17-Story Retail, Residential Tower To Break Ground In Woodmont Triangle

A 17-story residential and retail building that marks the first phase of a larger development project is set to break ground in the Woodmont Triangle in March, according to developers, the Donohoe Companies.

Known as the “Gallery of Bethesda,” the building, at 4800 Auburn Avenue, will feature 234 apartments and more than 4,600 square feet of ground-floor retail facing Del Ray and Auburn Avenues, according to Jad Donohoe, vice president of the development group.

Demolition of buildings at the site will launch next month, with construction beginning “in earnest” in April, Donohoe said.

News of the groundbreaking was first reported in CityBiz Real Estate and constructionjournal.com.

The residential and retail tower is the first phase of a larger plan, known as that will bring an additional 16-story residential and retail building to nearby 4850 Rugby Avenue, separated from the Gallery of Bethesda by a quarter-acre plaza.

No groundbreaking date has been set for 4850 Rugby Avenue, which will boast 221 apartments and 15,000 square feet of ground-floor retail. The retail space “could be three very large restaurants or other very substantial retail,” Donohoe said.

The plaza between the two towers will feature steel and LED Mesh sculptures designed by Brooklyn-based artist Jason Krugman.

Part of the art concept for the site will mark its unique musical history as home to the “Twist and Shout" music venue, Donohoe said.

The venue, which operated from 1986 to 1991 and 1996-1998, featured performances in the bottom floor of a two-story VFW building, Patch reported  in April. Singer Mary Chapin Carpenter wrote the Grammy award-winning song “Down at the Twist and Shout” based on the club, Patch reported.

“The art concept plays with that in an abstract way, but in a more literal way we're memorializing the spot were the music club was on the site,” Donohoe said. “The site had a lot of different uses but that was the one people really remembered it for, and we want to record that history there.”

A third phase of the development project will bring a six-story office building to 8280 Wisconsin, a site at the corner of Battery Lane. Of that project, 10,500 square feet of the 91,600 square feet structure will be retail, Donohoe said.

The building is in the leasing phase, but no groundbreaking date has been announced, Donohoe said.