New Parking Garage in Bethesda Open and Free for Now

Woodmont Avenue, between Bethesda Avenue and Leland Street, and a new county parking garage in Bethesda, called the Capital Crescent Garage opened on Jan. 20.

The garage, located at the intersection of Woodmont and Bethesda avenues on two former surface parking lots, is part of a public-private, mixed use development that added 250 residential units, ground level retail, and more than tripled the number of public parking spaces available on the site. The underground Capital Crescent Garage has approximately 960 public spaces and 290 private parking spaces for tenants. Demand for parking at the former surface parking lots was very high.

“This mixed use partnership project will contribute to the economic growth of the County and provide parking in an area that is an extremely popular Bethesda destination,” said Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett in a press release. “We want to thank the community for their patience during the more than two years of disruption along a very busy corridor. For those who choose to drive to this area, we encourage them to try the new garage at no charge for the first few weeks.”

To give parkers time to become acquainted with the new garage, the county will begin charging for parking on March 1. The garage has entrances on Bethesda and Woodmont avenues. There are three pedestrian exits leading to the east and west sides of Woodmont Avenue and directly onto the Capital Crescent Trail. The garage will be operated by the Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) Parking Management Division.

MCDOT is using technology to deliver innovative parking solutions. The Capital Crescent Garage has a parking availability system that wirelessly tracks the number of available parking spaces on each garage level and displays the information outside every entrance and on each floor. Initially, the signs will say “open” until the car counting system is needed.

The project’s developers are StonebridgeCarras of Bethesda and PN Hoffman from Washington, D.C. They expect the residential and retail units to be completed this spring.

About Krista Brick

Krista Brick is a multi-media journalist with Montgomery Community Media.

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