Kenwood Place at Westbard Square

Built in 1960, the Kenwood Place has approximately 174 units in total on four levels.  The community is classically mid-century modern.   Located at 5301 Westbard Avenue, the rear of the building overlooks  the future site of Westbard Square, which will have restaurants, shops and housing.

Although the rear of the building faces the current parking lot, the overall feel is one of peace.  The Kenwood Place sits quietly near Little Falls Parkway and the Capital Crescent Trail.  The Kenwood Place offers traditional floorplans with enclosed kitchens and good sized bedrooms.  In recent years the units have been updated with new kitchens and baths.  Parking is not a problem here with lots of surface parking.

The history of Kenwood Place is fascinating. Kenwood Place originally paid ground rent to the owners of the land at Westbard.  Since ground rent is rare in the DC metro area, some buyers would frightened by the effect that ground rent might have.  Several years ago, Kenwood Place negotiated with the owner of the land at Westbard to redeem the ground rent and property values have increased continually. For more information about Kenwood Place and ground rent in general, please be sure to give the Lise Howe Group a call.

If you want to know what is available at Kenwood Place just click here. 

Manhattan-based Equity One plans to develop Westbard Square, which will be 1.29 million square feet of residential properties and about 510,000 square feet of commercial property . The 24.45 acres marked for redevelopment include the site of a former Manor Care nursing home, two gas stations, the Bowlmor Lanes, the Westwood Shopping Center (a one-story strip mall anchored by a Giant supermarket), the Westwood II office building and associated surface and structure parking.

At the Manor Care site, EYA is planning to build 34 townhouses. Replacing Bowlmor will be a 122-foot tall, mixed-use building with street-level retail and commercial topped by residential. Westwood II is planned for residential over retail, while the strip center will be redeveloped with townhouses, retail (Giant included), commercial, and civic space.

A 15-story multifamily building, Westwood Towers, will remain, with additional mixed-use buildings added to that property at 5401 Westbard Ave.

Initially, the construction of Phase 1 of the Westbard development was scheduled to begin back in 2020. Phase 1 consists of a new Giant grocery store with a multi-level parking garage along with additional retail and restaurant spaces.  Since there are very few restaurants in that part of Bethesda, the creation of new restaurants will be welcomed.

Construction was delayed when COVID hit, and no one was sure when construction would actually start.  However, by March 2022, construction is clearly underway.  The stores to the left of the Giant (the Capital One bank and the Rite-Aid) are gone and that end of the shopping center has turned into a massive construction site.  Throughout the rest of the area, stores are shuttering in anticipation of the new development.

The Westbard Square website offers an updated construction schedule.

The Condo Fee at Kenwood Place is approximately $735 a month for a unit with 1074 square feet and $728 for a one bedroom with 1006 square feet of space.  The fee for a two bedroom two bath unit with 1432 square feet is $813 a month and the condo fee for a 1224 square foot unit with two bedrooms and one bath is $771 monthly.  A three bedroom two bath unit with 1726 square feet is $1092 approximately.

The condo fee includes a sun deck, pool, front desk, exercise room, laundry facility, parking fee, reserve funds and utilities including heat, air conditioning, electricity, water and sewer.

Although the Kenwood Place is located on Westbard Avenue near Little Falls, a very quiet area of Bethesda, the building is close to downtown Bethesda along the Little Falls Parkway and Dorset and another mile and a half back toward Washington and Friendship Heights. Metro access is available at both the Bethesda station and Friendship Heights. Lots of buses run up and down River Road on a frequent basis, also providing quick access to Friendship Heights or Montgomery Mall.

The Capital Crescent Trail is down the hill of Westbard and Massachusetts Aves. In a matter of a few steps, you can be on your way to Georgetown or into Bethesda! Get your bike or your roller blades – there is no place better for a little relaxation than the Capital Crescent Trail!

Grocery shopping is readily available at the Whole Foods just three blocks up River Road and at the Giant at Westbard, across the parking lot.

There are not many restaurants immediately nearby, but that will be rectified once Westbard Square is developed.

The Kenwood Place is a great place to call home  If you want quiet and serenity with beautiful views from your window, this is the place to be. You can find condos for sale at the Kenwood Place (if there are any available today) as well as all available condos for sale in Bethesda  or Chevy Chase on my website.

You will enjoy being able to walk to the library from here or you can take a stroll on the Capital Crescent Trail or the Little Falls Trail.

Go down Massachusetts Avenue to Millie’s for great food evocative of Nantucket or grab a pizza at Pizzeria Paradiso. Then you can do your shopping at Crate and Barrel for furniture and pick up all your deli food from Wagshall’s across the street!

To see what is available at Kenwood Place right now, just click here.

The smallest condos at the Kenwood Place are a spacious 850 square feet for the one bedroom one bath units, all the way up to an amazing 1860 square feet for a three bedroom condo with two baths

Only two homes have sold in the last six months.  Unit 209 sold for $279,000. That unit has one bedroom and one bath with 1006 square feet.  Unit 412 with two bedrooms and two baths sold for $330,000. That unit had 1432 square feet of living space.

In the second half of 2014, prices ranged from $240,000 for a one bedroom 925 square foot coop to $425,000 for a three bedroom, 1700 square foot condo.   In the first half of 2015, no properties were listed for sale.

There are a number of sites on the internet that will give you ‘estimates’ for what your home will sell for. These sites use public records and usually some kind of algorithm to try to produce a value for your home. These sites also publicly state their ‘error rates’. That means they aren’t correct, they are simply an estimate based on incomplete date. We would love to do a free comparative market analysis of your home  and let you know what could expect to get in today’s market if you are considering selling. Our valuation is based on up to the day data for homes that have recently sold in the area. Our valuation is not based on a formula that relies on public records which can take months to update. Please visit my website in order to get your free property evaluation for your Bethesda home  We would love to help you sell your home at Kenwood Place in Westbard Square in Bethesda.

I have been a realtor for over 33 years, specializing in helping buyers and sellers with all their Bethesda and Northwest Washington real estate needs. In addition to being a realtor with many years experience in all kinds of markets – the good, the bad and the ugly, I also am an attorney admitted to the bar in the District of Columbia.  While I no longer practice as such, I think that my years of experience as a lawyer also work to the advantage of my clients.

In addition to a deep knowledge of the market and the ins and outs of the real estate transaction, I bring to my sellers a real commitment to technology in general and its absolute necessity in marketing properties.  My buyer clients also benefit from my technology skills because I am constantly searching all the hidden corners of the real estate market looking for that perfect home for them.

If you want an agent who always puts your interests first, then you should call me and set up a time for a cup of coffee, a little pastry and a lot of conversation.   Let me show you Howe Real Estate Should Be.  I am at 240-401-5577 or lise@lisehowe.com.   Looking forward to talking with you!

Pets are not allowed at Kenwood Place at Westbard Square.

Major employers in Bethesda include Marriott, the Walter Reed Medical Center, The Howard Hughes Institute, The National Institutes of Health, Capital One Bank, Lockheed Martin, and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The Kenwood is just a short distance from the Red Line Metro in downtown Bethesda and very close to the new purple line.  The Beltway and I-270 are very close too so that you can always get around the metro area from here.

The Kenwood Place is located in the Whitman HS district in Montgomery County. Children living here attend Woodacres Elementary, Pyle Middle, and Whitman High School.

If you would like detailed demographic information about Bethesda as well as school reports or market trends and statistics (including recent sales in the area) just ask us at lise@lisehowe.com or call us at 240-401-5577!

If there are no homes on the market at Kenwood Place at Westbard Square, then you should look at the condos at Parkside which are similarly priced mid-century modern homes or the Sussex House on Battery Lane and the condos at 4720 Chevy Chase Drive.  Other possibilities are the ones on Democracy near the Montgomery Westfield Mall like the Springlake Condos.