614-Unit Mixed-Used Development for White Flint Moves Forward

• September 9, 2016

by Nena Perry-Brown

A rendering of East Village Phase I

The White Flint area is one step closer to urbanized revitalization after the Montgomery County Planning Board granted unanimous approval to a five-acre mixed-use project on Thursday afternoon.

Foulger-Pratt and ProMark with architect BKV Group will develop the site at Nicholson Lane and Huff Court (map) in Bethesda that currently houses medical and laboratory facilities along with a surface parking lot.

The first phase of the development will be a donut-shaped building with 382 apartment units atop 24,000 square feet of retail. The main residential lobby will be on Nicholson, and 48 of the units will be set aside as moderately-priced housing. There will also be a three-level underground parking garage with 416 parking spaces and 65 bicycle spaces.

Phase II will deliver an additional 232 units across an L-shaped building, of which 29 will be moderately-priced. There will also be 14,000 square feet of retail and 285 parking spaces across three underground levels. Primary access to both garages will be on Huff Street.

A rendering of the two phases bisected by a pedestrian plaza

The Planning Board approved both the preliminary plan and the site plan, including the staff’s recommended stipulations. In addition to the required streetscape and public infrastructural improvements, the development team is also bound to deliver a minimum number of on-site recreation facilities and a 19-dock bikeshare station.

A pedestrian walkway and plaza will separate the two development phases, and some of the units will have private entrances along the plaza. Executive Boulevard will also be extended as part of the development.

The East Village at North Bethesda Gateway is one of three tracts of land between Rockville Pike and White Flint Mall for which a development sketch plan was approved five years ago.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/montgomery_county_approves_614-unit_mixed-used_development_for_white_flint/11653