Harden and Weaver Alleys

Those of you who grew up in the DMV might well remember the Harden & Weaver show on WMAL radio.  It was my go-to method of finding out if school was canceled when it snowed.

WMAL used to broadcast from a set of radio towers off of Greentree Road in Bethesda, Maryland.  The site is currently being turned into a housing development by Toll Brothers.  A resident of a nearby resident requested that Harden and Weaver be recognized by naming streets after them.  Toll Brothers agreed and in the Amalyn development there exists both a Harden Alley and a Weaver Alley, directly across the street from each other.

The Grandview Bethesda construction

 

The Grandview is a senior living community under construction on Fernwood Road in the Rock Spring area of Bethesda, MD. It is on the site of the former Marriott headquarters.  I have written a few times about the demolition of the Marriott HQ and the new construction.  The initial name for the project was ELP Bethesda.

This will be the entrance to the first Grandview building.  The first phase of the project, which will consist of this building and a second, similar one will have 512 independent living units, and associated amenities. 

Here it is as seen from the entrance to Democracy Plaza on the far side of the site. The 13 story building is 150 feet tall and has 247 units.

This area was the main entrance to the Marriott headquarters building.  The new construction is behind where it was.

This will be the second building of the Grandview. It is about ground level now. The first building, still under construction, is to the left. This building will have about 265 units in it.

The construction fence along Fernwood Road is plastered with various signs about the new development.

This is Thomas Branch stream, near it's headwaters.  It was an overgrown mees but it has been re-graded and re-engineered so it is a series of connected pools.  Oddly, it is a "Tree Protection Area" but they cut down most of the existing trees and planted new ones.

There used to be a row of large hardwood trees along Fernwood Road. These have all been cut down, only the stumps remain. I'm sad to see them go because they were quite majestic.

The Mercury at Wildwood: getting closer

 

The Mercury at Wildwood is an art deco inspired over-55 apartment building that will have somewhere between 60 and 72 units. It is in a former parking lot between Balducci's and the Wildwood Medical Building, behind the Exxon station. 

The building is at it's full height and they are starting to put a brick facing on it. I last wrote about it in March when the first floor was still being poured.

The Mercury to the right of the Wildwood Medical Building.

Although the side facing Balducci's has a white wrap, the rest of the building doesn't yet, the yellow insulation is visible. This is the part of the building closest to Old Georgetown Road.  The address will be 10241 Old Georgetown Rd.

The Mercury from behind the Wildwood Medical Building.

 

 

 

 

 

Preparing for North Bethesda Market II

The long-planned North Bethesda Market II is starting to make progress. Originally proposed in 2010. Originally this was envisioned to have a very tall residential tower, a tall office tower, and a retail building it has been significantly scaled back.  Now the plan (submitted in 2023) calls for a single 7 story residential building with 280 units and a single story retail building with 7,500 square feet of retail use. Demolition of the old buildings has started.

Demolition near the gas station

The Exxon station on the corner of Rockville Pike and Nicholson Lane is not part of this project, it remains open.

Several buildings are being demolished to make way for a new development called North Bethesda Market II.  In the foreground there used to be a building, now there is just a concrete slab.  Behind that is 11426 Rockville Pike, in the process of being demolished. There used to be a Chili's Grill and Bar in this building.

5640 building front

This building hasn't been demolished yet, but all the business have left and the building is boarded up.  There used to be several restaurants here including Quincy's South Bar and Grille, of which only the sign remains.

5640 building back

This building hasn't been demolished yet, but soon will be.  It has the numerals 5640 on it, which seems to correspond to where it is on Nicholson Lane.  However, it faces Woodglen Drive and the restaurants that were in it had Woodglen Dr addresses.

 

 

 

 

Stratton Place luxury homes construction has started

Looking down Greentree Road, the new development is on the left.

 I posted about it a year and a half ago, at the time, there was just a single (slightly overgrown) house and lots of trees.  For a long time not much was visibly occurring. One house was torn down, and I believe almost all the houses on the adjacent street (Barnett Rd, to the left if you are facing the property on Greentree Rd) were purchased and people moved out.
 

 

In the past few weeks, things have really started moving.  They have been cutting down trees on the property and piling up the logs and trimmings. There are several large piles of logs from all the trees that were cut down. Some of the trees were quite large.  It is worth clicking on the picture to get a more detailed view.

 

 

In the foreground are concrete pipes that I believe will be used for the stormwater drains.  From here you can see how deep the property is.  There will be a new road going down this side of the property.

 

Large piles of branches and tree stumps. The houses you see are unoccupied and will be demolished.  New houses will be built in their place.  Montgomery Planning has all the documents on this development known as the Andrus property.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have you seen the Aurora Borealis?

 

The Aurora Borealis (or Northern Lights) have been strong recently.  A couple of times there have been predictions of them in the DC area and I have tried to go see them without luck.  Last Thursday night was a super strong one and I happened to be in Shenandoah National Park. I watched them for a couple of hours and got some great pictures. Some friends of mine posted photos they took in Olney, so they were visible in Montgomery County, but, with all the light pollution we have around here I'm not so sure about Bethesda.

This one is from early in the evening. It started out as a pale green that spread across the sky, the reds came in later.

To my naked eyes, this looked a but like light pollution on high clouds, but a long exposure on the camera really brought out the color.  I highly suggest taking pictures. The night mode on your camera app does a decent job.  I used a full-frame mirrorless camera and all this pictures were 30 second exposures.  Later in the evening, I could see the reds spread across the whole sky and some pale green even without using my camera, it was incredible.

If you have missed them so far don't give up. the Northern Lights are caused by sunspot activity and they go through an eleven year cycle that is peaking over the next few months.  The aurora isn't visible every day, I use a couple of websites to keep track. Space Weather is the first one, usually the top paragraph is telling you the chance of a solar flare (this is what causes the aurora) hitting earth.  Look for G4 or G5 class flares if you want a chance of seeing them around here.  The second site I check is SolarHam, which is for amateur radio, but they have a page with the forecast and pictures that show how far south the aurora should be visible.

 

 

 

 

Taste of Bethesda, Today until 4pm

The 32nd annual Taste of Bethesda is today, Saturday, October 5th. It is going on now and runs until 4pm.  Come and taste food from a large selection of Bethesda restaurants.  Tickets are 5 for $10 and tastes are from 1-4 tickets each (mostly 3 or 4).

Lots of people and lots of good food.  I especially liked the crab cake sliders (2 for 4 tickets). All the way at the end of Norfolk was maman bakery which had mini croissants, chocolate chip cookies (with or without nuts) and chocolate croissants.  They get my vote for best deal there.

I also saw guy with a life-sized Trump cut-out that you could take your picture with.  Smile and give a thumbs up, or frown and give a thumbs down, great fun for everyone.

Woodward High School is ready for students

 

Montgomery County Public Schools has been re-building Woodward High School for the past several years.  They demolished the old building in the Spring of 2021 and since then I have posted quite a lot about the construction progress. (See them all here.)

After all this time, the school is finally ready for students.  A couple of caveats apply though. First, the school isn't completely done, there are not yet athletic fields or a theater, or a couple of other things, and second, it isn't reopening as Woodward yet.  For the next few years Northwood High School will be based here while the rebuild that building.

Northwood will be here when the school year starts on Monday. Yes, it is just days away from a new school year.

 

Here's the school from the Southwest, there is a large parking lot, I think for bus drop-off, and, in the bottom right, the shadow of me taking the picture.

The school is set a ways back from the road and the sidewalk will also be moved back from the edge of the road a bit.

 

 

 

The Montgomery County Fair is now going on

The midway at the MoCo Fair

It's that time of year. Time for "The best 9 days of summer" at the Montgomery County Fair.  The fair runs through the end of the week (Saturday August 17, 2024) so you don't have much time.  It's a great place to take the kids to see animals, shows, and ride rides.  If you want all the activities, here's a pdf of the full 2024 fair schedule.

Piglets

Every year they have piglets at Old MacDonalds barn. This year's are especially cute

Prize winning vegetables

In the Old-Timers building you can see all the vegetables that people have entered for judging. This picture is of the largest squash by weight. The winner is 10 pounds 5 ounces!

A circus act

Multiple times a day the Circus Incredible does their thing.  Here is the Trapeze portion and a crowd of people watching.

And here's who they're looking at. Lyric Wallenda of the “World Famous Wallenda” family performing on the trapeze.

 

Caroline Freeland Park renovation continues

The park's progress

 It has been over a year since they closed Caroline Freeland park in downtown Bethesda, MD for renovation.  The park still isn't open, but progress has been made. The new lights are in and tables with umbrellas are sitting on a new concrete pad for example. but there is a lot more to do.

Park and Road

The park sits at 7200 Arlington Road between the library and the Giant Food store. It has long been a popular place to take kids to play or to eat lunch.  Despite how it looks in the photo, Arlington Rd is quite busy (except early on Sunday mornings apparently). The sidewalk used to be right next to the road, now there is a grass strip separating the two.

Repainted Sculpture

The round sculpturey thing of people walking in a circle was designed by George Greenamyer and was installed in 1989. It remains and has gotten a fresh coat of paint.

Playground

The playground has been enlarged and has more, larger playground equipment.  It looks much the same as when I last provided an update in February. The fences and benches are new since then.

Elm Street entrance

The Elm Street entrance the park is a bit more open and has a bit more concrete than the old entrance.

Heavy equipment

There is still a lot to do on the library side of the park with lots of bare ground and piles of dirt, sand, and gravel.  According to the county, the park should be open this fall.