Frienship Heights GEICO development

[Anonymous]

It doesn't matter how many people play soccer or sports: An indoor sports complex is not on the table (an ice rink may be, but even that is a bit gauzy).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Where is the stormwater going now? It's not like the rain has been holding back until this is redeveloped.

This is a good point -- actually having a building there would probably be better for water drainage than having a giant surface parking lot.

Have you been to the site? There's quite a lot of green space that will be gone unless someone speaks for the trees

The county already has a tree canopy law that deals with this:
https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/DEP/property-care/trees/laws-programs.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Where is the stormwater going now? It's not like the rain has been holding back until this is redeveloped.

This is a good point -- actually having a building there would probably be better for water drainage than having a giant surface parking lot.

Have you been to the site? There's quite a lot of green space that will be gone unless someone speaks for the trees

There's not a ton of green space IN the parking lot, though the site in general does have a very pleasant amount of it, I agree.

[Anonymous]

Still waiting for someone to post actual evidence of the epidemic of cars hitting pedestrians in FH. And no, the unsupported claims of some GGWash mouth-breather do not count as evidence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Still waiting for someone to post actual evidence of the epidemic of cars hitting pedestrians in FH. And no, the unsupported claims of some GGWash mouth-breather do not count as evidence.

Seems like you don't understand GGWash. They are very pro density, pro development. They won't be posting anything about cars hitting pedestrians.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Still waiting for someone to post actual evidence of the epidemic of cars hitting pedestrians in FH. And no, the unsupported claims of some GGWash mouth-breather do not count as evidence.

Seems like you don't understand GGWash. They are very pro density, pro development. They won't be posting anything about cars hitting pedestrians.

They’re pro density and pro development, but also generally pro non-car modes of transportation. If there were an actual epidemic of cars hitting pedestrians in FH, they would likely have taken note of it.

That said, my family and I walk and bike all over the neighborhood in FH, and I’m not aware of any such epidemic. If my neighbors aren’t up in arms about something like that, I’m inclined to think it’s not really happening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Still waiting for someone to post actual evidence of the epidemic of cars hitting pedestrians in FH. And no, the unsupported claims of some GGWash mouth-breather do not count as evidence.

Seems like you don't understand GGWash. They are very pro density, pro development. They won't be posting anything about cars hitting pedestrians.

Are you dense? GGWash very explicitly pushes an anti-driver agenda (even though nearly all of their hypocrite writers own cars).

[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.

Moco staff will require a traffic study since they want to remove the previous mitigation. Also they can’t build the old plan. It doesn’t meet fire department requirements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

+1 the real problem with the food hall etc was lack of visibility from the road and a lack of clear cheap parking for people coming in (unlike the county garages in Bethesda). Think about Spiting Valley, about as un-dense as you can get but Millie's and the Wagshalls strip are hopping.

I live in the area. What's the plan for the schools? I assume nothing will be asked of the developer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

+1 the real problem with the food hall etc was lack of visibility from the road and a lack of clear cheap parking for people coming in (unlike the county garages in Bethesda). Think about Spiting Valley, about as un-dense as you can get but Millie's and the Wagshalls strip are hopping.

I live in the area. What's the plan for the schools? I assume nothing will be asked of the developer.

The food hall also smelled very strongly due to poor ventilation and had a very cringey decor style.

[Anonymous]

There is a new food hall called Wonder coming to the Mazza development. It has a bunch of Food Network chef restaurants (Bobby Flay et al).

Supposedly 70 locations across the country so hopefully better managed than the Heights.

[Anonymous]

[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.

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.

How is it an easy thing to figure out? Westbrook ES is overcapacity. Bethesda ES is overcapacity. Perhaps it only seems easy for those who don't have kids or don't know remember what it's like when your child is in an overcrowded school where resources are scarce.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

There is zero demand for office space in Friendship Heights. The office buildings that exist today have plenty of available space.

I would love for their to be commercial development, but nobody in their right mind would develop spec office space at the current Geico complex. Possibly, you could have convinced say Marriott to have taken the location before they developed their new HQ in downtown Bethesda, but that ship has sailed.

It doesn't help when jackasses like this character testify as follows:

At Thursday’s meeting, Village Vice-Chairman Francine Klein said that if the plan amendment were approved, it would leave residents with “the most lackluster elements of the outdated” plan.

“If implemented, and this is really important to us, [the plan] would destroy a historic mid-century modern headquarters building

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

How is it an easy thing to figure out? Westbrook ES is overcapacity. Bethesda ES is overcapacity. Perhaps it only seems easy for those who don't have kids or don't know remember what it's like when your child is in an overcrowded school where resources are scarce.

The reference to an easy thing to figure out was parking...that's very easy to work out. I agree that you can't have the magical thinking to build housing and no parking, but it would be very easy to factor underground parking or garage parking for the townhomes.