Frienship Heights GEICO development

[Anonymous]

Not sure if this goes here or in local politics...

But the public hearing for the Friendship Heights GEICO development is tomorrow. Sign up to testify or send written testimony: https://montgomeryplanningboard.org/agenda-item/october-23-2025/

They're seeking to remove the already approved office density and put in a new plan, and they are requesting a waiver of stormwater management requirements

[Anonymous]

without knowing anything about this - did GEICO submit a plan ages ago when office space was in demand and now they're trying to update the plan to reflect a post-COVID world where we need more apartments and fewer office buildings?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:without knowing anything about this - did GEICO submit a plan ages ago when office space was in demand and now they're trying to update the plan to reflect a post-COVID world where we need more apartments and fewer office buildings?

They want to build 500 units without any traffic studies, school inftastructure, stormwater planning...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:without knowing anything about this - did GEICO submit a plan ages ago when office space was in demand and now they're trying to update the plan to reflect a post-COVID world where we need more apartments and fewer office buildings?

They want to build 500 units without any traffic studies, school inftastructure, stormwater planning...

Anything is better than the depressing eyesore that is currently there. Montgomery County is losing out big time to DC and NoVa in terms of private investment. They don’t have a lot of room to be picky because they are in such a desperate financial situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:without knowing anything about this - did GEICO submit a plan ages ago when office space was in demand and now they're trying to update the plan to reflect a post-COVID world where we need more apartments and fewer office buildings?

They want to build 500 units without any traffic studies, school inftastructure, stormwater planning...

Anything is better than the depressing eyesore that is currently there. Montgomery County is losing out big time to DC and NoVa in terms of private investment. They don’t have a lot of room to be picky because they are in such a desperate financial situation.

Are you a real estate developer or just careless? No it is not a good idea to add 500 units of housing (ex: 2000 people) to a location without understanding where the kids will go to school and where people will park and where water will drain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:without knowing anything about this - did GEICO submit a plan ages ago when office space was in demand and now they're trying to update the plan to reflect a post-COVID world where we need more apartments and fewer office buildings?

They want to build 500 units without any traffic studies, school inftastructure, stormwater planning...

Anything is better than the depressing eyesore that is currently there. Montgomery County is losing out big time to DC and NoVa in terms of private investment. They don’t have a lot of room to be picky because they are in such a desperate financial situation.

Are you a real estate developer or just careless? No it is not a good idea to add 500 units of housing (ex: 2000 people) to a location without understanding where the kids will go to school and where people will park and where water will drain.

No, I live nearby and have lived in the area for almost 50 years. I have seen Friendship Heights decline ever since it peaked around when the Mazza Gallerie Theater opened two to three decades ago. The neighborhood, and frankly a lot of neighborhoods in Upper NW like Cleveland Park and Tenleytown, were a lot nicer 15-25 years ago and have been declining ever since. To have nice things, like The Heights Food Hall that closed after a couple years, you need to get more people who aren’t retirees to live around the area. I want nice things around where I live, like stores and restaurants. I don’t want to live near a dying commercial strip.

500 residences replacing a depressing Soviet style dilapidates office building is a good thing, period. I don’t know why this is a controversial point to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:without knowing anything about this - did GEICO submit a plan ages ago when office space was in demand and now they're trying to update the plan to reflect a post-COVID world where we need more apartments and fewer office buildings?

They want to build 500 units without any traffic studies, school inftastructure, stormwater planning...

Anything is better than the depressing eyesore that is currently there. Montgomery County is losing out big time to DC and NoVa in terms of private investment. They don’t have a lot of room to be picky because they are in such a desperate financial situation.

Are you a real estate developer or just careless? No it is not a good idea to add 500 units of housing (ex: 2000 people) to a location without understanding where the kids will go to school and where people will park and where water will drain.

No, I live nearby and have lived in the area for almost 50 years. I have seen Friendship Heights decline ever since it peaked around when the Mazza Gallerie Theater opened two to three decades ago. The neighborhood, and frankly a lot of neighborhoods in Upper NW like Cleveland Park and Tenleytown, were a lot nicer 15-25 years ago and have been declining ever since. To have nice things, like The Heights Food Hall that closed after a couple years, you need to get more people who aren’t retirees to live around the area. I want nice things around where I live, like stores and restaurants. I don’t want to live near a dying commercial strip.

500 residences replacing a depressing Soviet style dilapidates office building is a good thing, period. I don’t know why this is a controversial point to you.

Just throwing more people at old infrastructure isn't going to magically revive things. You actually need to plan for traffic, schools, community amenities like retail, walkability, green space, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:without knowing anything about this - did GEICO submit a plan ages ago when office space was in demand and now they're trying to update the plan to reflect a post-COVID world where we need more apartments and fewer office buildings?

They want to build 500 units without any traffic studies, school inftastructure, stormwater planning...

Anything is better than the depressing eyesore that is currently there. Montgomery County is losing out big time to DC and NoVa in terms of private investment. They don’t have a lot of room to be picky because they are in such a desperate financial situation.

Are you a real estate developer or just careless? No it is not a good idea to add 500 units of housing (ex: 2000 people) to a location without understanding where the kids will go to school and where people will park and where water will drain.

No, I live nearby and have lived in the area for almost 50 years. I have seen Friendship Heights decline ever since it peaked around when the Mazza Gallerie Theater opened two to three decades ago. The neighborhood, and frankly a lot of neighborhoods in Upper NW like Cleveland Park and Tenleytown, were a lot nicer 15-25 years ago and have been declining ever since. To have nice things, like The Heights Food Hall that closed after a couple years, you need to get more people who aren’t retirees to live around the area. I want nice things around where I live, like stores and restaurants. I don’t want to live near a dying commercial strip.

500 residences replacing a depressing Soviet style dilapidates office building is a good thing, period. I don’t know why this is a controversial point to you.

Personally, I would love if they put a Costco into that location. It's big enough with tons of parking to accommodate it...but I assume that is never happening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:without knowing anything about this - did GEICO submit a plan ages ago when office space was in demand and now they're trying to update the plan to reflect a post-COVID world where we need more apartments and fewer office buildings?

They want to build 500 units without any traffic studies, school inftastructure, stormwater planning...

Anything is better than the depressing eyesore that is currently there. Montgomery County is losing out big time to DC and NoVa in terms of private investment. They don’t have a lot of room to be picky because they are in such a desperate financial situation.

Are you a real estate developer or just careless? No it is not a good idea to add 500 units of housing (ex: 2000 people) to a location without understanding where the kids will go to school and where people will park and where water will drain.

Well...OK...but you sound like someone who never wants any housing there at all, even if they do figure out where the kids will go to school and where they will park (BTW, that's an easy thing to figure out) and where the water will drain.

[Anonymous]

I think the problem with the heights and that shopping center in general is it’s so confusing. I can never tell what level I’m on or how to get places.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure if this goes here or in local politics...

But the public hearing for the Friendship Heights GEICO development is tomorrow. Sign up to testify or send written testimony: https://montgomeryplanningboard.org/agenda-item/october-23-2025/

They're seeking to remove the already approved office density and put in a new plan, and they are requesting a waiver of stormwater management requirements

I live very nearby, but in D.C., not Maryland, so I don't get a say. But I'm all for more housing there instead of that office building. Would help keep the retail on Wisconsin Avenue in business, which has been a problem lately (and would help bring better retail that serves nearby residents rather than whatever the target audience for some of those stores has been). I don't care about traffic because I take Metro to work and my kids walk to school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the problem with the heights and that shopping center in general is it’s so confusing. I can never tell what level I’m on or how to get places.

The main problem is that that area spans two jurisdictions and each individual site is owned by different parties. There is no overall coordination to say turning FH into Pike & Rose as an example. As an example, I have zero understanding of who owns the surface lot between Mazza and the old Lord & Taylor and what function it serves. It's never been available for general parking and right now appears to rent space to a landscaping company to store their equipment.

Not to mention it's a huge waste to turn the old L&T into the bus depot...I guess the bus depot will get developed, but it's strange to move it 1/2 block away and seems like it will take years to actually happen.

Then you have the massive Saks parking lots that serve little purpose and could be incorporated into a grand plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure if this goes here or in local politics...

But the public hearing for the Friendship Heights GEICO development is tomorrow. Sign up to testify or send written testimony: https://montgomeryplanningboard.org/agenda-item/october-23-2025/

They're seeking to remove the already approved office density and put in a new plan, and they are requesting a waiver of stormwater management requirements

I live very nearby, but in D.C., not Maryland, so I don't get a say. But I'm all for more housing there instead of that office building. Would help keep the retail on Wisconsin Avenue in business, which has been a problem lately (and would help bring better retail that serves nearby residents rather than whatever the target audience for some of those stores has been). I don't care about traffic because I take Metro to work and my kids walk to school.

Even if you walk, you should start caring because there are a lot of cars hitting pedestrians in Friendship Heights and that's directly related to increased traffic: pedestrians, bikes, and cars. Especially if you have kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the problem with the heights and that shopping center in general is it’s so confusing. I can never tell what level I’m on or how to get places.

The main problem is that that area spans two jurisdictions and each individual site is owned by different parties. There is no overall coordination to say turning FH into Pike & Rose as an example. As an example, I have zero understanding of who owns the surface lot between Mazza and the old Lord & Taylor and what function it serves. It's never been available for general parking and right now appears to rent space to a landscaping company to store their equipment.

Not to mention it's a huge waste to turn the old L&T into the bus depot...I guess the bus depot will get developed, but it's strange to move it 1/2 block away and seems like it will take years to actually happen.

Then you have the massive Saks parking lots that serve little purpose and could be incorporated into a grand plan.

That site is a better location for the bus depot than potentially prime real estate on Wisconsin is, I think that plan makes sense. Literally anything would be better than the status quo. (I'd personally root for a giant indoor sports complex with soccer fields, but that's because then my kids could walk to winter soccer practices when the weather's bad instead of having it canceled.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure if this goes here or in local politics...

But the public hearing for the Friendship Heights GEICO development is tomorrow. Sign up to testify or send written testimony: https://montgomeryplanningboard.org/agenda-item/october-23-2025/

They're seeking to remove the already approved office density and put in a new plan, and they are requesting a waiver of stormwater management requirements

I live very nearby, but in D.C., not Maryland, so I don't get a say. But I'm all for more housing there instead of that office building. Would help keep the retail on Wisconsin Avenue in business, which has been a problem lately (and would help bring better retail that serves nearby residents rather than whatever the target audience for some of those stores has been). I don't care about traffic because I take Metro to work and my kids walk to school.

Even if you walk, you should start caring because there are a lot of cars hitting pedestrians in Friendship Heights and that's directly related to increased traffic: pedestrians, bikes, and cars. Especially if you have kids

Yes, I obviously don't want my kids or anyone else to be hit by a car, but I also don't think that's a reason to oppose needed housing developments.