Former Arlington Road Post Office Set to Be Demolished

A demolition permit for the former post office at 7001 Arlington Rd. in Bethesda was issued this month, according to Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center director Ken Hartman.

Plans for a five-story, mixed-use residential and retail building on the site were approved in November. A building permit for the development is in the works, Hartman said.

The news was first reported by Bethesda blogger Robert Dyer.

The U. S. Postal Service closed the two former downtown Bethesda offices at Arlington Road and Wisconsin Avenue and opened a new retail location last year. The move was part of a nationwide effort by USPS to consolidate or close post offices in the face of declining revenues. The postal service faced pushback over parking at the new location at 6900 Wisconsin Ave.

Plans for the 7001 Arlington Rd. development call for a five-story building with 140 multi-family units—more than 15 percent of which will be moderately-priced—211 parking spaces and 7,000 square feet of retail along Arlington Road.

“This is a tremendous improvement over what is there today,” Bob Harris, an attorney for the developers, said at a planning board hearing last year. “It contributes to the transformation of south Bethesda to an urban, mixed-use environment from an industrial area.”

A traffic plan also calls for a new traffic light along Arlington Road that will direct traffic entering and exiting the site of the new building and that of the Bradley Shopping Center across the street.

Crews have been conducting tree removal and utility work over the past two weeks, Hartman said.