The Rae – Work starts on apartment building near Bethesda’s Westfield Montgomery mall

Bethesda Magazine

June 24, 2021

343 apartments will be on site of former Ourisman Ford dealer

Developer Foulger-Pratt and architect KTGY broke ground on a 343-unit apartment building Tuesday near Westfield Montgomery mall in Bethesda.

The five-story building, known as The Rae at Westlake, will be at 10401 Motor City Drive and will include studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units, according to a press release. Each unit will be between 486 and 1,157 square feet.

There will be 44 units that are part of Montgomery County’s Moderately Priced Dwelling Unit program — an affordable housing option for homebuyers.

The Rae at Westlake will also feature a fitness center, co-working space, a pool, a courtyard, a club room and a pet spa, according to the press release. The building features a sustainable 7,000-square-foot green roof and 5,000 square feet of bioretention around the perimeter.

The building is scheduled to be ready in the third quarter of 2023, according to the press release.

The Montgomery County Planning Board in 2017 approved the project, which replaces the former Ourisman Ford dealer.

Plans to redevelop the site date to before 2009, including a 340-unit building that would have included retail on the ground floor. That plan ultimately didn’t go forward due to the possibility of competition between the retail and the mall nearby, Bethesda Beat reported in 2018.

The Rae at Westlake is one of multiple developments planned for the area near Westfield. In July 2020, the Planning Board approved plans for nearly 3 million square feet of retail space and 717 residential units near the mall.