Montgomery County hopes to transform a section of east Bethesda it has dubbed the "Pearl District," and the first project in the area has just taken a key step forward.

Promark Development received approval from the Montgomery County Planning Board for a sketch plan of its 145-foot-tall, mixed-use development at 4540 Montgomery Ave., Bethesda Magazine reports.

The project, on a 0.28-acre site at the corner of Montgomery Avenue and Pearl Street, would total 61,250 SF of density between residential and ground-floor retail. The plans did not specify a number of residential units.

As part of the development, Promark would invest in turning Pearl Street into a shared street with slow speed limits that allows cyclists and pedestrians to co-exist. This would be similar to the woonerf-style streets that opened in October at The Wharf, which features its own Pearl Street.

The county and Promark envision the Pearl District as a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use environment in the section of Bethesda east of Waverly Street and just north of the Capital Crescent Trail.