Why is the valuable space at the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and Montgomery Lane still empty?
-A reader in Bethesda
The property—7340 Wisconsin Ave.—is indeed valuable. In the center of downtown Bethesda and across the street from the elevator to the Bethesda Metro station, it’s valued at more than $24 million, according to state property records.
In 2012, development company Bainbridge bought the property from Exxon, which used to operate a gas station on the site.
In September 2014, the Planning Board approved Bainbridge’s applications for a 14-floor, 225-unit apartment building with about 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and an underground garage. The approvals were for a building that would be 143 feet tall.
The project hasn’t progressed since and the property today is fenced off with a few trucks and some construction equipment standing by. While the gas pumps have long been demolished, the building that housed the Exxon shop part of the gas station remains empty.
It appears Bainbridge is waiting for new zoning that could allow it more density through the Bethesda Downtown Plan, which the County Council will review and approve this fall.
Rendering of the 7340 Wisconsin project as approved in September 2014, via Montgomery County Planning Department
During a June 2015 Planning Board public hearing on the Bethesda Downtown Plan, Bainbridge President Tom Keady said the company hasn’t started the project because it expected the plan to allow more density and height on the property.
“We were encouraged to hold off on construction and wait for the new Sector Plan to evolve, rather than under-utilizing the property at its current [zoning],” Keady told the Planning Board.
Keady said initial recommendations from county planners didn’t provide the density boost he felt was appropriate for a site in the middle of downtown Bethesda, and that it should be given a 290-foot-height limit, like neighboring properties on top of the Metro station.
As the Bethesda Downtown Plan looks now, the 7340 Wisconsin Ave. site is shown with a 250-foot-height limit for any new building. The Planning Board decided in July to keep all downtown Bethesda properties at current density limits but to offer a pool of about 4 million square feet of “bonus density” to developers on a first-come, first-serve basis.
To get any of that bonus density, developers would have to buy unused density from other property owners or go through a series of steps including payment into a county fund for creating downtown parks and providing more than the minimal number of income-restricted affordable units.
The County Council public hearing on the Bethesda Downtown Plan is scheduled for October.
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