New construction approved for Fairmont Ave in Bethesda, MD

The Montgomery County planning board met on July 2nd and approved with conditions a new mixed use 17 story apartment building with up to 200 units and 7,700 square feet of ground-floor retail south of Woodmont Avenue facing both Fairmont Ave and St. Elmo Ave. The main entrance will be on Fairmont Avenue and there will be a pedestrian passage between this building and the one to the south of it. At least one of the retail spaces will open on this passage. Plans call for a total of 3 retail spaces.

The project is called the "Monty" and is being developed using "Density Transfer" where they put a bigger building here, in exchange for reducing the maximum height of other lots nearby. I'm guessing this is like buying the air-rights of nearby properties. The developer will also install the standard Bethesda streetscape of brick pavers, street trees, lighting, and undergrounding the utility lines on both Fairmont Ave and St. Elmo Ave (a minimum of 10,480 square feet). There were a long list of minor conditions attached to the approval.

Currently on Fairmont Ave there are two empty buildings, one that used to house "Bethesda Home Furnishings" and one that had "Maryland Floor Covering". It also covers a couple of buildings on St. Elmo Avenue, the former Bethesda Tobacco and a two-story building with blue tiles on the front that currently houses Dansez Dansez.



More info at the planning board.