County Looks To Swap Parking Lot For Parking Garage At Conference Center

This section of parking garage at the Bethesda North Marriott & Conference Center is set to become the new Executive BoulevardA Montgomery County-built parking garage is likely coming to the Bethesda North Marriott & Conference Center to replace parking spaces lost to the area’s mixed-use redevelopment.

The project is meant to make up for existing hotel parking spots that will be built over by a realigned Executive Boulevard. County Executive Isiah Leggett has proposed a $1.5 million addition to the current capital budget for design of the structure.

According to Leggett’s proposed capital budget for 2015-2020, the garage is expected to begin construction this year or next year.

The county and state own the Conference Center at 6701 Marinelli Rd., which opened in 2004. In 2010, the White Flint Sector Plan called for a realigned Executive Boulevard to travel through part of the gated parking lot that serves the facility.

A realigned Executive Boulevard would be part of a new road network to foster mixed-use development in the area. But to make sure hotel and conference center operator Marriott has enough parking to keep the facility functioning, the county completed a multi-faceted land deal with the state and a neighboring developer.

Montgomery County bought a nearby property from the state for $2.23 million. Because the state agreed to give the property Transit Oriented Development designation, the county only had to pay the original cost of the property, plus simple interest since it was bought.

Montgomery County then flipped the property to Federal Realty Investment Trust, which is building the Pike & Rose development, for its current market value of $23.24 million.

The county will use the roughly $21 million in profit to build the parking garage.

The County Council’s Planning Committee is set to hold a worksession on April 28 on the proposed $1.5 million in garage design money.

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