Mark Rose envisions that one year from now, cars will turn off of River Road and onto River Quarry Place. They will drive past two rows of townhomes, turn right, and be face to face with a running stream that presently does not exist.
That stream is the principal design feature of the River Quarry Development on the west side of the 495 interchange on River Road. It will run from the back to the front of the property that rises up in a steady slope away from River Road. Rose calls it a waterfall feature.
“We wanted to use the topography to our advantage,” said Rose. “Almost every single-family unit will have a view of it.”
River Quarry will consist entirely of residential space and will include fifteen townhomes and fifteen single-family homes, said Rose. Rose is Executive Vice President of Rosemark Design Build, the company that is building the project.
The townhomes will line the main entrance off of River Road, with the single-family homes scattered throughout the rest of the property.
Formerly the site of Stoneyhurst Quarry, Rose said that River Quarry will be designed accordingly.
“The whole look is going to be stucco and stone,” said Rose. “No brick.”
Rosemark will begin having contracts signed for the units this summer, with construction on River Quarry to begin in the late summer, said Rose. The first units are scheduled to be completed in early 2008.
RIVER QUARRY is one of two developments on either side of the River Road/495 interchange, whose soaring cranes have had residents asking for months what was being built.
Fox Hills Senior Condominium sits on the east side of the intersection. The facility will include 240 condominiums for seniors ages 60 and older, said Katherine Peters, a sales representative with Fox Hills. The first wing is scheduled to open in the spring of 2008.
“This will be a full-service community,” said Peters. Chevy Chase Bank will have a full-service branch in the community, which will also have a formal dining room, a bar and lounge, an informal dining room, a coffee shop, a post office, a gym, and a salon, among other amenities, said Peters. Varying degrees of assisted living will be offered in 83 units within the community which is more than half-sold, said Peters.
Peters said the units will range in price from $463,000 to $1.6 million. Units for those who need assisted living services will be rented at monthly rates, said Peters.
The location will benefit residents of both developments said Rose.
“It doesn’t get much better than that location,” said Rose. “The easy-on, easy-off access for people who work in D.C. or Virginia is perfect.
Laura Olson of Solutions Not Sprawl, a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing public transportation and smart-growth in the county said the location of Fox Hills could be better.
"Our gut feeling is... its a little unfortunate that as a senior facility that it isn't more walkable to other areas outside of their community," said Olson.
Olson said that there are county Ride On buses which pick up near the future community and go into Bethesda, but that apart from that connection the community will be somewhat isolated.
Rose said the proximity of the site to the Beltway was a major factor in Rosemark Build and Design’s decision to build there.