Fresh Grill, Red Tomato Up For Redevelopment

Lot 667 preliminary sketch, Renderings via Steven J. Karr Lot 667 preliminary sketch, Renderings via Steven J. Karr Lot 667 preliminary sketch, Renderings via Steven J. Karr Lot 667 preliminary sketch, Renderings via Steven J. Karr Lot 667 preliminary sketch, Renderings via Steven J. Karr Lot 667 preliminary sketch, Renderings via Steven J. Karr Lot 667 preliminary sketch, Renderings via Steven J. Karr

The property owner of the shuttered Fresh Grill and Red Tomato buildings will submit a development proposal to Montgomery County that would bring a new structure with about 5,000 square feet of additional commercial use.

Lenny Greenberg, founder of Bethesda-based Greenhill Capital, said the proposal would include the existing building on Fairmont Avenue that housed Fresh Grill and a dance studio and the buildings on St Elmo Avenue that were home to an auto repair shop and the Red Tomato Cafe. The project, labeled Lot 667 Woodmont, would not include the next-door building that’s home to Bold Bite, the former BlackFinn space and Greenhill’s second-floor offices.

Greenhill and development attorney Phillip Hummel, from the Bethesda-based firm of Linowes and Blocher, will present the project in a required pre-submission community meeting on Thursday, July 31 at 7:30 p.m. in the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center (4805 Edgemoor Lane).

Greenberg said he’d like to start the project next year, though it depends largely on the outcome of a lawsuit filed against the construction team on the Bainbridge Bethesda apartment project.

Attorneys for Green Tomato LLC, a holding company for Greenhill, filed a lawsuit on July 1 in Montgomery County Circuit Court against developer Bainbridge, the Turner Construction Company and Schnabel Foundation Company for what they said is significant structural damage to the Red Tomato and BCC Automotive buildings caused by shoddy foundation work.

The Red Tomato and BCC Automotive vacated the properties in January.

Greenhill, through another holding company, was awarded $3.2 million in damages for a similar lawsuit against the Bainbridge construction team for structural damage to the Fresh Grill building.

Fresh Grill is suing the developer, construction company and landlord, claiming that being forced out of its Fairmont Avenue address caused the business to go belly up. That case is scheduled for a February 2015 trial.

Rockville-based architect Steven Karr, who frequently works with Greenhill, posted some preliminary sketches for a new building on the site in June. The actual proposal will be revealed in the July 31 meeting.

Greenberg also said not to expect a new tenant for the vacant BlackFinn space soon. He cited the ongoing construction at the Bainbridge and across the street at developer JBG’s 7770 Norfolk apartment project as a big reason for tepid interest in the space.

Renderings via Steven J. Karr

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