8700 Georgia Avenue
By Silver Springer • Dec 20th, 2006 • Category: Uncategorized
A couple posters have brought to light a development plan for the 60’s era office building located at 8700 Georgia Avenue. Tenants include a SunTrust Bank, Tappers with Attitude and Knock on Wood Tap Studio (to name a few). There are currently 2 development review signs in front and to the side of the building so this indicates the planning department is well aware of what is going to take place.
The redevelopment details include,
- 29,520 square feet of office and retail space
- 106 dwelling units
The land is zoned CBD-2 so the building can go up to 143′ft (possibly 200′ft but doubtful). The assumption is that the building will be demolished to make way for what is being proposed but a few observations have made me formulate a few counter points.
1. At about 60′ft and five stories of concrete and steel, this is no small building to demolish. They could have put a lot more units than 106 if they are going to knock it down. Unless these are ultra luxury units with a large square footage for each, it just doesn’t seem economically feasible.
2. 29,520 square feet of office and retail space sounds about the same size of the existing building.
3. There is an open parking lot to the right of the building.
4. This is a long shot but is the building under the historic register? I hope so; this is actually an attractive building for the 60s-70s eras. The buildings across the street and adjacent to it are much more worthy of demolition. There is a burned out building on Colesville that is about the same size lot with a much smaller building to demolish and screaming for redevelopment. The Chevy Chase bank across the street is taking up precious space (of course many other factors are at play).
Silver Springer is
Email this author | All posts by Silver Springer
Oh, that f*(&ing Chevy Chase bank … who let them get away with that crap in the middle of the SS redevelopment? What a stupid use of land.
Agreed, but they probably got in (at least bought the land) long before the prices started skyrocketing.
“Oh, that f*(&ing Chevy Chase bank … who let them get away with that crap in the middle of the SS redevelopment? What a stupid use of land.”
I agree. You should either put an office building there with ground-level retail or incorporate the Chevy Chase bank into the new building.
wholescale of a building like this usually costs more than demolition
I agree with you, Silver Springer, I’ve always liked that Building - used to frequent a Title Attorney in the Building. It’s rather classy and elegant inside and outside. I for one would hate to see it go down! It’s a good fit for Silver Spring in size and looks.
Silver Springer, I have the 8700 Georgia Avenue MRIS tax record. It was built in 1958. The current owners purchased the building in 1985 for $1,832,300. I’ll eamil the record to you - it has a lot more details about the building.
The Chevy Chase Bank is just fine. I use it frequently, including the driveup. I think the low-rise appearance gives some relief to the march of tall buildings down Georgia Avenue. Not everything has to be condos/retail/office space!
Anonymous said…
The Chevy Chase Bank is just fine. I use it frequently, including the driveup. I think the low-rise appearance gives some relief to the march of tall buildings down Georgia Avenue. Not everything has to be condos/retail/office space!
12/22/2006 11:26:07 AM
If I had to choose between this building and the Chevy Chase Bank, The Chevy Chase Bank is getting the wrecking ball.
I’m the chevy-chase hater. Another blight is the Verizon building next door - a huge building w/ no people and a big ugly antenna. Ugh.
No kidding about that Verizon building. I’ve worked down the block for almost 7 years and NEVER seen a human being go in our out of there. I think it’s run by the Borg.
I think the Verizon building is a switching station. Meaning if you destroy it, bye bye telephone, dsl, alarms, internet ( many OC/trunk lines probably), and most other forms of communications for maybe a 15 mile area.
It may be ugly but I don’t think anyone is willing to lose their comms for a prettier building
I’ve seen people taking smoking breaks outside the Verizon building, so at least a few people do work there. You can’t do much about those buildings, and they exist all over… there’s a big one in downtown Bethesda on Wisconsin avenue as well. Interestingly, one of my favorite buildings in D.C. (730 12th St.) is the same type of Verizon switching station