Thursday, March 5, 2009

what's up the pike: at planning place this week

- Seeking to "elevate the issue of design throughout Montgomery County," the Planning Department has launched Design Montgomery (above), an interactive website where people can view and comment on proposed development. Currently, visitors can look at 3-D models, renderings and plans of projects under review in Downtown Silver Spring, including the new library at Bonifant and Fenton. [Thanks to GGW for the heads-up.]

- United Therapeutics has asked for a little more time (warning! PDF file.) to complete their new headquarters in Downtown Silver Spring. On Thursday, the Planning Board will consider granting the biotech firm an additional two years to finish the complex at Spring and Cameron streets, which will eventually contain over 200,000 square feet of offices, research labs, and retail.

- As we mentioned last week, the Planning Board will also review the modernization plan (warning! PDF file.) for Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville. Forty years old, the school has been jockeying for a higher position on the renovation schedule with other crumbling campuses around the county. Currently, the projected completion date is 2014.

2 comments:

Thayer-D said...

What's up with the all-glass facade that will never age gracefully and will require tremendous amounts of energy to heat and cool, to say nothing about crazy glare issues for passerby's? It look's like any new office building downtown or some cookie-cutter condo building which inevitably get's drapped in curtains because no one likes to live in a fich tank. Needless to say, I hope they hang some masonry skin to give it a less disposable and more institutional feel.

Terry in Silver Spring said...

The United Therapeutics existing building is gorgeous and I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of their campus done. If they need time to do it right, let them take it. This is a gem of an addition to DTSS.