COMSAT building in Clarksburg being demolished

COMSAT Laboratories demolition

 

The COMSAT laboratories building, located at 22300 Comsat Drive in Clarksburg, Maryland, is currently being demolished. COMSAT (Communications Satellite Corporation) built this nearly 500,000 square foot research and development campus in 1969 and occupied it until 2005. Since then it has been mostly vacant and has been completely unused since 2015.

The building is clearly visible from Interstate 270 just before the exit for Clarksburg Premium Outlets (but on the opposite side of 270).

 The building was designed by architect Cesar Pelli, who also designed  the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. This property was considered for historic site designation but in the end, the Planning Board did not recommend it as part of the 2025 Clarksburg Gateway Sector Plan.

I saw this reported by Bethesda Today and took pictures of it today. It doesn't look like much was accomplished in the past few days, but I could only see one side of the building.

Construction at 4725 Cheltenham Drive

 The Chetlenham is a new multi-family residential building being constructed on Chetlenham Drive where the old Midas car repair shop was.  It is next to the CVS and on the other side of Wisconsin Avenue from the Marriott headquarters in downtown Bethesda, Maryland. I first posted about this in May of last
year.

  

The back of the building.  There is an alley to the left of the building which will remain.

 

According to the plan, it will be a 76,841 square foot nine-story building with 102 units including 8 live/work units.  There will be no on-site car parking, however there will be 53 long-term and 2 short-term bicycle parking spaces.  There is a public garage (number 42) directly across the street. Cheltenham Urban Park is also next door to the building.  

 

This building is surrounded by the CVS parking lot. Here you can see the CVS in the background to the left.

 

Back 'n Side

The view from near the CVS entrance at the back and one side of the building.

Strathmore View construction

 

Strathmore View office

 Strathmore View will contain 108 townhouses starting from the 1.2 millions and 17 single family detached houses. It is located on Strathmore Avenue near the Academy of the Holy Cross Catholic girl's high school.  In fact, the development is on both sides of the entrance and takes up some of what was the school property. 

Townhouses under construction

 This also replaces St. Angela's Hall which was owned by the Sisters of the Holy Cross and was a group home for retired nuns. The original project was supposed to include a senior living home, but I don't see that on the current plan.  

Single family house 

The first of 17 single family houses has been completed. Most likely this will be the model home. 

Construction of homes

 The Montgomery Planning pdf for the development has more details.

White townhouses

The townhouses in this section have been covered with the Tyvek moisture wrap but haven't been finished yet.

The west end 

The west end of the property along Strathmore Avenue, still bare dirt where more houses will go up.  On the left is Strathmore Ave.

Construction on Cheltenham Drive

Construction and CVS

Most of the construction in Bethesda ends up being on the west side of Wisconsin Avenue, but here is some on the east side.  The old Midas auto repair location next to the CVS pharmacy has been torn down.  It will be replaced with a mixed-use residential building with up to 102 residential units as well as up to 8 live/work units. You read the site plan here.

Cheltenham Drive and demolition

 This is a pretty small piece of property, 110 units seems like a lot. The maximum height allowable is 90 feet. The average space per unit works out to only 710 square feet (probably a bit smaller due to walls and hallways).

From behind

 Anyone else remember when Midas was called "Midas Mufflers" and they specialized in replacing (wait for it)...mufflers?

Stratton Place luxury homes: cleared land

Construction at Stratton Place

Stratton Place (also called the Andrus Property) will be a relatively small development of luxury homes build between Greentree Road and I-270.  According to the planning board resolution (pdf link), it "proposes eight (8) new lots by subdividing the rear of seven (7) existing lots, for a total of 15 lots, on a total of 5.38 acres of land zoned R-90. Eight (8) houses will be new, six (6) will remain, and one (1) will be demolished and replaced." However, that changed this time last year and all six of the existing houses on Barnett Road have been demolished.  Confusingly, the planning documents are split between multiple folders, one for 2023 and later and at least one for documents before then. Worse, the interactive development finder map only links to the earlier ones.

 Here is the view from Greentree Road looking towards Interstate 270.  On the right some trees remain in the back yards of existing houses.  In the far distance you can see one of two remaining houses on Barnett Rd.  this entire cleared area was heavily wooded with the exception of the far left where there were houses nestled among the trees.

Frontage on Greentree Road

Greentree Road at the Stratton Place development a new road will enter the development here. To the right, not visible, is the Amalyn development.

 I last posted about Stratton Place in October. at that time they were just clearing the (magnifcant) trees from the property.  Since then they have finished that part of the project, torn down some old houses, and re-graded the land. I also posted before work had begun.

From the back of the property

The current grading is still pretty steep, this is looking from the middle/back of the property towards Greentree Road.  In the distance you can see the Amalyn housing development.

Barnett Road

There used to be 8 houses along this road, six were included in the Andrus property and were demolished, only the first house and the last house remain.  New curbs have also been installed.

Another Amalyn housing development update

 

Green houses

Here's another update on the Amalyn housing development in Bethesda, Maryland. When completed there will be over 300 single family houses and townhouses on this 75 acre lot.  Well over half have been completed or are under construction, but there are still a few areas to go. 

Most of the construction is on the south, east, and west edges, the northern and central sections are mostly (but not completely) finished. This is on the site of the old WMAL transmitter towers and abuts I-270 and I-495.

This first photo is on the southern edge along Renita Lane, I-495 is on the other side of the trees. This set of houses is well underway with the walls and roofs up for most of them.

Almost complete houses

 

These houses are also on Renita Lane, directly across the street from the prior photo.  The siding is up and some of the houses are painted.

New houses on Silver Linden St

This area in the south east corner of the development at Silver Linden St and Renita Ln has a mix of completed (with people moved in) and still under construction houses.

Townhouse construction

 

Three sets of townhouses in various stages of construction.  In the foreground you can see the foundations are in, to the right they are finishing up a row of gray townhouses, and in the background another row is under construction, walls and windows are in but siding is not on. This is towards the south west side of the development.

A row of townhouses under construction

 

A row of six townhouses under construction as seen from the rear.  The garage doors are not on but the windows are in.

A few more houses

 

The sales center used to be here, but it has been removed and three hosues are going in. This is on the north west side of the development.

New sound barrier on the outer loop

The new Amalyn housing development in Bethesda is between Interstate 495 and the Interstate 270 spur. This means it gets road noise.  A partial solution is to install a sound wall, and that is what is happening right now on the outer loop of I-495.  Construction on the wall started in June of 2024 and is getting close to being completed.
 

 If you drive along I-495 between Fernwood Road and Greentree Road, you have probably been noticing the construction as it progresses. In places the wall is very close to the road.

This is the current end of the sound wall, next to Greentree Road.

Here at the end of the barrier, it is set a couple of feet below ground level.  Most other parts of it are near the surface.

Here's the wall as seen from the other side of the interstate.  There is an access door in the wall.

They weren't actively working when I was there but the equipment is waiting for them to return.  Greentree Rd is on the right.

 

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.