Strathmore Square at Grosvenor construction

Strathmore Square is the development next to the Grosvenor-Strathmore metro station. It's been in progress for years. I blogged about the construction of the first two buildings in 2023.  This is the third building, called Building 5 A and B in the initial plan but now named The Reserve at Strathmore Square. It is a senior living experience.  They clearly aren't doing them in order.  The full plan calls for an eventual 6 buildings.

This building is directly adjacent to the metro station parking garage and the Kiss and Ride.  It looks like they are starting the second floor now.

Part of the development includes this 1.2 acre park.  The new building is behind it, the existing buildings to the right, and the Grosvenor-Strathmore station on the left.
 

Tesla Takedown Rockville

 

Recently there have been protests at Tesla Service Centers across the country.  Montgomery County is no exception and there have been ones at both the Rockville and Silver Spring locations.  On Saturday there was another one at the Tesla Service Center on Rockville Pike.  Lots of people were there and they were lining both sides of the street. Many people driving by were honking in encouragement.

Protesters stand along the Maryland Route 355 (Rockville Pike) across the street from a Tesla service center.

I'm not sure how long these protests will continue, but there is another one scheduled for this coming Saturday 11-12, see the link for more details.

Protesters stand along the road in front of a Tesla service center.

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 

Bike parking at Grosvenor metro

 

There is a new chicken coop going in at the Grosvenor-Strathmore metro station. I think suburban farming is a great idea and look forward to being able to pick up a dozen fresh eggs on the way home from work.

Oh, maybe I got a few details wrong.  They are putting in a Bike & Ride facility that will securely house 100 bikes.  You'll be able to park your bike out of the rain and snow and have it locked up.  There are currently bike racks which have a roof over them on site, but this will be more secure and more attractive.

In the tone of urban planning, this is the bikeshed, the view of the area around the bike shed (the building that will contain the bikes).  Would it be bike shedding to ask what color it will be painted? (Ok, for you pedants out there, I know I am mis-defining this term multiple times, I find it amusing.)

This secure bike building includes a solid roof and wire mesh walls, as well as two doors.  It still looks like a chicken coop to me.

Strathmore Square construction

 

Strathmore Square is a new development being built on the grounds of the Grosvenor-Strathmore WMATA Metro station in North Bethesda, Maryland.  The vision is to have seven new buildings on just about every inch of open space except for a small "central park" area.

As seen from outside the parking garage

The first two buildings are under construction now and planned for a 2024 delivery.  Between them they will have 220 "luxurious" units.  According to their website, "this unique development offers marketing word, marketing word, marketing word".  Both buildings a visible in the above picture, the taller stack on the left is one of them and the longer (slightly shorter) stack on the right is the other.

Here's the second building seen from the edge of the property.

I really like that they do dense construction right next to the metro station.  The area is growing so you can either build where at least some of the trips will be non-car trips, or you can build where every trip is.  Even a housing moratorium just pushes development outside the area and people then drive right back in.  

This development will feed in to  Garrett Park Elementary School, Tilden Middle School, and Walter Johnson High School.

 

The buildings from the bus bays

I took this photo standing at the bus bays, looking across the kiss-and-ride towards the construction.