Officials from Naval Support Activity Bethesda (NSAB) said interim medical buildings may be built on a base parking lot during the replacement of older buildings in the Walter Reed campus’ core.
It was unclear what affect that might have outside the base walls, where parking capacity issues have sometimes meant base employees parking on the streets of surrounding neighborhoods.
Jeff Miller, transportation program manager for NSAB, said designs for the interim buildings (known as medical swing space) were not finalized. But he told people at Tuesday night’s meeting of the Walter Reed BRAC Integration Committee that it appears the Navy will put a one-story, 10,000-square-foot building and two-story, 90,000-square-foot building on what is now the G Parking Lot on the north end of campus bordering the Stone Ridge School.
Miller said that would leave parking “constrained,” but that the buildings would be ready for teardown in 2018.
“There’s significant motivation to reclaim that parking lot,” said Bill Sadlon, a project manager for Naval Facilities Engineering Command.
The expansion of the campus to include the Walter Reed Army Medical Center is expected to increase the number of annual visitors to the base to 1 million, up from 500,000. NSAB plans a new 500-space underground garage to compliment the new medical facilities as part of its master plan.
On the other side of Rockville Pike, budget constraints may force NIH to shut down its entrance near Greentree Road in the morning, according to an NIH official at the meeting.
Until Congress takes action on the budget, the gate will remain open.
Flickr photo by AmyMarieMoore
