County Announces Partnership for New Bethesda Police Station
Montgomery County has executed a public-private partnership agreement with StonebridgeCarras, LLC, a Bethesda-based real estate firm to design and construct a new county police station in Bethesda.
The new police station will be located at 4823 Rugby Avenue and will replace the current station at 7359 Wisconsin Avenue.
“This is just another example of creative County partnerships with the private sector, leveraging underutilized County property to deliver new County facilities at little or no cost to the County, while returning higher value publicly owned property to the County tax base,” said County Executive Ike Leggett.
According to county officials, the current police station was constructed in 1961. Because of its age and size, officials said the station no longer meets modern operational requirements and would require extensive renovation to be reused. However, since the station site is a prime location in the heart of downtown Bethesda, the County plans to leverage the value of the land in exchange for a new facility at a different Bethesda location.
Under the terms of this public-private partnership, StonebridgeCarras will construct the new police station for the County and in return, the County will transfer the current site on Wisconsin Avenue to StonebridgeCarras, who will redevelop that property in the downtown Bethesda business district.
“We are very excited to expand our public private partnerships with Montgomery County,” said Douglas M. Firstenberg, a Principal with StonebridgeCarras which is part of the team working with the County on the development of Lot 31 in Bethesda. “This project allows us to provide the County with the a great new station in a location that meets its operational needs while allowing us to re-develop a prime corner in Bethesda.”
The new four-story station will be a state-of-the-art facility that utilizes existing parking at an adjacent public garage, located at 8216 Woodmont Avenue. The design work for the station has already commenced with a target to start construction of the new station in late 2015. The 2nd District Police is projected to move to its new location by year end 2016.
The 2nd District Police Station serves the areas of Bethesda, Potomac, Somerset, Chevy Chase, Kensington, and Garrett Park.
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