Same Team, Different Development: 450 Units Proposed for Downtown Bethesda Site

• January 25, 2021

by Nena Perry-Brown

Another 7-Eleven site redevelopment is (back) in the works — this time in downtown Bethesda. 

Bethesda Land and Bethmont are reviving an effort to redevelop the half-block on Fairmont Avenue between Wisconsin and Woodmont Avenues (map), this time with a 450-unit building with 14,750 square feet of ground floor retail. 7809 Woodmont was added to the site since a similar, smaller development was proposed about three years ago.

While Montgomery County generally requires that 15% of the residential space in new developments in Bethesda be moderately-priced dwelling units (MPDUs), the project would instead be 25% affordable. The resulting building, designed by Design Collective, will be 314 feet tall exceeding the 290-foot height mapped for the site. 

The development team will either raze the existing building at 7809 Woodmont or build in the air rights from the sixth floor upward. The proposed project will also have wider sidewalks than what currently exists at the site, and will employ Passive House design guidelines for the building skin. Some of the units will also have balconies that run the length of the unit.

The county has planned for the other half of the block to be a park in the future. Because the current design for 7820 Wisconsin assumes the park being built, the design will have to be tweaked if the park doesn't move forward for any reason.

The development team will file preliminary and site plan applications in the coming weeks.

All renderings courtesy of Design Collective; the park is purely illustrational.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/same-team-different-development-450-units-proposed-for-downtown-bethesda-si/17805