Construction on 366 new apartments in Bethesda will begin this summer after the Montgomery County Planning Board approved a minor modification to the plan.
The project, on Wisconsin Avenue about one block south of the Bethesda Metro station, will include a 250-foot-tall residential building with underground parking. The Planning Board on Thursday approved a minor modification to the plan that increases the number of parking spaces from 160 to 233.
Planning Board Chairman Casey Anderson said he is “really not crazy” about the increased parking, but it is still within county standards, so he voted in favor of the change.
Mary Beth Avedesian, senior vice president of B.F. Saul Company and Saul Centers Inc. — the developer — said she expects the five-story building currently on the property to be demolished “pretty soon this summer” and that “we are committed to moving forward despite COVID-19.”
Also included in the project is 11,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Fifteen percent of the units will be affordable housing, in accordance with county law.
The building has been designed as an “iconic building that will sit proudly on Wisconsin Avenue to provide a strong marker for this prominent pedestrian corner,” according to Planning Board documents.
Caitlynn Peetz can be reached at caitlynn.peetz@bethesdda-remix.newspackstaging.com