixed use well...

BibsTor · June 22nd, 2009, 04:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dank City

Wow, haven't heard of that project. I'm surprised I haven't seen it on the MNCPPC White Flint website. Is it under the jurisdiction of the White Flint Sector Plan...couldn't be Twinbrook could it?

Doesn't look like it engages the street or embraces mixed use well...

No, It's just outside of the border of the White Flint Sector Plan, and I don't recall seeing any mention of the Wilgus East project in either sector plan.

At 7 stories and 300,000 square ft., with over 1000 parking spaces (according to the September 2008 Site plan), it would be a significant size.

hpal3 · June 22nd, 2009, 09:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BibsTor

No, It's just outside of the border of the White Flint Sector Plan, and I don't recall seeing any mention of the Wilgus East project in either sector plan.

At 7 stories and 300,000 square ft., with over 1000 parking spaces (according to the September 2008 Site plan), it would be a significant size.

Welcome to SSC!

hpal3 · June 27th, 2009, 05:15 PM

By Miranda S. Spivack
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 26, 2009

Montgomery County planners pushed through the approval yesterday for a 497-unit apartment building in downtown Bethesda before a residential development moratorium takes effect, despite concerns about the building's design and its potential to add students to crowded schools.

Board members said their biggest concern was not the looming moratorium but whether the 18-story apartment building at Rugby and Woodmont avenues and a nearby commercial office building at Wisconsin Avenue and Battery Lane would be uninviting bulky structures that would do little to enhance street life in Bethesda's quiet Woodmont Triangle.

They voted 3 to 2 for the project, with supporters saying they had reservations about the design but felt that they had to take action to prevent the proposal from being significantly delayed by the moratorium, which starts Wednesday.

The project was originally scheduled to go before the board next month. But the company asked the Planning Board to accelerate the process so it would not get caught in the moratorium, which is required by Montgomery's growth management law when school enrollment reaches a specific tipping point.

The board was legally mandated to approve the moratorium this month because the school system predicts substantial crowding in Bethesda, Clarksburg and part of Germantown in five years unless classroom space is built. The apartments are projected to add 19 elementary-age students, 18 middle school students and 15 high school students.

Board members Amy Presley and Jean Cryor said yesterday that they're concerned about adding more students. Cryor ultimately voted for the plan; Presley voted against it.

"While there is no moratorium yet, I think we have a responsibility to look at what our capacities are," Presley said.

Remy Esquenet, the parent of a rising first-grader at Bethesda Elementary School, said that the school is too crowded but added that he could accept more development in the area if a solution could be found.

He said the school has little land to build an addition: "If they allocate dollars to do something that cannot be done, that does not solve the problem."

Board member Joseph Alfandre, who voted against it, said he thought that the moratorium, due to take effect July 1, would be lifted. "I think we are going to solve the moratorium. We have to," he said.

Planning Board Chairman Royce Hanson, who supported the project along with Cryor and Vice Chairman John Robinson, spent much of the almost five-hour debate prodding Donohoe Development's architects and attorney to give him good reasons to approve the measure despite design flaws.

He had agreed to put the proposal on the board's agenda to help speed it through before the moratorium. Delay, he said, "is an extraordinary waste of time when we are close and it's possible . . . to meet our conditions. . . . We can still get a good project."

"It is going to need an awful lot of work to make it better," Cryor said. "I am very concerned about the way it looks. I also know what the moratorium means."

StevenW · June 28th, 2009, 02:32 AM

Whatever happened to that really tall highrise that was going to be built in Bethesda? It was going to be well over 300 ft. tall for sure. I can't remember the name of it. Dang it!

StevenW · June 28th, 2009, 02:44 AM

Found it! It's called: North Bethesda Market.

Dank City · June 28th, 2009, 09:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StevenW

Found it! It's called: North Bethesda Market.

They're already putting the cladding on and they're nearly topped out! This building is actually not in Bethesda, its in North Bethesda just outside the Beltway, about 2.5 miles up 355 from the Chevy Chase Bank Towers in Bethesda.

StevenW · June 28th, 2009, 03:26 PM

Whoa! Really? I didn't realize that. Thanks. How tall is this tower? It looks to be over 300 ft. Is it impressive-looking in the skyline?

May 24th, 2009, 07:41 PM	#105
hpal3 10 IH is dead Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Columbia, MD. Posts: 2,061 Likes (Received): 15	Planners see big hurdles in drafting ‘Science City' http://www.gazette.net/stories/05202...00_32526.shtml The Montgomery County Planning Board has rebuffed widely varying alternatives proposed for the Belward Farm in Gaithersburg, forging ahead under a blueprint that would allow up to 4.5 million square feet of buildings up to 143 feet high. The 107-acre farm off Darnestown and Muddy Branch roads is the largest undeveloped parcel in and around the Shady Grove Life Sciences Center. It is a lynchpin in a widely hailed vision to turn the 900-acre area into a live-work research hub with 20 million square feet of laboratory, office and commercial space that will support 60,000 jobs over the next 30 and 40 years. County planners must first draft the Gaithersburg West master plan to lay the groundwork for transit, density, roadways, congestion and other infrastructural needs. The alternatives floated at Planning Board sessions on Gaithersburg West on Thursday and Monday — proposed by Johns Hopkins University, which owns Belward, and two civic groups created by residents living around the farm — differed by more than 4 million square feet. Hopkins has been a leading catalyst behind talk of transforming the Life Sciences Center. As part of that plan, Hopkins wanted as much as 6.5 million square feet of development on Belward to create a research campus with enough "critical mass" to draw federal health and scientific research agencies. The extra transit trips that much development would generate would make federal transit officials more likely to approve funding for the Corridor Cities Transitway, a proposed mass transit line that would form the backbone of Gaithersburg West, Hopkins officials said. And because federal agencies plan in broad, far-reaching time horizons, small projects will not make the cut, said David McDonough, senior director of development oversight in Hopkins's real estate division. "It makes us more competitive. Size matters," he told planners Monday night. "… If you want to have their interest, then you need to have a plan that entices them." But the Planning Board was unconvinced. Multi-decade horizons are too murky, said Commissioner Jean Cryor, while the CCT argument is not the salient issue. "It's going to come or it's not going to come. It's going to be a political decision, no matter what anyone wants to say," she said. "It's going to take the muscle that you have and everybody else has to make it happen. If [we] think it's just going to be on numbers, we're just kidding ourselves." An alternative proposed by Residents for Reasonable Development, a civic group made up largely of residents from Belward's surrounding neighborhoods, called for no more than 2 million square feet of construction. They also want the CCT to go north up Great Seneca Highway, not across Belward to get to Muddy Branch Road. The group suffered nearly as deflating a fate: Commissioners dismissed the notion of minimizing development at Belward by giving Hopkins "transferable development rights" to boost development at Hopkins's existing county campus, and picked apart the group's traffic projections. "It makes little sense to have several transit stops in an area that isn't going to have the density to make the transit system cost-effective," said Planning Board Chairman Royce Hanson. "Certainly, we won't get any federal aid for that." After parsing details for nearly six hours over the two sessions, the planners told staff to move forward with the 4.5 million square feet and 143-foot-tall buildings. Even that, several board members said, is not guarantee to work. "The staff recommendation alone is going to be a struggle," said Commissioner John Robinson. The Planning Board has had to resign itself to leave the realignment of the CCT through the Life Sciences Center unsettled in the master plan that it transmits to the County Executive this summer before County Council hearings and final OK by the end of the year. State transit officials will not complete their study on the impact of realigning the CCT until late summer or early fall. Planning staff have not modeled a version of Gaithersburg West that does not realign the CCT. WHAT'S NEXT The County Planning Board has two more work sessions scheduled for the Gaithersburg West master plan: May 28 and June 11, times to be announced. The board's headquarters are at 8787 Georgia Ave. in Silver Spring. The sessions can be seen live and in recording by following the links on www.montgomeryplanningboard.org.

June 21st, 2009, 04:06 AM	#112
BibsTor Registered User Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 4 Likes (Received): 0	Wilgus East (6000 Montrose Parkway) Does anyone have any updates on this project - Wilgus East (6000 Montrose Parkway)? Last I heard was that they were completing a traffic impact study, and working out the details as to who would pay for the road connecting their development and the adjacent subdivision to Montrose Parkway. I'd be interested in any more details regarding this project, and when this Site Plan is expected to go back to the Montgomery County Planning Board and break ground? Thanks! Last edited by BibsTor; June 21st, 2009 at 04:25 AM.

June 21st, 2009, 11:29 PM	#113
Dank City D.C. Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Washington, DC Posts: 235 Likes (Received): 0	Wow, haven't heard of that project. I'm surprised I haven't seen it on the MNCPPC White Flint website. Is it under the jurisdiction of the White Flint Sector Plan...couldn't be Twinbrook could it? Doesn't look like it engages the street or embraces mixed use well... Last edited by Dank City; June 21st, 2009 at 11:36 PM.

June 28th, 2009, 02:32 AM	#117
StevenW Born in Baltimore Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Newberry, SC Posts: 10,626 Likes (Received): 12	Whatever happened to that really tall highrise that was going to be built in Bethesda? It was going to be well over 300 ft. tall for sure. I can't remember the name of it. Dang it! __________________ Baltimore, my hometown.

June 28th, 2009, 02:44 AM	#118
StevenW Born in Baltimore Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Newberry, SC Posts: 10,626 Likes (Received): 12	Found it! It's called: North Bethesda Market. __________________ Baltimore, my hometown.

May 20th, 2009, 01:58 PM	#103
sovman Registered User Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Olney, MD Posts: 621 Likes (Received): 0	Does anybody have any news on North Bethesda Market? For the longest time the residential tower was going up and up, but for the past few weeks it always seems like it's stopped between 12 and 15 stories... I hope they didn't cut off the top half of the tower because of the economy... Or is it still rising, but just very slowly?

May 28th, 2009, 02:46 AM	#107
Dank City D.C. Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Washington, DC Posts: 235 Likes (Received): 0	Just when you thought Downtown Bethesda couldn't have more construction during the recession... Great news for Bethesda's eastern gateway. With the police station redeveloping and the new building eventually going up over the metro center I see that clump of dt Bethesda that goes East of Wisconsin Ave starting to thrive. If the Purple Line gets built through there it will only add to the gentrification in that part of dt, especially along East-West Hwy.

May 28th, 2009, 02:53 AM	#108
hpal3 10 IH is dead Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Columbia, MD. Posts: 2,061 Likes (Received): 15	That's great news.

May 29th, 2009, 03:56 AM	#109
Ambitious Registered User Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 15 Likes (Received): 0	Very good news.

June 27th, 2009, 05:15 PM	#116
hpal3 10 IH is dead Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Columbia, MD. Posts: 2,061 Likes (Received): 15	By Miranda S. Spivack Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, June 26, 2009 Montgomery County planners pushed through the approval yesterday for a 497-unit apartment building in downtown Bethesda before a residential development moratorium takes effect, despite concerns about the building's design and its potential to add students to crowded schools. Board members said their biggest concern was not the looming moratorium but whether the 18-story apartment building at Rugby and Woodmont avenues and a nearby commercial office building at Wisconsin Avenue and Battery Lane would be uninviting bulky structures that would do little to enhance street life in Bethesda's quiet Woodmont Triangle. They voted 3 to 2 for the project, with supporters saying they had reservations about the design but felt that they had to take action to prevent the proposal from being significantly delayed by the moratorium, which starts Wednesday. The project was originally scheduled to go before the board next month. But the company asked the Planning Board to accelerate the process so it would not get caught in the moratorium, which is required by Montgomery's growth management law when school enrollment reaches a specific tipping point. The board was legally mandated to approve the moratorium this month because the school system predicts substantial crowding in Bethesda, Clarksburg and part of Germantown in five years unless classroom space is built. The apartments are projected to add 19 elementary-age students, 18 middle school students and 15 high school students. Board members Amy Presley and Jean Cryor said yesterday that they're concerned about adding more students. Cryor ultimately voted for the plan; Presley voted against it. "While there is no moratorium yet, I think we have a responsibility to look at what our capacities are," Presley said. Remy Esquenet, the parent of a rising first-grader at Bethesda Elementary School, said that the school is too crowded but added that he could accept more development in the area if a solution could be found. He said the school has little land to build an addition: "If they allocate dollars to do something that cannot be done, that does not solve the problem." Board member Joseph Alfandre, who voted against it, said he thought that the moratorium, due to take effect July 1, would be lifted. "I think we are going to solve the moratorium. We have to," he said. Planning Board Chairman Royce Hanson, who supported the project along with Cryor and Vice Chairman John Robinson, spent much of the almost five-hour debate prodding Donohoe Development's architects and attorney to give him good reasons to approve the measure despite design flaws. He had agreed to put the proposal on the board's agenda to help speed it through before the moratorium. Delay, he said, "is an extraordinary waste of time when we are close and it's possible . . . to meet our conditions. . . . We can still get a good project." "It is going to need an awful lot of work to make it better," Cryor said. "I am very concerned about the way it looks. I also know what the moratorium means."

June 28th, 2009, 03:26 PM	#120
StevenW Born in Baltimore Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Newberry, SC Posts: 10,626 Likes (Received): 12	Whoa! Really? I didn't realize that. Thanks. How tall is this tower? It looks to be over 300 ft. Is it impressive-looking in the skyline? __________________ Baltimore, my hometown.

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