The Bethesda-based developer selected to build a new 2nd District Police Station in downtown Bethesda has closed on the land and says the project is projected to be completed in late 2016.
StonebridgeCarras, which Montgomery County picked last year to build the 32,000-square-foot station at 4823 Rugby Ave., made the announcement in a press release on Wednesday.
StonebridgeCarras partnered with Bethesda-based Buvermo Investments for the purchase and got $20 million in construction financing from the Bank of Georgetown.
Once the developer transfers the new police station to Montgomery County, the county will give StonebridgeCarras the property where the 2nd District Police Station now stands at 7359 Wisconsin Ave. The developer said it’s planning a mixed-use project for the site under the guidelines to be provided in the new Bethesda sector plan.
It’s not Montgomery County’s first attempt to find a private partner to build a new 2nd District Police Station.
The county put out a request for qualifications and development proposals in 2013 in an attempt to speed up the replacement process for the aging station, which serves as the police headquarters for the Bethesda, Chevy Chase and North Bethesda areas.
The existing facility is 21,700 square feet and, according to the county, too small to meet the requirements of the 24-hour police station. The building also requires major upgrades and faces security concerns. The second RFP process was necessary after developer JBG — originally slated to build the new station – failed to acquire all of the property at a site between Cordell, Wisconsin and Woodmont Avenues.
It will be StonebridgeCarras’ third recent project in downtown Bethesda. The developer is also building The Darcy, The Flats and an underground garage on the former site of Lot 31 and the 8300 Wisconsin Avenue project that will include a ground-floor Harris Teeter grocery store.
The Lot 31 project is also a partnership with Montgomery County. StonebridgeCarras agreed to build 970 county-operated parking spaces in the garage to replace parking lost in Lot 31.
“We are extremely proud to expand our relationship with Montgomery County with another public private partnership that will allow the County to have a new state of the art police station in exchange for our right to development an underutilized asset at such a prime location as Wisconsin Avenue and Montgomery Lane in the heart of the Bethesda Central Business District,” StonebridgeCarras principal Douglas Firstenberg said in the press release. “We look forward to creating an outstanding police station for the Montgomery County Police Department and vibrant mixed-use project that builds on the great success of Bethesda.”
The Rugby Avenue location of the station will likely mean the loss of some parking in Garage 35, the county garage behind the site. Some, including Councilmember Roger Berliner, have asked the county to consider placing affordable housing in the station building, based on a law the Council passed last year.
