Dive Brief:

• Dallas-based developer JLB Partners has canceled its plans to redevelop a medical office in Silver Spring, Maryland, into a mid-rise apartment property, according to a presentation from the Montgomery County Department of Transportation last month.
• The announcement comes only two months after JLB’s proposal was approved by Montgomery County’s planning board. The plan for 9801 Georgia Ave. called for up to 390 residential units and 5,000 square feet of commercial space, with a public plaza that would have surrounded a new entrance to the nearby Forest Glen Metrorail station.
• The property’s current owner, Forest Glen Medical Center LLP, maintains its entitlement to redevelop the property according to the approved plan, according to the Washington Business Journal.

Dive Insight:

The development plan approved in March, referred to as The Glen in some renderings, would have included an interior courtyard, solar panel installations to offset the planned removal of trees on site, and a parking garage with approximately 540 spaces, according to planning documents. Fifteen percent of the residential units would have been designated as moderately priced dwelling units, and a minimum of 25% would have been two-bedroom apartments. 

Graham Brock, a development partner at JLB, told the Washington Business Journal that the terms of the deal “didn’t work for JLB in today’s market,” but that the developer would be interested in picking up the project again if circumstances changed.

Neither JLB Partners nor Virginia Beach, Virginia-based Divaris Real Estate, an agent of Forest Glen Medical Center LLP, responded to a request for comment from Multifamily Dive.

Forest Glen Medical Center LLP is a named party in three administrative appeals, the latest filed on April 8, in the Montgomery County Circuit Court by the Forest Grove Citizens Association, a group of local residents that have opposed the redevelopment of 9801 Georgia Avenue on multiple grounds, including impacts on local traffic. These petitions ask the court to review the decision-making process of the Montgomery County Planning Board related to the plans for the site.

The Forest Glen Medical Center, built in the 1960s, is presently occupied by a number of medical office tenants. The property is located across the street from the Forest Glen Metro’s existing entrances and provides close access to the Capital Beltway highway surrounding Washington, D.C.

The Montgomery County Department of Transportation’s plan to build a new Metro entrance on the site is set to proceed without the JLB Partners redevelopment, with construction expected to start in 2025.

Despite the delay at 9801 Georgia Ave., another apartment project just across the street is proceeding as planned. Known as The Residences at Forest Glen, the $60 million redevelopment Silver Spring-based affordable housing firm Montgomery Housing Partnership will replace a previous community of 1950s garden-style apartments with 189 affordable units, according to the property website. Greenbelt, Maryland-based Bozzuto is the site’s general contractor.