Steamers demolished in Bethesda (Photos)

Developer Novo faked us out a little bit. Earlier this week they had said the crumbling ruins of the vacant Steamers restaurant would be demolished in the next few months. But yesterday, the structure was quickly razed. That's good news, as it eliminates the mosquito risk the roofless building posed to nearby residents before the mosquitos really get going for the year.

Where did Steamers go? I found the restaurant's "coffin," on the street nearby. The individual pieces of the old wooden building were piled inside a dumpster there. Steamers will be replaced by The Claiborne, a 110' luxury condo building.

BETHESDA BANK DEMOLITION UPDATE (PHOTOS)

It's all over but the crying at the former site of United Bank on Old Georgetown Road. The rubble and debris are being carted away, making this a rare subtraction of a bank in a county currently exploding with new branches opening (with TD Bank seeming to have unlimited resources, in that regard). Technically, we didn't lose a bank, as United moved to Wisconsin Avenue prior to the demolition. As I mentioned previously, the bank is being replaced by a luxury residential building.

BETHESDA BANK DEMOLITION UPDATE (PHOTOS)

Here's what's left of the old United Bank building on Old Georgetown Road in downtown Bethesda.

BERTUCCI'S CLOSES AT WHITE FLINT (PHOTOS)

THE DARK SIDE OF WHITE FLINT
GETS DARKER

PART 11

Welcome to the latest installment of this special series, "The Dark Side of White Flint," a candid examination of the not-so-wonnerful, wonnerful, wonnerful side of the White Flint sector plan.

(Click here to see demolition photos from White Flint Mall, and links to more White Flint demolition/store closure photo galleries!)

The developer and Lerner apologists said it wouldn't happen.

It's happened.

Bertucci's, one of the main restaurant anchors at White Flint Mall, has closed its doors forever. The restaurant has blacked out the windows, locked the doors, and vacated the premises.

Ciao!

A menu board stands empty outside the popular Italian restaurant. No more dessert trios will be served here.

Now one has to question how much longer the remaining large restaurants (The Cheesecake Factory, P.F. Chang's, Dave and Buster's) will stay open.

We were told the demolition wouldn't begin for some years. It did, and already one large part of the mall is rubble.

We were told the front section would remain open for at least a few more years.

Now we know that's not true, either, as Bertucci's has closed.

Welcome to the Dark Side.

MONTGOMERY MALL ELEVATOR DEMOLISHED (PHOTO)

That central elevator, that appeared to be undergoing a complete overhaul at Westfield Montgomery Mall?

It's now been pulverized, obliterated, and demolished for good measure.

Hopefully, the logic behind this decision will be revealed to us at some later date...

BETHESDA POST OFFICE DEMOLISHED (PHOTOS) - ARLINGTON ROAD POST OFFICE

The Bethesda Post Office on Arlington Road has been demolished. Demolition operations took place Thursday. The postal facility was destroyed to make way for a luxury, mixed-use development.

DEMOLITION OPERATIONS BEGIN AT BETHESDA ARLINGTON ROAD POST OFFICE (PHOTOS)

Demolition of the old Bethesda Post Office on Arlington Road is getting underway. The building was not known for its grand architecture, but was a highly-functional Post Office with plenty of free, surface parking.

One can't help but feel nostalgic after attempting to utilize the new post office with no parking at 6900 Wisconsin Avenue.

THE DARK SIDE OF WHITE FLINT: WHITE FLINT MALL DEMOLITION (PHOTOS)

Welcome to the first installment of The Dark Side of White Flint.  This ongoing series will sporadically explore the side of urban renewal ignored by the local media.

Pick up any local newspaper, or visit news websites, and you'll get plenty of good news about the urbanization of the suburbs. A local official, who won office with six-figure developer donations, might pontificate about how he's going to modify your behavior in the new White Flint.  A smart growth group might even give the new White Flint an award. Before it has even been built.

In reality, the White Flint Sector Plan gave away the store - and multiple tax breaks, one worth $72 million alone, even as taxes skyrocketed on the poorest in Montgomery County - to developers.

One thing we heard alot was that this was a 20-30 year plan. Reality again is quite different. Permits have been issued. Buildings are going up.

The destruction of White Flint Mall was years off, we were told.

Wrong again, and here - in this first installment - is the photographic proof.

I've heard much good news in the press, but no report of demolition having started at the mall.

It has.

White Flint Mall opened in 1977. It's not that old, and was always one of the nicest in the DC area architecturally.

File the demolition of White Flint Mall under "First World Problems." Many economically-disadvantaged towns and nations would probably love to have a mall like White Flint. To knock a relatively-new structure of this quality down is, frankly, hoggish.

Just within the last two years, a mall spokesperson claimed White Flint was 100% leased. Now much of the mall is vacant. Business was going well, and Lerner was profiting. But more profits were deemed essential, no matter the impact on small businesses or nearby residents.

A grand structure will fall, along with the dreams of many businesspeople, and another bland "town center" will rise in its place.

Contrary to rosy media coverage, success is not assured. Three JBG projects, and Federal Realty's massive Pike and Rose development, are likely to draw customers away from White Flint Town Center. Is the residential and customer base large enough to support up to 5 or 6 town centers - with expensive restaurants, boutiques, and entertainment prices - within less than a mile of each other?

Meanwhile the wrecking machines are carrying out the grim work of demolishing a perfectly-good building. Welcome to the dark side.

8101 WISCONSIN AVENUE BP GAS STATION DEMOLISHED - BETHESDA'S "LAST GAS" IS NO MORE! (PHOTOS)

Bethesda's legendary "Last Gas" is just a pile of rubble.

Long known as the literal last chance gas station for drivers heading north to Interstates 270 and 495, the Amoco/BP service station was the refueling savior of many a driver who just realized the tank was nearly empty.

Now demolition crews have obliterated the station.

Contrast the two time periods in the photos below, including the famous Last Gas sign.

Then wonder, what the heck is going on at this site?

A gas station renovation usually involves the below-ground gas tanks, and interior of the garage and office space.  Here, all of the above have been wiped out.

Suspicious detail #1: Searches of online databases for Montgomery County Government and Montgomery County Planning Board for "8101 Wisconsin Avenue" yield no results.  There is no development application on file - or at least, one that can be accessed by the taxpaying citizens. Not even a permit for the demolition just completed came up. So much for "open government."

Suspicious detail #2: Examining the map, you'll notice a county public parking lot directly behind the gas station site.  Hmm.  Could there be a politician-developer plot afoot to turn that entire block into a new, mixed-use development?

Why the silence?

Consider this fact:

Now, when the gas station at Wisconsin and Battery Lane is demolished in the near future, there will literally be no gas stations - at all - along Bethesda's Main Street, Wisconsin Avenue.  Not just no Last Gas.  No gas.

This won't be the first or last time I point out that this kind of poor urban planning poses a serious danger to the public.  I know some people with their heads in the clouds chuckle about the idea that we're running out of gas stations.

We'll see who's laughing when Bethesda's handful of remaining gas stations run out of gas, after a natural disaster like Superstorm Sandy.  Remember the gas lines in New Jersey? The gas shortages?

That's the direction we're headed, if we don't switch to a plan for responsible growth in this county.

BETHESDA MCDONALD'S CONSTRUCTION SITE UPDATE - 4500 EAST-WEST HIGHWAY BUILDING (PHOTOS)

The debris of the demolished Bethesda McDonald's on East-West Highway has been hauled away, and preliminary construction work has begun on the future office building that will replace it.