CAR CRASH-RELATED HOLE IN BETHESDA GARAGE GETTING PATCHED (PHOTOS)

Somebody was listening last week, when I reported on the massive hole that remained in Montgomery County Parking Garage 40 (Cordell-St. Elmo Garage) after a car wreck four months ago. The wall is being patched up, and the space is blocked off in the meantime. A fresh coat of paint on the exterior and interior walls should leave Garage 40 looking as good as new.

Exterior view from
St. Elmo Avenue

WSSC FAILED TO NOTIFY BETHESDA BUILDINGS ABOUT NIGHTTIME WORK NOISE (PHOTOS)

Montgomery County's point man on noise says the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission failed to properly notify residents near St. Elmo Avenue of nighttime work that has kept many tossing and turning this week. Steve Martin, Environmental Compliance Supervisor for the county's Department of Environmental Protection, said in a letter to the Triangle Towers Apartments on Cordell Avenue that the WSSC admitted to him they did not provide the notifications. 

Martin informed the utility that there were 3 residential buildings within the 300' notification range that should have been notified in advance of the noisy work: Triangle Towers, the Bainbridge Bethesda apartments, and the Fairmont Plaza condominiums. I personally have heard from several residents in each of those buildings, as well as one resident of The Palisades, all of whom have complained of the noise over the last several nights.

And the work is not finished. According to a copy of the memo obtained by Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row, WSSC's contractor will be back on-site tonight, and on the evenings of September 2 and 3, 2014. The work involves a sewer line replacement, mandated by federal regulations on aging and failing sewer lines, according to Martin.

What can you do about the noise? Martin advises sleepless residents to contact Brandon Stewart, the WSSC Customer Care Representative for Bethesda, by email.

Martin says that, as a state entity, the WSSC is exempt from the county's noise ordinance - and that they did not advise him of the work in advance, either. He said he has informed the Bethesda Urban Partnership, Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center, and the 2nd District station of the Montgomery County Police about the noise issue.

Here are some photos from their work last night:

NIGHTTIME UTILITY WORK ON ST. ELMO AVE. IN BETHESDA (PHOTOS)

Work crews are back on St. Elmo Avenue tonight, working on underground utilities. Watch out for lane closures on St. Elmo between Norfolk and Woodmont Avenues. A few readers have complained of nighttime noise from this work.

Setting up for a long
night ahead

You might want to detour around this
via Cordell and Norfolk Avenues

They're working on
below-ground utilities

ST. ELMO APARTMENTS DESIGN UNVEILED IN BETHESDA (PHOTOS)

The future of St. Elmo Avenue got bigger last night, when the sketch design for the 16-story St. Elmo Apartments was unveiled at a public meeting in Bethesda. Steve Robins, with Lerch, Early & Brewer, presented the sketch plan he said Lenkin Companies will submit to county planners within the next month.

A mixed-use project, St. Elmo Apartments will include up to 15,500 SF of retail space, up to 210 luxury apartments, and a potential second floor office space for Lenkin, which has been headquartered at this site since 1970. Chef Tony's and Pizza Pass would be demolished for the construction, currently scheduled to begin in mid-2016 or 2017.

Lenkin has hired David M. Schwarz to design the building, and Robins said they are aiming for a "timeless" design, rather than "trendy or aping past traditional style." He said glass will be the predominant exterior feature. DMS designed the Baltimore Orioles training facility, along with many big projects in the DC region. Lenkin has selected Rhodeside & Harwell for the landscaping and exterior space, a firm that worked on the impressive Intelsat Tysons Tower recently.

Public space is a priority for the developer, Robins said, and Lenkin hopes to work closely with next-door neighbor Bainbridge to realize a pedestrian plaza that will give a strong sense of place.

Speaking of place, the building entrance and parking will front on St. Elmo, as the developer feels that street is "more marketable" than Fairmont Avenue (although the project applicant's official name is 4931 Fairmont Avenue LLC).

Building amenities will include a roof terrace, a pool one flight down from the roof, and dens for some of the 1 and 2 bedroom units.

A St. Elmo Avenue businessperson attending last night's meeting expressed concern about parking, noting that the Cordell-St. Elmo public parking garage is full by midday, creating parking problems for her customers.

In a departure from the trend these days, Robins said St. Elmo Apartments will actually provide more than the required parking on-site - 220 underground spaces in a 4-level garage for 210 (or less) apartments. He also said that the pathway next to the 7770 Norfolk apartments on Fairmont Avenue will make the Woodmont Avenue garage accessible to visitors or patrons of businesses at the St. Elmo Apartments.

As you'll see in the images below (click to enlarge for greater detail), there are alternative plans to capitalize on the space between the St. Elmo and Bainbridge. The most promising would create a large, Bethesda Lane-style public space between the buildings. This is similar to what will eventually exist on Auburn and Del Ray Avenues, when The Rugby is built across from Gallery Bethesda.

There's a lot of potential to do something special with this project, and several high-quality firms involved. Done right, this could be a great addition to the Woodmont Triangle.

Woodmont Triangle and
current zoning

Aerial view that shows several
new and future buildings
in tan color
(Gallery Bethesda, The Rugby upper left;
Bainbridge and 4990 Fairmont center;
7990 Wisconsin, 7770 Norfolk right)

Show me the blueprints,
show me the blueprints

16 stories above
the Woodmont Triangle

Public space

Some individual units

Showing roof terrace and
pool one level down

3 possible configurations for
the public street/plaza between
the buildings

And thank you for
reading!

All images courtesy Lenkin Companies
and DMS Architects, All rights reserved

NEW STREETLAMPS ON ST. ELMO AVENUE IN BETHESDA (PHOTOS)

I was hoping these might be lit up after dark, but these new streetlamps along St. Elmo Avenue in downtown Bethesda aren't operational yet. You might recall that the sidewalk along this side of St. Elmo was completely redone in June, and brought up to the current Bethesda Streetscape standards. Initially, this type of streetlamp was installed in front of the new Bainbridge Bethesda luxury apartment tower. Now the rest of the block on this side is getting the upgraded lighting.

NEW DATE FOR MEETING ON NEW MIXED-USE PROJECT IN DOWNTOWN BETHESDA

The public Pre-Submittal Meeting for the new Lenkin Co. mixed-use residential building proposal has been rescheduled for Monday, August 25, at 7:00 PM, at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center, 4805 Edgemoor Lane, in downtown Bethesda. The project will include properties next to the Bainbridge Bethesda apartments on both St. Elmo and Fairmont Avenues.

SIDEWALK WORK MOVES DOWN ST. ELMO AVENUE (PHOTOS)

The streetscape improvements along St. Elmo Avenue have moved further down the block. Remember that all businesses are still open during the work.