Westbrook -- why no pop-ups, teardowns or McMansions?

[Anonymous]

So, a recent injury has prevented me from running on the Crescent Trail and towpath. Instead, I'm walking and exploring various close-in Chevy Chase and Bethesda n-hoods. Most of these are full of pop-ups, teardowns and McMansions, but I don't see that in the n-hood around Westbrook ES. Am I just missing them or, if this charming n-hood has managed to escape them, how did it do so? Real estate gurus and armchair sociologists, please enlighten me.

[Anonymous]

Farther from the metro = less demand. No worries, it will happen in time.

[Anonymous]

There are definitely a few houses that are super modern and have been rebuilt recently... I also imagine it might happen more with time. Also, the neighborhood was built later, so some of the houses still seem new/big/modern enough - some of the older Bethesda neighborhoods were built much earlier so people are more inclined to consider those homes tear downs.

[Anonymous]

It's much closer to a metro stop than other neighborhoods in Chevy Chase that are 40% tear down, like Martin's Additions. or a lot of Sommerset / "West Chevy Chase." Bradley Hills

So the metro thing isn't the absolute answer.

[Anonymous]

Lots of smal sized lots there too leaving not much room to expand to a McMansion.

[Anonymous]

As a PP said, most of Westbrook n'hood is walkable to Friendship Heights metro, unlike tons of neighborhoods in Bethesda and Chevy Chase which have a lot of tear downs in them.

I think the answer is at least in part due to a combination of smaller lot sizes, making it harder to build a "mc mansion", and higher price point vs many CC and other Bethesda neighborhoods (like in Bethesda all of the Old Gtown Road n'hoods in Bethesda and much of Bradley Hills/Bannockburns n'hoods), making it more expensive to buy a house simply to tear it down.

That having been said, there are tear downs and mc mansions in Westbrook, but I agree not as many as say West CC and East Bethesda.

[Anonymous]

the lots suck, hilly and tons of rock in there

[Anonymous]

The neighborhood between the creek and River Rd is full of enlarged houses but the originals were so small that the larger versions are just normal size now. As others have noted the lots are small and hilly.

[Anonymous]

Thanks to all for your insights. Agree that the distance to Metro is not so much a factor since there are 'hoods much farther from Metro that are full of teardowns, etc. The key factor is probably the lot sizes and terrain. Very cute nabe -- a pleasure to walk there and great hills for working your gluts.

[Anonymous]

A lot of the old houses in that area already have tacky additions from the 70s and 80s. So you have to pay more to tear down a schlocky addition than in some other neighborhoods. Plus the lots aren't big, so you're constrained in what you can build on the site.

But there are some teardowns in the area, so don't pretend it's some oasis of good taste and modesty:

http://franklymls.com/MC7545358