Aldon Management Plans Re-Development of Four Battery Lane Apartment Buildings

A Bethesda management company is making long-term plans to re-develop four apartment buildings near the corner of Woodmont Avenue and Battery Lane.

Aldon Management Corporation is preparing to file with a Montgomery County hearing examiner to re-zone the property surrounding the four apartment buildings – 4857, 4858, 4890 and 4900 Battery Lane – in anticipation of seeking development approvals to raze the four buildings in phases and potentially build two mid-rise residential buildings and one high-rise residential building in their place. While still in the conceptual phase, the plans that would eventually require temporarily relocating tenants of the about 260 rental units in the four buildings have some residents concerned.

Nancy Reglin, an attorney for Aldon, said that the re-zoning application is a first step to making long-term plans for re-developing the buildings. Built in the 1950s and 1960s, the buildings are the oldest on Battery Lane and the most energy inefficient, Reglin said.

The buildings are owned and operated by the Brown family, which also controls Aldon Management, Reglin said. Aldon, previously a construction company, also built the buildings. The company manages about 1,000 rental units in the Bethesda area, including the 260 in the four buildings, Reglin said.

The Brown family doesn’t have immediate plans to move forward with redeveloping the buildings, but hopes to have a plan in place when the time comes to replace them, Reglin said. It’s anticipated the redevelopment would happen in phases.

“When there comes a time when, say, the first building becomes too energy inefficient or has major maintenance issues and it may be time to take that building down and re-develop, there would be a plan in place and a development plan approved that would allow that to happen,” Reglin said.

Aldon first needs to seek to re-zone the property to the "planned development" zone – a process that would take about a year and require a public hearing process and approval before a hearing examiner and the Montgomery County Council. Following that, Aldon would need to seek site plan approval at the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, requiring additional public hearings and approvals, and then apply for building permits, both about year-long processes.

“Even if the owners wanted to start immediately, it would take about three years before there would be any impact on the tenants,” Reglin said.

Aldon notified tenants of the re-zoning application at the end of April, Reglin said.

“We’ve notified all the tenants so they know we’re going to be in the first year of this approval process. When we go to file for a site plan for any specific building, they get a notice and they’ll know we’ll be in the second year of the applications. Should we file for a building permit, they’ll know we’re in the third year. There will be a very long lead time.”

Conceptual plans involve building one ten-story high-rise on the south side of Battery Lane in place of the two existing buildings near the county parking garage. The move would allow for more green space onsite, Reglin said. The remaining two buildings could be between five and seven stories, Reglin said. In total, there could be about 690 residential units in all three buildings, Reglin said, about 100 of which would be moderately-priced. There are no price-regulated units in the current buildings, Reglin said.

Reglin said that Aldon intends to develop a tenant relocation program to place current tenants in other apartments in the downtown Bethesda area during construction. But the news has still been stressful for some long-time tenants of the property, especially those who are older, according to tenant Marilyn Tubman.

Tubman, 76, has rented a unit at 4857 Battery for over 32 years.

“I really am miserably upset about being displaced,” Tubman said. “There are number of us who are quite older, and there’s plenty of young people too, but I’m sure they can bounce around a little quicker than we can. For those of us who are in the older group, it’s been extremely stressful for us.”

Tubman lives alone and no longer drives, and relies on the bus system along Battery Lane to help her get around.

“For me, I can get to stores, the bus service takes me to my doctor’s appointments and all the places I need to go. It’s convenient for me, right here on Battery Lane, this is the best place for me to be. There is no good answer, but I just hope that stronger heads will prevail and say, ‘Hey, you can’t displace all these people all at once.”

Reglin said that the tenant relocation program will likely be able to place tenants in similar locations within downtown Bethesda. Aldon is expected to file plans with a hearing examiner within the next two months, Reglin said.