New Additions to Bethesda, Maryland real estate
Do you currently live in a
Bethesda, Maryland home, or if you are considering moving into one, you should know that the Montgomery County planning board on Thursday October 17th, 2008 gave preliminary approval to a new project that would add 223,3000 Square foot mixed use
Montgomery County real estate to this already growing market. Some of the current objections that the planning board has received about this
Montgomery County real estate proposal deals with the parking plan and the projected height of the development. The existing site where this new mixed use development will be is the home to a McDonald’s restaurant and a single family home used as an office building. The current plan for this new
Montgomery County real estate is to have the building setback, and there will be an art display and fountain as part of the improvements that will be done to the current site. The Developer is trying to make this building the gateway into Bethesda. The Claret Group out of New York bought the land for $71.6 million and has currently proposed a nine story glass building.
The Clarret Group has big plans for this new development. Even though the new building is still in the planning phass the Clarret Group has set aside roughly 13,300 Square Feet for retail space. Currently the plan for this new nine story development is an expansion of sidewalk space and a green roof. If this plan does go through, the new development will be located at the cross streets of East West Highway and Pearl Street. This location is that it is only 2 blocks away from the metro stop on Wisconsin Avenue.
Some of the concerns that residents of the area have about the new development are it could generate pedestrian hazards and that it will block the sun light on parts of East West Highway. The County traffic planners have addressed this concern. They believe that the project will actually improve pedestrian safety by reducing the number of curb cuts that currently exist at this location. They also said that the project will include some sort of traffic mitigation component which should reduce new car trips by roughly 30%. In response to the sun being blocked the Clarret group’s representative said that the project will be lower than some of the surrounding buildings and should only cast a shadow over the church for nine months of the year due to the fact that it will be set back 45 feet from the street.
