Downtown Bethesda is getting ready for a building boom. The growth plan approved by the county last year opened up new opportunities for redevelopment and raised the height limits on properties across the downtown core; buildings up to 300 feet tall are allowed in some spots. Since the Montgomery County Council passed the Bethesda Downtown Sector Plan in 2017, the county’s planning board has signed off on projects for the Marriott International headquarters and a mixed-use tower at the corner of Montgomery and Wisconsin avenues. Meanwhile, construction at the Apex site and former Fitness First site is also in full swing.
Here are some of the major developments that are underway or have received final approval from the Montgomery County Planning Board.
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More Projects On the Way
Many other downtown Bethesda projects are awaiting final approval by the planning board. Here are nine of them:
- ZOM Bethesda: a roughly 235-unit apartment complex proposed for the 7500 block of Arlington Road, across the street from the Bethesda Elementary School fields.
- 8000 Wisconsin Ave.: an apartment tower up to 200 feet tall on a collection of properties, including a county parking lot on Woodmont Avenue, the Bethesda campus of the MYSA School and the S.S. Papadopulos & Associates building on Wisconsin Avenue.
- Edgemont at Bethesda II: up to 160 units of multifamily housing on Edgemoor Lane next to Edgemont at Bethesda, an apartment complex.
- 4540 Montgomery Ave.: a roughly 145-foot-tall mixed-use building at the corner of Pearl Street and Montgomery Avenue.
- 4 Bethesda Metro Center: a proposed 500,000-square-foot high-rise that could provide housing or offices. The building would stand on Bethesda Metro Center Plaza and replace the former food court attached to 3 Bethesda Metro Center.
- 7607 Old Georgetown Road: multifamily housing in a tower of up to 225 feet on the La Madeleine restaurant site.
- 8280 Wisconsin Ave.: a roughly 145-foot-tall office building in place of the existing Sunoco gas station.
- 7820 Wisconsin Ave.: a residential tower of up to 314 feet, potentially the tallest building in downtown Bethesda. The project site includes the 7-Eleven and EagleBank properties.
- St. Elmo Apartments: a 21-story apartment complex on a site between St. Elmo and Fairmont avenues. The planning board approved a 16-story building for the property last year, but developers now want to enlarge the project.
