Developers are on the verge of building two major projects that would give more “up” to downtown Bethesda’s upscale reputation.
A development team led by PN Hoffman is submitting its plan this week to Montgomery County’s park and planning office for its Lot 31 project at the northwest corner of Woodmont Avenue and Bethesda Avenue.
The more than $200 million project would consist of two mixed-use buildings covering 357,000 square feet of retail and condominiums. The PN Hoffman/Stonebridge Associates team also is expanding the county”s 250-space public parking facility on the site to 1,300 underground parking spaces.
A hearing scheduled for Sept. 6 would be the last step in the approval process.
PN Hoffman/Stonebridge plans to start construction in mid-2008 and complete the work in 2011.
The project is called Lot 31 because it is being built on Montgomery County’s public parking lot numbered 31.
“Lot 31 is the last significant portion of downtown Bethesda to be developed,” said David DeSantis, vice president of Washington-based PN Hoffman. “It’s kind of the icing on the cake of Bethesda. What it does is add a measure of completion to that neighborhood.”
PN Hoffman/Stonebridge plans to choose another name for the project next year.
Meanwhile, Federal Realty Investment Trust and JBG Companies hope to start construction on a new mixed-use project in 2009 as they complete regulatory approvals.
The roughly 400,000-square-foot development would combine street-level retail, a hotel, residences and a parking lot diagonally across the street from Lot 31.
Federal Realty is the developer of the seven-block Bethesda Row of retail and residences that give the central business district a village feel. The new project, still unnamed, would be located next to Bethesda Row if the Montgomery County park and planning office approves it.
The joint venture tentatively plans to build a 200-room hotel, 200 residential units, about 10,000 square feet of retail and 250 to 300 parking spaces.
The cost of the project is “too early to tell,” said John Tschiderer, vice president of development for Federal Realty. “We’re going through the required government approval process.”
The Bethesda project continues Federal Realty’s strategy of building mixed-use projects in “suburban rings” throughout the Washington area, the Northeast and California. The company also is building an addition to the Village at Shirlington in Arlington and held the ribbon-cutting July 17 after completion of Rockville Town Square.
The common factor for the downtown Bethesda projects is that developers have figured out that the Central Business District “in Bethesda is evolving the opportunities to invest,” Mr. Tschiderer said.
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