A proposal for a 16-story, roughly 210-unit apartment building in Woodmont Triangle will go before the Planning Board next week for the first time.
The Lenkin Company, a D.C. area developer with its offices in the existing two-story building at 4922 St Elmo Ave., plans to build the apartment on the same spot, directly south of the recently completed Bainbridge Bethesda.
County planners are recommending the Planning Board approve the project’s Sketch Plan when it goes before the Board on Thursday, Feb. 19.
It would include up to 256,300 square feet of residential development and up to 15,488 square feet of commercial uses that could include retail and office space.
The Sketch Plan proposes about 231 parking spaces for residents in an underground garage. The public space portion of the project would come by widening the existing pedestrian cut-thru part of the Bainbridge Bethesda.
“Although on two separate properties, the Applicant is working with the owners of the Bainbridge Bethesda property to design both spaces as one cohesive passageway,” planners wrote in their Sketch Plan report. “The design of the expanded mid-block connection will utilize a combination of site-specific art, benches, lighting and hardscape in addition to retail uses located on the ground floor to activate the passageway. The Applicant is exploring options regarding the use of the Dan Steinhilber art installation provided by the Bainbridge Bethesda development.”
The details of the cut-thru would be finalized later in the Planning Department’s approval process.
Steve Robins, the attorney representing The Lenkin Company, has said Bainbridge is interested in partnering up for a larger public space, despite putting the final touches on its apartment project just last summer.
The 200-foot-long cut-thru connects St Elmo Avenue and Fairmont Avenue in Woodmont Triangle. The Lenkin Company envisions widening the space from 20 feet to about 40 feet, with art and features that would have to be approved by the Planning Department’s arts board.
Garage access would be on St Elmo Avenue. The building would include a pool, rooftop deck and fitness center.
The building would be no higher than 174 feet and the proposal required about 65,000 square feet in density transfers from three nearby commercial properties.
The building, for now called St. Elmo Apartments, would be the fourth new apartment high-rise in Woodmont Triangle and third in the two-block area of St Elmo and Fairmont Avenues.
Besides the 17-story, 200-unit Bainbridge Bethesda next door, developer JBG is nearing completion of its 17-story, 244-unit 7770 Norfolk project. A 17-story luxury condo building is planned for the corner of Fairmont Avenue and Old Georgetown Road.
Via Planning Department