Eight Years Later, 440-Unit Downtown Bethesda Development Back On The Boards

• 9:05 AM EDT

by UrbanTurf Staff

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Nearly eight years after first winning approval, a 440-unit development for downtown Bethesda appears to be back in the works. 

Artena Bethesda, a residential project planned for 8000 Wisconsin Avenue (map), is returning to the Bethesda Downtown Design Advisory Panel (DAP) for a fresh round of review. The development team is resubmitting the previously approved design for the site — located between Wisconsin and Woodmont Avenues just south of Cordell Avenue — after construction delays left the project's entitlements in need of renewal. 

The proposal was originally approved in November 2018, and the Montgomery County Planning Board certified the site plan in November 2020, with a building permit following in 2024. With ground yet to break, the applicant team is now updating the design to meet current code requirements before proceeding.

The project, designed by Davis, Carter, Scott Ltd., calls for as many as 441 apartments — 25% of which would be set aside as Moderately Priced Dwelling Units — along with roughly 20,000 square feet of retail space. Renderings comparing the 2018-approved design to the current August 2026 iteration show a largely similar massing strategy: a stepped tower composition that transitions down toward the lower-scale properties along Woodmont Avenue, paired with an active ground-floor retail frontage along both Wisconsin and Woodmont. 

The development will go back before the Bethesda Downtown Design Advisory Panel later this month.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/eight_years_later_440-unit_downtown_bethesda_development_back_on_the_boards/24990.