Downtown Bethesda's Sector Plan Rewrite

As the urban hub's build out continues planning officials move to increase density to accommodate future growth

As I wrote last February (in what turned out to be the site's most popular post), downtown Bethesda is in the middle of a huge building boom with a number of development projects recently completed or currently under construction. In light of this flurry of development activity, the Montgomery County Planning Commission is in the process of rewriting the downtown area's sector plan (last rewritten in 1994) to accommodate the urban district's tremendous growth now and into the future. 

Among other things, the new plan seeks to: improve and increase the amount of public space, add a "greenway," increase the  number of affordable housing units,  improve connectivity (pedestrian, transit, bicycle, and auto), and focus growth in certain areas. Last December, preliminary concepts were presented by planning staff to the planning board for review. Between 2010 and 2040 the Bethesda downtown district was projected to add 14,200 jobs and 5,300 households. To help accommodate this growth, planning staff proposed raising height limits and increasing density in a number of specific areas of the urban district. Below is a map of these new height limits:

Blue - Symbolic Center and Civic Gathering Spaces
Red - Expanded/Emerging Centers of Activity
Yellow - Affordable Housing, Park Connectivity and Community Facilities
Green - Eastern Greenway

Unfortunately, some of the revised height limits are rather modest (particularly for the area at the north end of Wisconsin Ave). Elsewhere they seem to be more appropriate, although a short section of Wisconsin Ave at the south end of the CBD is oddly stuck at 75' while the immediate areas to the north and south have new 250' and 120' height limits respectively. 

During the zoning rewrite process (which is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year), different landowners and developers were encouraged by planning staff to discuss plans or submit ideas for their sites, and how they thought the new sector plan should accommodate them. 

Here are the more detailed proposals (You'll notice that some of them are taller than the proposed height limits):

4422 East West Highway

4422 East West Highway

Owner: Adelfio Enterprises Ltd.

Height: 6/7 stories

Details: Mid-rise building with residential and office space, and ground-floor retail

4300 East West Highway

4300 East West Highway/Bethesda Gateway

Owner: Streetscape Partners

Height: 14 stories

Details: High-rise residential building

7800 Wisconsin Ave

7800 Wisconsin Ave

Owner: Union Hardware

Height: 250 ft.

Details: Dining/retail on ground-floor, art center on 2nd and 3rd floor, art center offices on 4th floor, and residential units on remaining upper floors

6600 Wisconsin Ave

6600 Wisconsin Ave

Owner: Bethesda Fire Dept.

Height: 3/7 stories

Details: Residential building with fire station on ground-floor

7121 Wisconsin Ave

7121 Wisconsin Ave

Owner: Bernstein Companies

Height: 250 ft.

Details: Residential high-rise on Wisconsin Ave with plaza and townhomes behind

7008 Wisconsin Ave

7008 Wisconsin Ave

Owner: Washington Property Co.

Height: 145 ft./14 stories

Details: Residential building complementing under construction Solaire II building across Woodmont Ave

8280 Wisconsin Ave

8280 Wisconsin Avenue

Owner: Donohoe Development Company

Height: 200 ft.20 stories

Details: High-rise residential apartment building replacing previous proposal for 9-story office building

Metro Plaza

Metro Plaza

Owner: Brookfield Office Properties/WMATA

Height: 290 ft.

Details: Overhaul of Bethesda Metro Plaza with new office high-rise and retail space

To see an updated look at the projects planned or under construction in the current building boom check out my updated post.