Frienship Heights GEICO development

[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.

No idea but you should be able to sort it here: https://opendata.dc.gov/datasets/crashes-in-dc/about

[Anonymous]

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Klein said that if the plan amendment were approved, it would leave residents with “the most lackluster elements of the outdated” plan.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

This is not good. Look at the ugly Best Buy/Container Store/Target DC got stuck with because someone said it was "historic".

[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.

This is such a joke. There are plenty of people living in Friendship Heights. The Heights Food Hall closed because it was terrible, not because of a lack of density. Build something good and people will come.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Village Vice-Chairman Francine Klein said...

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

The corporate headquarters for GEICO (1959) is an outstanding example of an International Style complex composed of carefully articulated buildings set in a natural, landscaped campus. Long low wings are contrasted by taller opaque blocks sheathed in textured porcelain enamel panels and colored, crystal-textured glass panels. The 26-acre landscaped campus includes mature trees, terraced parking, flying saucer light fixtures, and a broad fountain perched at the entrance like a hovercraft. A taller office tower was added in 1964.

[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.

+1 Amen. --Parent whose elementary school kid is in a class with 32 other kids, well above the MCPS guidelines for class size, in their overcrowded BCC feeder elementary school.

[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.

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.

+1 Amen. --Parent whose elementary school kid is in a class with 32 other kids, well above the MCPS guidelines for class size, in their overcrowded BCC feeder elementary school.

So?
How is that different from other mcps schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

+1 Amen. --Parent whose elementary school kid is in a class with 32 other kids, well above the MCPS guidelines for class size, in their overcrowded BCC feeder elementary school.

So?
How is that different from other mcps schools?

The guidelines for elementary school class size is 28 or 29 kids in low-FARMs schools and 21 or 22 kids in high FARMS (low-income) schools so 32 is in fact, more than most other MCPS schools. Schools that are severely overcapacity can't hire additional teachers to create a new class, because there isn't space for that new class to have a room. Some of the BCC feeder elementary schools were asked to take overflow kids from the most severely overcapacity elementary schools, which made those classes exceed the classroom size guidelines, because it was too late to hire a teacher to those classes that became overcrowded at the last minute. I know this because my kid is in one of those classes, and it's so crowded in there that you can barely walk--there are so many desks crammed in.

So let's not ignore the fact that additional developments creates additional students for public school. Real estate developers can fill out their housing impact form and say their apartment building creates only 1 new student for the local elementary school, and no one will tell them they're wrong, but it's so challenging for the schools that have to absorb these kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

This is false. I’ll ask you to provide any citations to back this up, but I know none will be forthcoming.

— 30 yr FH resident

I got hit less than a year ago on Western.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

It's going to be the Panera of food halls. Bobby Flay will not be cooking for you in Friendship Heights!

[Anonymous]

Why not just build a new school. We used to be able to get stuff done in America.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why not just build a new school. We used to be able to get stuff done in America.

Ok--why don't you give MoCo your name, and let them where the budget will come from, where it will be located in a crowded peri-urban area and the timeframe in which you'll get that done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

There’s one of these in Rosslyn. It’s an awful concept because it’s all just reheated generic corporate food. Look at the reviews it is getting: 3.3/5.0 stars which is quite low on Google.

Real food halls are interesting because they host a lot of independent startup restaurants trying out new concepts. Wonder is one big corporation.

[Anonymous]

Looks like Saks in FH is closing down (the Tysons location is closing also). That's some super valuable real estate. Will be curious to see what happens there.

[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.

This is just plain irresponsible. Have they convinced you that the only way to have nice things is to not plan for them? What will you think when your pretty project causes floods all around?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

+1 Amen. --Parent whose elementary school kid is in a class with 32 other kids, well above the MCPS guidelines for class size, in their overcrowded BCC feeder elementary school.

So?
How is that different from other mcps schools?

The guidelines for elementary school class size is 28 or 29 kids in low-FARMs schools and 21 or 22 kids in high FARMS (low-income) schools so 32 is in fact, more than most other MCPS schools. Schools that are severely overcapacity can't hire additional teachers to create a new class, because there isn't space for that new class to have a room. Some of the BCC feeder elementary schools were asked to take overflow kids from the most severely overcapacity elementary schools, which made those classes exceed the classroom size guidelines, because it was too late to hire a teacher to those classes that became overcrowded at the last minute. I know this because my kid is in one of those classes, and it's so crowded in there that you can barely walk--there are so many desks crammed in.

So let's not ignore the fact that additional developments creates additional students for public school. Real estate developers can fill out their housing impact form and say their apartment building creates only 1 new student for the local elementary school, and no one will tell them they're wrong, but it's so challenging for the schools that have to absorb these kids.

Meanwhile, Somerset is still wide open now with extra classrooms for all. Such idiots MCPS were to not look at the post covid data.