Silver Spring’s Ripley East Apartment Project Set for Key County Approvals

High-rise would bring 360 apartment units to Georgia Avenue and Bonifant Street

By Aaron Kraut

Rendering of Ripley East apartment project as viewed from Georgia Avenue in Silver Spring Via Montgomery County Planning Department

A 360-unit, 200-foot-tall apartment project in downtown Silver Spring’s Ripley District is set to receive three key approvals from the Montgomery County Planning Board on Dec. 3.

The board is expected to approve the sketch plan amendment, preliminary plan and site plan for Ripley East, the apartment project from Diamondback Investors at Georgia Avenue and Bonifant Street.

The building will rise to 200 feet facing Bonifant Street and step down to about 175 feet facing Georgia Avenue. The Purple Line light-rail will run along Bonifant Street just a few feet from the building’s curb, putting the project in between the Silver Spring Transit Center and Silver Spring Library stations.

The developer plans to build a wider sidewalk along Bonifant Street “in order to provide greater separation between the building and the Purple Line operations, promoting further pedestrian comfort and allowing room for possible outdoor/retail restaurant seating options,” county planners wrote while recommending the three project approvals.

Via Montgomery County Planning Department

Fifteen percent of the 360 units will be moderately-priced dwelling units, in accordance with county regulations. A little more than 15,000 square feet of the building’s ground floor will be reserved for retail use.

About 1.5 acres of existing two-story buildings will be demolished to make way for the apartment project, including the former Silver Spring National Bank, the Bethel World Outreach Church and the building at 8240 Georgia Ave. that was home to venerable music store Dale Music until it closed last year.

County planners noted the Silver Spring National Bank building at 8252 Georgia Ave. was considered in 2003 for historic designation, but the Planning Board declined to give it the designation.

The apartment project will be the third new high-rise residential building in the Ripley District, situated around Ripley Street west of Georgia Avenue and east of the CSX rail and Metro tracks. The 17-story, 295-unit Solaire Silver Spring opened in 2012 and the 21-story, 379-unit Eleven55Ripley apartment building opened in 2014.

Via Montgomery County Planning Department