The sketch plan for The Crescent at Chevy Chase. Credit: Montgomery County Planning Board
The Montgomery County Planning Board is expected to review and possibly approve Nov. 17 a sketch plan for a project to construct 135 apartments in Chevy Chase.
The Crescent at Chevy Chase would have two four-story buildings with a maximum height of 50 feet and a total of 129,742 square feet, and include 17 moderately priced dwelling units, according to planning board documents. The planning staff is recommending approval. Landmark Realty is the developer.
The project, on a 1.98-acre tract on the north side of Newdale Road about 200 feet west of Connecticut Avenue, would be built directly across from where the light-rail Purple Line is expected to be constructed. County planners have stipulated that excavation and construction of the project cannot begin until construction for the Purple Line begins.
According to the planners’ report, the site of the proposed complex sits among single-family homes, offices and stores. The Columbia Country Club is to the west. The Georgetown Branch Trail is across Newdale Road.
The property now has 40 apartments in five three-story, multifamily buildings, called the Newdale Mews Apartments, and surface parking, which would be demolished to accommodate the new development.
During debate over the Chevy Chase Lake Sector Plan in 2013, some residents of the single-family homes worried that heights proposed at the time for the Newdale Mews redevelopment would overshadow their properties.
In the sketch plan application filed Aug. 1 with the county’s Planning Department, Landmark Realty said it’s proposing a significant landscaped buffer between the new apartment buildings and the single-family homes. It also said the top floor of the buildings would be set back five feet.
Renters at Newdale Mews will be informed as the project progress, Landmark Realty president Rob Bindeman said Thursday.
“This whole process is one step at a time,” he said. “Should the project go forward, we’ll be flexible in giving ample notice to our residents.”
He said his family has been on the property for 37 years.
“I know my residents well, and we maintain communication well. We’ll certainly keep them in the loop,” Bindeman said.
Parking for The Crescent would be in two below-grade garages, one in the lower level of each of the buildings. The garages would not be visible from the adjacent single-family homes.