But the new owners of the former Discovery HQ in Silver Spring are making upgrades to the property in the hopes of attracting future tenants to these vacant floors. The County Council shockingly failed to market the property as part of an overall package for Amazon's HQ 2. Of course, this is the same County Council who thought Shark Week was filmed in giant tanks in this office building, blaming "TV trends" for the loss instead of their own incompetence and socialism-on-steroids governance. Reality check: the Silver Spring headquarters jobs were mostly administrative in nature, and therefore went to Knoxville, not New York City. A few top level executives relocated to an existing New York Discovery office - that's it.
Additions proposed by buyer Foulger-Pratt include redesigned public spaces, and new retail space. Project plan amendments going before the Montgomery County Planning Board April 25 include about 11,000 SF of new office, retail and restaurant uses. But in a loss for the downtown community already reeling from the loss of Discovery, public space on the site will shrink by over 50000 SF, if approved by the Board. Planning staff are recommending approval of the amendments.
The new owner already has a letter of intent for a 165,000 sqft lease before the redesign/renovations are even approved. You're talking bullshit, Dyer.
ReplyDelete9:56: LOL, and what about the other 70% of the building? You are the BS expert. Which is probably how you got this awful job working for the County Council.
DeleteAMZHQ2 is proposed to be 4,000,000 square feet when it is completed. Where would you find the other 3,500,000 square feet in DTSS?
Delete10:59: Redevelopment, just like Crystal City did. They already reduced the number of jobs by 50% as it is. Plenty of room in Bethesda or Silver Spring. But irrelevant due to anti-business climate and policies.
DeleteSo, you think Amazon would be o.k. with "hold on a minute" we'll build you 3.5 million s.f. of space, if you come back to use in say two years? OH HELL TO THE NO! You have got to be as stupid as someone who wants to built a Chinese-style wall across America to believe that. If you had a degree in common sense, you'd be dangerous.
Delete@anon 9:56am: Letter of intent from Who /Whom?? Foulger Pratt are known LIARS.
DeleteSince when is a letter of intent for 165,000 sqft something to scoff at, Robert? You suck NoVa's dick in blog posts on here for far, far less. I bet the building's 90% pre-leased by the time renovations are complete.
Delete"Discovery itself decamped almost all of the Silver Spring jobs to Knoxville, Tennessee, where taxes and employees' cost-of-living are lower..."
ReplyDeleteNope. All of the executives moved to New York City, which has taxes that are substantially higher than Montgomery County.
10:53: Wrong - there were only a few "executives" who moved to New York. The vast majority of jobs were sent to Knoxville.
Delete"only a few executives?"
DeleteWhich is why it leased 360,000 SF in New York. What a joke.
"Knoxville, Tennessee, where taxes and employees' cost-of-living are lower."
ReplyDeleteAnd wages for those grunt-work jobs are a lot lower, which is why they laid off the Silver Spring staff.
"Schools are just as good as our declining Montgomery County Public Schools."
[citation needed]
"The Discovery/Scripps site has direct highway access to the nearest airport."
That airport has no international flights. In fact, the only destination it serves west of the Rockies is Las Vegas. And between the Mississippi and the Rockies, only Dallas, Denver and Minneapolis.
11:10: Knoxville airport has the flights needed for the positions that are there. That's why the top few went to NYC, and the rest to Knoxville.
DeleteWages can be lower because the local governments in Tennessee aren't tax vampires like MoCo's.
MCPS in decline since 2010.
Dyer Dyer big ol liar.
Delete"MCPS in decline since 2010."
DeleteMaybe, maybe not...but what you actually said previously was this:
"Schools [in Knoxville] are just as good as our declining Montgomery County Public Schools."
Where is the documentation of the performance of schools in the Knoxville area?
11:53: If you haven't bothered to read up on Knoxville schools, why would you be questioning my assertion?
Delete1:14: A pretty weak challenge to by assertion, since you obviously don't have the data for Knoxville and haven't bothered to research it. Yet you rage at me. What a fool.
DeleteNo, Dyer. That's not how it works. You were the one who made the claim that Knoxville-area schools are equal to or better than Montgomery County schools, it is you who needs to provide documentation.
Delete8:31: Yes, that is how it works. Only Bozo the Clown questions a statement without having factual information to prove it wrong first. Punch thyself.
DeleteOnly Bozo the Clown makes a statement without having factual information to prove it.
Delete9:21: We're dealing with a regular Pee Wee Herman here, folks. And he attacks for the sake of attacking, without even having facts to make a counter-argument. No wonder he was hired by the dimwits on the County Council.
DeleteRobert,
ReplyDeleteHow do we speak to oppose reduction of the public space. The park should continue to be there.
You can send comments by email to the Planning Board, or sign up to testify at the April 25 meeting. You can also see the staff report to get more specific points about what you want to see kept or changed:
Deletehttps://montgomeryplanningboard.org/agenda-item/april-25-2019/
"Project plan amendments going before the Montgomery County Planning Board April 25 include about 11,000 SF of new office, retail and restaurant uses. But in a loss for the downtown community already reeling from the loss of Discovery, public space on the site will shrink by over 50000 SF."
ReplyDeleteOnly Robert Dyer can find a reason to complain about new office space being built in our County.
I'm hoping they *increase* public space and amenities, including retail.
ReplyDeleteThis building is pretty dead outside of business hours. It's a shame Discovery never activated the outdoor space much. Having a studio on the plaza would have been nice and a way to showcase Silver Spring.
"No major corporation has shown any interest in the former downtown Silver Spring headquarters of Discovery Communications"
ReplyDeleteThis is blatant lie. Foulger-Pratt has publicly stated there is enormous amount of tenant interest in the former HQ. You would have to be a complete idiot to believe that the building would be fully leased barely a month removed since F-P received approvals for the upgrades.
2:14: LOL - is that why it hasn't been leased yet? There's so much interest!!!!! Interest in getting your criminal bosses on the Council reelected, more like it.
DeleteAt this early stage not having any leases is the norm. The modifications haven't even been approved yet!
DeleteBosses on the council? Seriously, are you mentally ill?
10:03: If there was demand, there would have been leases right away and no need for such changes to the property. Yes, your bosses on the Council - no ordinary citizen holds these corrupt council members in such high regard. 90% of people don't even know who they are.
DeleteHas the building owner made sure the interior of the property smells lemon fresh?
ReplyDelete"lack of direct access to Dulles Airport thanks to an unbuilt new Potomac River crossing"
ReplyDeleteThe Second Crossing/Outer Beltway/Rockville Facility is completely irrelevant to the issue of access between downtown Silver Spring and Dulles Airport. If that road and bridge currently existed, going from downtown Silver Spring to Dulles Airport would be significantly longer using that route, then using the Beltway - adding 8 miles to the trip via the Rockville Facility (which absolutely no one is proposing to build) or 11 miles via the I-370 route.
As usual, Dyer's "solutions" are so simplistic and poorly thought out as to be childish.
8:54: wrong. A new highway extension and bridge over the Potomac would be far faster than the existing road routes, and would link up with the planned Express Lanes on the Beltway and I-270 for a fast and seamless trip from Silver Spring to Dulles.
DeleteAlas, our "leaders" didn't have the vision or brainpower to figure this out, and are too busy executing their War on Cars, which is actually a war on their own constituents.
This is about downtown Silver Spring, not Gaithersburg or points north. Driving from downtown Silver Spring to Dulles Airport via the "Second Crossing" and connecting roads would add 8 to 11 miles to the route compared to the present route via the American Legion Bridge.
Delete8:45: You have poor math skills - under the toll lane network I outlined, speed would be about a mile a minute. Suddenly Silver Spring can reach Dulles quite quickly with the new Potomac River crossing and Hogan Express Lanes on the highways in-between.
DeleteBOOM