A group of neighboring property owners on a key block in downtown Bethesda is planning a redevelopment project that could bring new residential buildings and public spaces and improve a small street known for cut-through traffic.
The group, led by Starr Capital and the Offutt Dynasty Trust, owns approximately 2 acres of low-rise commercial and residential properties in the 7000 block of Wisconsin Avenue.
In a letter delivered Tuesday to the county Planning Board, the property owners ask for more allowable density on the site through the board’s ongoing update of the Bethesda Downtown Plan. Starr Capital’s Tim Eden and Offutt Dynasty Trust’s Willson Offutt wrote the group’s properties are home to “older retail and residential buildings that are in immediate need of redevelopment.”
“Since these existing buildings produce substantial cash flow, the requested height and density are needed to incentivize economically viable new construction,” the two wrote.
According to a presentation sent with the letter, that new construction could include neighboring property owners such as the Washington Property Co. in a project that would bring two 14-story mixed-use residential buildings to Wisconsin Avenue and two nine-story mixed-use residential buildings to the Strathmore Street side of the block.
More than half of the site would be reserved for open space, parks and a pedestrian cut-through. Eden and Offutt wrote the project could also help pay for the realignment of the Strathmore Street and Woodmont Avenue intersection and improvement of Strathmore Street as it extends south to Bradley Boulevard.
While the concepts in the presentation are preliminary proposals, Eden and Offutt wrote they are prepared to start the project approval process soon after the county approves the Bethesda Downtown Plan later this year.
“It is important to note that we are prepared to submit a Sketch Plan to pursue redevelopment following the adoption of the planning and zoning to be recommended by this Sector Plan,” the two wrote, “thus breathing new life into this strategic area of the Downtown early on in the projected build-out of Downtown Bethesda.”
In the letter, Eden and Offutt wrote they have met with community leaders about the proposal. They’re also asking to be identified in the sector plan as receiving sites for unused density from other properties, particularly the Montgomery County parking lots across Wisconsin Avenue that border the Town of Chevy Chase.
The Planning Board could review the group’s request for more density during next week’s work session, though the site wasn’t one of 13 listed for further discussion during the April 28 session.
