DC Radio: Developer Plans 330 Homes On WMAL Tower Site

The developer who won the rights to 75 acres of prime Bethesda real estate plans to build up to 330 homes on the property, maxing out on a rare piece of open land that’s now home to four large radio towers used by Cumulus' Talk station WMAL 630 AM.

Bethesda Magazine reports John Harris, vice president with Pennsylvania-based Toll Brothers, said the company plans a mix of town homes and single-family detached homes. The site’s zoning allows up to 50 percent of the new homes to be town homes, though Harris said the developer hasn’t decided on the final mix and many other important details.

Last week, Toll Brothers hired Silver Spring-based architecture and planning firm Torti Gallas to help design the site. Harris said Toll Brothers hopes to submit its sketch plan—the first formal part of the county’s approval process—in the next two months with the preliminary plan submission coming in early 2016.

The site sits just north of the Capital Beltway spur and just west of I-270. The location, the site’s status as Bethesda’s largest tract of yet-to-be developed land and surrounding neighborhoods with an average home value of more than $660,000 made for a long list of offers from developers.

When the property was put on the market earlier this year, the move raised concerns among nearby residents and government officials that more housing could pose more issues for an already overcrowded public school system and congested local roads.

Brokers selling the site said it could go for as much as $75 million.

Toll Brothers won’t close its purchase of the site until it has made progress in the county’s approval process. The purchase price of the land is confidential until that point.

The home sites will likely be in the 4,000- to 9,000-square-foot range, meaning less than a quarter-acre. Pricing would start in the $800,000s with most of the homes sitting in the $1.1 million to $1.4 million range. Affordable housing requirements would mean a minimum of about 42 of the homes are reserved as moderately-priced dwelling units.

Cumulus Media will be responsible for taking down the radio towers once the deal goes through. A house on the Greentree Road side of the property, home to radio broadcasting equipment, will be torn down.

Cumulus took control of the 90-year old station in 2011 when it purchased Citadel Broadcasting for $2.2 billion. Soon after, it started simulcasting the station’s programming on WVRX 105.9 FM, renaming it WMAL-FM.

A Cumulus spokesman said WMAL would lease transmission facilities somewhere else after the property is officially sold and shouldn’t be affected by the loss of the towers.