Rockville developers Lerner Enterprises received the green light from the Montgomery County Planning Board on Thursday to move forward with plans to construct 69 rental townhouses along Crystal Rock Drive and Century Boulevard in Germantown.
The board unanimously approved Lerner’s plans for its proposed townhome development, Black Hill Townes, during a meeting at its Wheaton headquarters. The approval allows the developer to ditch its previously approved plans for three multi-family apartment buildings with a total of 440 units on the property.
The townhome development will be built on land to the west of Interstate 270 near Black Hill Regional Park and several multi-family apartment buildings. Nine of the 69 townhomes will be moderately priced dwelling units, according to planning documents.
In recent months, the board has reviewed and approved several housing projects in the county in which developers have shifted their proposed housing type from multi-family apartments to townhomes, as well as projects that have significantly reduced the number of units that were originally planned. Developers have cited market conditions and rising construction costs as the main reasons for the plan changes. In addition, developers say they are seeing a rising need in the county for housing types other than apartment units.
Lerner Enterprises decided to change its initial plans to construct 440 housing units at the site of three high-rise apartment buildings due to “rising construction costs and current market demands,” according to a statement of justification letter for the project. Due to those conditions, developers said building the high-rise project was not “economically feasible.”
As a result, developers hired Bethesda real estate consulting firm RCLCO to conduct a market analysis for rental townhomes in the county and learned there was an unmet demand for the housing type, according to the letter.
“Rental townhomes will provide a diversity of housing options especially for families who want to live in a single-family house (as opposed to stacked multi-family flats) but who, for one reason or another, chose not to or are precluded from owning a home,” the letter states. Developers also argued in the letter the updated project will provide “family-sized rental MPDUs” instead of smaller units that are typically provided in multi-family buildings.
Planning Board Chair Artie Harris on Friday praised Lerner Enterprises’ decision to switch to townhomes, describing it as a “win-win for the community.”
“The Planning Board is pleased to see projects coming in to us that developers feel are feasible given the current high costs of construction and elevated interest rates,” he said in an email to Bethesda Today. “These proposed rental townhomes for families are needed to help close the county’s housing shortage gap. The Planning Board is committed to accelerating housing production in the county at every price point and housing type.”
In addition to the townhomes, Lerner Enterprises’ plans call for 51,500 square feet of common open space at the rear of the townhomes that will serve as a buffer between the buildings and Black Hill Regional Park. The open space would include a trail connection from Crystal Rock Drive to the park, a natural playscape area for children, a firepit area with seating, moveable seating, plus a grill and picnic table area, according to planning documents.
During Thursday’s meeting, board members did not comment on the change in proposed housing type or the loss of the hundreds of initially proposed apartments. Instead, the board and the developers primarily discussed county planners’ recommendations concerning improving access and visibility for the proposed open space, among other technical issues.
