Friendship Heights Is Finally Getting New Homes to Buy. Why Are Most of Them Townhouses?
November 5, 2026
November 5, 2026
The headline on the former GEICO campus says 536 homes. A buyer will be able to purchase about 276 of them, and only about 96 of those are condos. In a part of Chevy Chase known for high-rise living, the first new for-sale homes in a generation will mostly be townhouses. That mix came from a calculation about developer risk. Planners did not set it.
The demolition crews on Western Avenue are real, and the change is real. If you're comparing Friendship Heights with other close-in neighborhoods this fall, the useful question is what kind of supply arrives, when, and under which rules. The answer is narrower than the headline suggests.
Friendship Heights has been one of Montgomery County's four downtowns for decades. Montgomery Planning describes it as a place that went from a regional retail destination to an area with "rising retail and office vacancies," where "new development has slowed to a trickle." During a Planning Board tour in August, a county housing planner identified Wisconsin Place Apartments, built in 2009, as the area's newest apartment building, Bethesda Magazine reported. The same story noted that since 2023 the board has approved only one other housing project in the area, at 5500 Wisconsin Ave.
So the former GEICO campus at 5260 Western Ave. matters. On July 30, 2026, the Planning Board unanimously approved four applications for the project, called Friendship Commons. The applicant is Friendship Commons Partners LLC, led by Bethesda-based EYA with Bernstein Management Corporation as its partner.
The approval sets ceilings: up to 356 multifamily units in three buildings, up to 180 townhouses, and up to 5,000 square feet of commercial space. At least 17.5% of the homes must be moderately priced dwelling units, or MPDUs. The Planning Board staff report breaks the multifamily portion down like this:
| Building type | Height | Approximate homes | Ownership |
|---|---|---|---|
| Condominium building one | Six stories | About 48 | For sale |
| Condominium building two | Six stories | About 48 | For sale |
| Apartment building with ground-floor commercial | Seven stories | Up to 250 | Rental |
| Townhouses | Not applicable | Up to 180 | For sale |
That puts roughly 276 homes up for sale, and about two-thirds of them are townhouses. The affordable units are spread through the project too. Staff describes at least 10 MPDU townhomes, plus at least ten three-bedroom and six four-bedroom affordable units in the rental building. The plan also dedicates the roughly 2.35-acre Brookdale Park to M-NCPPC, the county's parks and planning commission, along with a $1.65 million payment for park improvements.
The county's own consultant explains why the mix leans this way. The sector plan's Appendix D market analysis is a memo from the firm RCLCO dated November 5, 2025. It tested apartments, for-sale townhomes, office, retail and hotel across Friendship Heights. Rental apartments ranked as the most feasible use on every parcel it assessed, and conventional office was "not likely to be feasible" under the conditions at the time.
Townhouses come out slightly behind apartments on land value. RCLCO says they still appeal to developers on very large sites because they "carry less market risk, require smaller upfront investments, and allow sales proceeds to be realized sooner." A builder can sell townhouses in batches as each group is finished. A condo tower has to be fully built before any buyer can close.
Height runs into a cost wall as well. Above seven stories, buildings need concrete or steel construction. RCLCO found that the added cost outweighs the rent premiums until a building passes about 14 stories, and that tall buildings are "impractical when adjacent to lower-density neighborhoods." The GEICO campus borders Brookdale, a small single-family neighborhood. A seven-story rental, two six-story condo buildings and a long row of townhouses stepping down toward Brookdale is close to the program RCLCO's numbers describe.
That has a practical meaning for buyers. If you've been waiting for new high-rise condos with elevators and views in Friendship Heights, this first phase was not designed around that product.
The bigger change on the site is planned for later. EYA describes Friendship Commons as a two-phase project. Phase 2, along the Friendship Boulevard and Western Avenue frontage, will follow "once the Friendship Heights Sector Plan is adopted" and "may include mid-rise and high-rise residential with additional retail." The July approvals left three Friendship Boulevard development sites with no proposed development and no assigned density.
That split follows the rules. Montgomery Planning says the Phase 1 approval was reviewed for "substantial conformance" with the 1998 Friendship Heights Sector Plan, and that the regulatory approval and the new plan are "separate, parallel processes." Future development anywhere in the plan area, including the rest of the GEICO site, "will be reviewed under the new sector plan." In its coverage of the September public hearing, Bethesda Magazine summarized the draft plan's proposed heights across the plan area as 100 to 250 feet.
Put RCLCO's finding next to that range, and the frontage sites become the most likely place for taller buildings, once a plan allowing them is adopted. Building the townhouse-heavy phase first gets sales moving now and holds back the higher-density land until the new rules are settled.
The plan is still being written. The Planning Board's schedule lists work sessions on November 5 and November 19, 2026. At the second session, the board is expected to approve a Planning Board Draft for the County Council and County Executive. According to a work-session staff report, Council and Executive review is planned for winter 2027, with adoption projected for spring 2027.
Here are the dated milestones for Phase 1:
A legal challenge also hangs over this calendar. Bethesda Magazine reported on October 16 that the Village of Friendship Heights, the Brookdale Citizens Association and two residents dropped an earlier lawsuit and filed a petition for judicial review of the July 30 approval. The petition argues that conditions set in 1998 still apply, including a four-story limit on Willard Avenue buildings and one acre of recreational open space north of Brookdale Park. The current plan calls for six- and seven-story buildings and puts townhomes where that open space would have been. Trees are part of the dispute too. The project removes 34 of the site's 203 large specimen trees and plants two acres of urban forest. According to the same report, the court had not yet set a hearing date.
Even if everything stays on schedule, the first townhouse a buyer could move into is several years away.
The resale market in Montgomery County is moving in the other direction from those timelines. The GCAAR September 2026 report shows 2,447 active listings countywide, up 27.2% from September 2025. The county had 681 closed sales, down 9.4% year over year, at a median sold price of $610,000, up 1.8%. Homes averaged 34 days on market and sold for an average of 97.3% of their original list price. The Maryland Realtors September 2026 report puts the county at 3.0 months of inventory, up from 2.4 a year earlier.
Those are countywide figures, and Friendship Heights is a small, distinct market inside them. Planners have said its home values and rents run well above the county's. Still, the direction matters. As of September 2026, buyers had more listings to choose from and more time to decide than they did a year earlier. Waiting for Friendship Commons means giving up that room in exchange for a product that is mostly townhouses, with only about 96 new condos, and construction reported to start no earlier than 2027 or 2028.
Will Friendship Commons add new high-rise condos? The first phase approved in July includes two six-story condominium buildings of about 48 units each. EYA has said taller buildings may come in Phase 2 after the new sector plan is adopted.
Where is the retail? Up to 5,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space is planned in the rental building along Willard Avenue.
How can I follow the sector plan? Montgomery Planning livestreams its work sessions and posts recordings on its Friendship Heights Sector Plan page.
If you're deciding whether to buy in Friendship Heights now or wait for the GEICO site, I'm happy to look at it with you. We can compare what's for sale today with the Friendship Commons timeline and figure out which fits your plans. Kerri Murphy is here when you're ready. Let's Connect.
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