4915 Auburn construction

 Another hole in the ground. This is the site of the 4915 Auburn Avenue development (link to pdf of site plan). it will have 180 dwelling units and 12,500 square feet of "non-residential use".  The site was previously occupied by the Auburn Professional Building. You can see an existing building to the left, a small retail building on the corner of Auburn and Woodmont to the right, and housing directly behind the site.  This is a project of Potomac Development Group, it looks like they are calling it 4909 Auburn Avenue Apartments.

Top down view of the 4915 Auburn Ave construction

 

Looking almost directly down, you can mostly see the hole which encompasses the full site except a narrow strip on the far edge of the property. Surrounding the crane is some new concrete.

Construction entrance

The construction entrance for the 4915 Auburn Avenue development is actually on Woodmont Ave. You can see Imagination Stage and the parking garage behind the construction.

Auburn Ave and surroundings

Auburn Avenue as seen from the top of the parking deck. the development directly below and to the left, Battery Lane Park is somewhat visible behind the crane with the building containing the Primrose School next to it. In the middle is the Sherwin-Williams Paints store with Brightview Woodmont directly behind it. On the right side is the parking garage and Gallery Bethesda towering above everything else.

Previous posts:

• Demolition of the Auburn Professional Building has begun

• Demolition of the Auburn Professional Building continues

• Auburn Professional building demolition site

  
   

8015 Old Georgetown construction

 

Old Georgetown Road on the left, Glenbrook Road int he foreground, and B-CC rescue squad behind it.

 

Today has been a really nice fall day and I decided to walk around Bethesda, MD checking up on some of the construction projects that are going on.  Here's the first one I looked at, the 8015 Old Georgetown Rd development (pdf link to the planning board submission).  This is the site of the old Christ Lutheran Church, it is being replaced with about 297 apartments.

From this perspective it basically looks like a hole in the ground, you can't see what they have accomplished very well.

The view from the Northwest

The North-west corner of the site.  From here you can see they have put in a retaining wall on the left side and are digging out the basement.

Excavation, Old Georgetown road on the right

It isn't obvious at first, but they actually have done a lot of grading to the site.  In the center you can see about a 15 foot tall pile of dirt. That wasn't built up there, that is what remains of the original ground. They removed everything around it, leaving just a small pile holding up a utility pole.

Previous posts:

• Where is the steeple?

• Dismantling the steeple at Christ Lutheran Church

• Demolition has started at Christ Lutheran Church 

The Washington Monument at Dawn

 

The Washington Monument and the reflecting pool as seen from the Lincoln Memorial, about 10 minutes before sunrise.

 

One of the great things about living in the D.C. area is you can go see the monuments any time you want.  All too often, however, we forget about them. This morning I decided to take advantage of my location and go see the Washington Monument at sunrise.

The base of the Washington Monument at dawn

 

I got there early, which was a good thing since many of the roads were closed.  I didn't realize it at the time, but this morning was also the Army 10 miler.

The Washington Monument at dawn

You would think that going before sunrise there would be no one else around, but there were a few other people that had gotten there even earlier than me (it was also the day the full moon sets directly behind the Lincoln Memorial so I am sure there were some people there for that).  If you look closely you can see a couple of people leaning against the flag poles at the base of the monument.

The Washington Monument and the reflecting pool at sunrise

The Lincoln Memorial was even more crowded with people watching the sunrise from the steps. Finally, the sun rose, making it's way among the buildings to the right of me (that is south-east if you are curious).

The D.C. Hot Air Balloon Festival is Today

 

The DC Hot Air Balloon Festival is this weekend (More information at that link). They have balloons, balloon rides, crafts, food trucks and music.  I went yesterday, but it continues today.

Gates open at 3pm, but they don't inflate the balloons until the winds are calm enough, yesterday they started just before 7pm. I decided to get there around 6pm but traffic to get onto the grounds was a mess, it took me more than half an hour of waiting in traffic to get to the gate.  I'm sure going early would have made it better.  Also, you can buy your tickets online or at the gate, but the lines at the gate where huge, definitely buy online before you go, it makes it much faster.  I wanted to get a balloon ride, but by the time I got there over 1,200 people were ahead of me in line (you hold your place via your phone so you don't need to stand in line the whole time).  By the time I left after 9pm, there were still more than 1,000 people in front of me, but I don't know how many of them had given up and gone home.  In summary, go early but be prepared to wait for the balloons.

They had a lot of food trucks there, well over a dozen, but the lines for all of them were long and slow.  I waited about 45 minutes for food.  I'd suggest bringing a picnic dinner with you, it would had made my trip more interesting.

 

Once the sun set they had a laser light show (I didn't get pictures because I was in a food truck line then was eating). All the while people are going up on balloon rides which continued for as long as I was there.  Watching the jets of fire and balloons going up and down is pretty relaxing.

Every once in a while they would give the balloon a short burst of flame and the whole thing would glow brightly.

So should you go?  I bet if you went with a group, you could have fun hanging out and watching the balloons.  I'd definitely plan on staying late to watch the balloons in the dark.  Also, bring food, get their early to avoid the traffic to park, and buy you tickets online to save time at the gate.  If you want a balloon ride, get there as soon as the gates open.

Woodward High School construction

 

The old Woodward High School (and Tilden Middle School) was demolished in the Spring of 2021 (see my posts here and here and here). Since then there hasn't been much to see. It has just been flat, bare ground with a construction fence around it.  They hadn't forgotten about it, but the work that was done wasn't very visible.  Now that has changed.  The are three stories of steel girders up outlining part of the new school.

Most of the site is still vacant, but there are piles of construction material in some places.

This project is officially called the "Charles W. Woodward High School Reopening Project" and you can get the full details of MCPS's plans at that link.  Construction will be in two phases.  Phase 1 will end at the start of the 2023 school year when it will be a holding school for Northwood HS while that school gets extensive remodeling.  For the 2025 school year it will be reopened as Woodward High School (unless the name gets changed). The boundaries for the new school haven't been determined but it is expected to relieve the crowding at local high schools such as Walter Johnson HS.

There will be a Phase 2 which will have at least a second gymnasium, auditorium, and athletic site amenities the timing for this phase is to start in the summer of 2023 and be finished in time for the 2025 school year.

Thoughts on having a PHEV for a year

 

I have had a Plug-in Hybrid RAV 4 for over a year now. I wrote about my experience here. I have charged in the Montgomery County public garages in Bethesda and Silver Spring on a regular basis. The cost is quite reasonable at 13 cents a kilowatt hour, but some of the chargers are broken. 

 Charging at publicly available chargers in other places is less convenient, there aren’t too many of them and keeping track of which network they are on is a hassle. The Volta chargers are free, but there are only a few of them I don’t go out of my way, but if they are there I’ll use them. The downtown Bethesda Safeway has them as does Montgomery Mall. I’m glad the public chargers exist, but I wish there were more of them and they were kept in better repair.

Here are the highlights of the longer article (but read it for more context):

1. If you can charge at home or at work, PHEV’s are a great option, they save money on fuel and are better for the environment

2. I drive about 80% of my miles on electric. All my local driving including work commutes is electric, long distance trips are in hybrid mode.

3. Overnight charging using a simple 120 volt outlet is convenient and I don’t miss trips to the gas stations.

4. Charging during the day rarely adds a useful amount of miles. (but if I could charge at work it would be great)

5. My home electric rate is 14 cents per KWH, this works out to the equivalent of $1.50 a gallon gas.

6. I wish all PHEV’s supported at least 6.6KW AC charging and DC Fast Charging. This would make them even better.

7. All hotels should have at least a Level 2 charger. This would make overnight trips much easier. Even having 120 volt electrical outlets would also be useful for me, not many hotels have those either.

   
   
    

    

Reflections of Windows

In the morning, the sunlight reflects of windows onto the blank wall of Garage 35, the Woodmont-Rugby Garage.

Flowers and a straw

 Someone left a curly straw next to flowers outside of Hanaro Sushi on the corner of Norfolk Ave and St. Elmo Ave.

The Bethesda crab is changing color

Right in the center of Bethesda, at the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and East-West Highway is the Crescent Building.  When you are driving down Old Georgetown Road it is probably the most recognizable thing you see, mostly because of the odd neon sculpture at the top.  I actually first posted about it over  a decade ago, after I found out it is an abstract crab.  It has been a bright red companion for as long as I can remember.  Not too long ago, however, it turned blue for a short period of time (Maryland blue crab perhaps?) before going back to the traditional red.  Now it is at it again! Except, instead of just being blue, it is cycling through a whole palette of collors.  I stood by the road in the middle of the night just to bring you all the colors it can be.  At the bottom there is a video where you can watch the whole cycle.
 

The Rae apartments, construction continues

 The Rae is a new 343-unit, five-story apartment building being constructed on Motor City Drive across from the Home Depot and Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, Maryland.  This is the site of the former Ourisman Ford car dealership.  I most recently posted about the construction of the Rae back in April and a lot of progress has been made since then.

 

 The final shape of the building is clear now.  The full height of the building is up and the outer walls are sheathed in Tyvek.  No windows are in yet and the roof isn't on.  This is the view from the corner of Motor City Drive and Westlake Terrace, right near Montgomery Mall.

  

The Rae apartments parking garage entrance.

 The central core of the building is a multi-story parking garage.   The concrete walls of the garage were ugly when they were exposed, but now the wood built apartment floors hid them and it looks much better.

 

The far side of the Rae apartments, nearest to Home Depot and the Post Office.  Construction isn't quite as far along here, the walls of the final floor of apartments are still going up.