Downtown Bethesda: Where did it all go wrong?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree that basically Federal Realty/the market is doing a terrible job around Bethesda ave (except for ChiKo) but Bethesda is not uniformly a lost cause.

Federal Realty did a great job in Bethesda until the County screwed them over. The resultant mess was Ike Leggett’s dream.

Honestly how did the county screw them over? The county didn’t force them to turn a bookstore into a furniture store and turning surface lots into apt buildings with underground parking isn’t screwing them over.

The lack of fine dining has been a long-standing problem/mystery (RiP David Craig) which I think is partly due to the lack of a business lunch market and partly to the antiquated liquor laws.

I agree. Actually I think it’s the reverse, the county has bent over backwards to accommodate them. Turning Woodmont, which really should be a “local bypass” for Wisconsin into a low vehicle traffic pedestrian mall is exactly what they want. It’s the closest they could do to just giving them the whole street to own like they’ve done for the developers in DTSS and Rockville Town Center.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If only they would build more condos...

LOL. You can buy condos in downtown Bethesda right now for under $200k.

Yeah but they're old and maybe have a $1000+/mo condo fee. Condo pricing is all about monthly cost split between property value and condo fee. Although, I'm seeing more high end apartments being built rather than condos.

[Anonymous]

OP,

I've lived here for about 25 years. In that time it's gone very chain/trend etc.

We "discovered" the dining and shops of Frederick about 5 years ago. Really enjoy driving up there for the afternoon for non-chain shopping and dining. Appreciate the small brewery places, the holiday events, lily pads on the creek, art shows... I sometimes joke about getting a 1 bedroom condo on the creek to escape here on the weekends!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up here and have noticed the same thing. Bethesda was exciting with lots of cute places and now, like 10-15 years later, it seems so dull. I would never go to Bethesda just to go there anymore.

Ditto. Bethesda used to be so cute and fun. Now it’s a shell of what it used to be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not to sound too much like a jerk, but also look at the people in Frederick, compared to the people in Bethesda.

I'm not judging one group as better or worse than other, but there's def a difference in personality type of people who live or socialize there.

The people in Bethesda just feel more comfortable in a chain (like other people have said, it only appeals to tweens and senior citizens).

The folks in Frederick wouldn't patronize those places.

For example, for all the great restaurants in Frederick, can you imagine 3 tattoo shops all thriving in downtown Bethesda?

We live in Bethesda and like to visit Frederick from time to time. A major diff to me is definitely the people. I have run into some really scary drug users in the middle of the day in downtown Frederick. Sketchy as heck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda and MoCo need to take after the Mainline in PA, and towns like West Chester that have actual main streets with shops/restaurants etc, and towns where you can travel to by train. We have the metro that allows people to travel to each town.

MoCo and local govts just love taxing businesses to death, and local/county govt has inordinate amounts of red tape that discourage new businesses from forming. Then factor in insane rental costs, and all you get are crappy chains and subpar food from establishments that have big investor groups backing them. You never get the organically grown, family run places that have their own recipes they're using for home cooking tasting food or that provide very unique flavors. The only places that can survive are the places that serve $35 plates of food.

But yea...travel to West Chester, Media, Rosemont, Wayne, Villanova,......the Mainline in PA is a role model for how the area should strive to be.

Are you kidding? I live on the Main Line and it is dowdy boring parochial and no where near as well-maintained as the DC area neighborhoods. Everything is overgrown and unmanicured and most of the towns are just collections of houses and a school with no town center. Event the town centers are pointless backwaters. The houses are beautiful and the schools are excellent. Thera re some decent country clubs though not as nice as DC IMO. That's it though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At vamoose bus today the Starbucks and a few stores on East West highway by Wisconsin are boarded up. A ghost town

Huh? That whole block on both sides is being redeveloped with tall buildings - office and residential with retail. Starbucks is still open and another one is opening as well. There are two new restaurants coming next to the new Starbucks. You're passing through on a Vamoose bus and didn't see any of the construction???!

DP, but which block are you referring to? The Starbucks on East West Highway just before Wisconsin Avenue is indeed closed (I went to B-CC and loved that Starbucks, so when I saw it boarded up I actually checked the website to see if it was gone - it is). The one on Wisconsin Avenue is still open though. Where is the new Starbucks?

The new one is on the other side of Bethesda Avenue where Montgomery’s Grille used to be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda is a place I want to avoid ever having to meet anybody. I'd rather meet in Tysons, Rockville, DC. Anywhere but Bethesda. It's far from highway, too complicated to park. Not much going on. No thanks.

I would not want to meet in Tysons - the traffic on the beltway to get there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think all these bethesda haters haven’t been downtown in a while. While I do miss the Barnes and Nobles a lot, between Bethesda row and woodmont triangle there are a ton of restaurants. And chocolate shops, and random little things. Yes there are less cutesy retail stores but that’s because of Amazon.

My favorites:

Passage of India
Raku
Gringos and Mariachis
Silver
Hanaro
Bachus of Lebanon
CherCher is excellent
Q by Peter Chang is excellent
Even that grungy Korean fried chicken place is good and it has live music


Less fancy but also yum
Bethesda Bagel
Moby Dick
The Big Greek Cafe (so good, everyone please go here so it stays open)

All good. Let me add Hinata for sushi, Wangs for good Chinese, and Milae for mom and pop Korean food.

[Anonymous]

Also adding Henry's Sweet Retreat - I love their cookie kits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda is for overpriced gelato and walking around with old White people - Bethesda native

How can you say this, there are also rich teens milling about.

[Anonymous]

It’s usually fun to live where rich kids in their 20s live but almost never fun to live where rich 17 year olds live and that is Bethesda.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are indeed many unique and cool small stores in Fredrick. They are the kinds of places that are best explored slowly and they are always evolving.

Cool. Enjoy!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We walk all the time from the woodmont area to the bethesda row area. Not far at all. We love Bethesda!

Ditto. And we are obviously not alone given the housing prices and constant influx of new people. Yeah, it isn't cutting edge, but that's what the city is for. Or traveling. I live here and I want neighborhood joints and places to take my kids. Plenty of that here. If I want fancy restaurants I'll go into DC. Of course I wouldn't say no to a fancy restaurant here but really, we only eat at fancy places once or twice a year, so I will gladly take the Indian, Thai, and other places that abound. Though we usually drive to Wheaton for better Thai.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The architecture is horrible. No sense of planning. Too expensive. Too many people with too little taste.

I agree this is the main/biggest problem. It is a really unattractive "downtown." Doesn't matter what you put in there - you are still stuck with the ugly 70-80s architecture/glorified strip mall look.