Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! Here is the Christmas tree at Union Station in Washington, DC
 

 

 

 

The old Marriott HQ is demolished

The demolition of the old Marriott headquarters in the Rock Spring area of Bethesda, MD has been going on for months, with the construction fencing first going up in February.  This campus will be replaced by a senior housing community.  Above is where the main entrance to the Marriott campus was, the building used to dominate this view, now all you see is the sky.
 

December 22, 2023

This is the view from the south looking north.  The building in the distance is the HMSHost building right along I-270.

 

December 16, 2023

Here is a similar view from December 16th, just about a week ago, there was still a small shred of a building left then.  The HMSHost building is in the distance on the left.

 

December 22, 2023

Here's the view from the north looking south-west. The building in the distance on the left is Democracy Plaza and the one on the right is Embassy Suites.

 

December 16, 2023

Here's a similar view from the 16th, just the corner of the building remained then and you could see sky through the windows.  The building in the distance is Democracy Plaza.

 

 

 

Seen at Great Falls, MD

 

High above the C & O canal near Great Falls Tavern is this stone.  Two peoples names are carved into it. C. J. Isackson and Olga Anderson.  Along with that is carved N.D.  It was obviously inscribed long ago because the lichens growing on the rock also grow into the engraved initials. The sun is at a low angle this time of year which really makes the letters stand out.

 

 

 

Damage to The Rae already

 

The Rae apartments across from Montgomery Mall haven't been open very long, but someone has already had a bit of trouble navigating the parking garage.  I'm not sure if they were actually trying to get in the garage or just turning around in the driveway, but, they took a chunk out of the ceiling right at the entrance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Burned cars at the post office

 

I don't go to the post office very often, but it's the holidays so I found myself at the Westlake post office next to the Home Depot and Montgomery mall.

What to my wondering eyes should appear, but two burned cars in the parking lot. I don't know how long they've been there, clearly it hadn't just happened.  It looks like the fire started in the engine compartment of the gas-powered car in the back and spread to the car in front of it.  It must have sucked for both people, bad enough that your car catches on fire, but even worse to be the collateral damage.

Here's a closer view of where the fire originated. It totally destroyed the interior of both cars too.

 

Here's another view, this time without so many cars around.

 

More new roads at the Amalyn development

 

Renita Lane

I last posted about the Amalyn housing development back in June, when they were preparing a new section of the field for houses.  They've been busy since then and as of the end of November, that part now has paved roads.

The existing Renita Lane now continues well into the Amalyn development in Bethesda, MD. It will eventually connect to Greentree Road but it doesn't yet.

Bluestar Ave

Amalyn will have over 300 new residences and will have a mixture of townhouses and single family houses.  Here you can see a newly-paved section of Bluestar Avenue where it connects to the existing paved portion.  A few rows of townhouses are under construction.

Bluestar Avenue at Azure Alley

This is a large section of the field that is now paved and ready to build on, maybe a third of the total area and over half of what was remaing. The only part left is the south-western end where the 5 acre MCPS donation is. 

Azure Alley looking towards Lantana Way