RT. 1 Between College Park and Hyattsville Set To Look Very Different in 3 years. (Bethesda: apartment complex, lease)

[RickyRoma]

I just don't see east campus as the game changer. What is it 35 acres? Great colleg towns have significantly more developed acreage and it is typically in a street grid with blocks and blocks of walkable shops, restaurants and bars. CP has the disadvantage of being very linear with route 1 dominating the town - hard to create a true downtown without a walkable, safe area. And by safe I'm referring to safety from traffic on route 1.

East campus will help for sure. I agree that it will bring more foot traffic to the city. Would be nice if the CP shopping center and College Park Towers were razed and rebuilt with more density, restaurants and retail. Knox boxes are the start of that movement. Of course the towers are condos so may be tough but the Knox boxes were consolidated over time.

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by RickyRoma

I just don't see east campus as the game changer. What is it 35 acres? Great colleg towns have significantly more developed acreage and it is typically in a street grid with blocks and blocks of walkable shops, restaurants and bars. CP has the disadvantage of being very linear with route 1 dominating the town - hard to create a true downtown without a walkable, safe area. And by safe I'm referring to safety from traffic on route 1.

East campus will help for sure. I agree that it will bring more foot traffic to the city. Would be nice if the CP shopping center and College Park Towers were razed and rebuilt with more density, restaurants and retail. Knox boxes are the start of that movement. Of course the towers are condos so may be tough but the Knox boxes were consolidated over time.

As a single project East Campus is recognized as the catalyst that will spread revitalization to the other older parts of the city. No one project in College Park has the capacity to do that excecpt East Campus which will have its own street grid and multiple blocks of development. Even Cafritz would be considered a game-changer if it wasn't in the next town over. Cafritz will have a street grid with multiple blocks. The college park shopping center (CVS) wouldn't be a large enough project being only one block in size. As far as the shopping center and student tower across from the Varsity Apartments, I haven't heard any news on that. A Marriott with a CVS and some other retail is slated to start construction soon on the old Koons Ford site.

College Park is currently being revitalized in pieces and the momentum is there. It will all happen in time. But I can't see any single project other than the Purple Line and East Campus that will be a single game-changer. Even the City's master plan doesn't call for too much change along RT. 1. There are road improvements scheduled with wider sidewalks and bike lanes. Bikeshare is coming to the city.



The downtown core, though anemic, has a lot of opportunity for infill development. There was a hint of a project that included a possible Harris Teeter with apartments or offices above either at the property where the Applebees and FedEx/Kinkos was or the shopping center with the CVS. Not sure what happened to that project. Development is spotty right now, but at least there are multiple projects in the pipeline to keep things busy. If you push too hard, you'll disturb the NIMBYS.

Ann Arbor is always regarded as a great college town. What College Park doesn't need are vanilla town centers like Downtown Silver Spring. It needs a more organic build out like below. That only happens one piece at a time over numbers of years.

[RickyRoma]

Realistically when would the hotel be ready to open its doors? The city and county seem to take an inordinate amount of time approving projects. Cafritz and the book exchange are perfect examples.

The next phase of east campus should be graduate housing with ground floor retail and a multiplex theatre in my opinion. Then the concert hall. But that could be 10 years from now given the history of east campus.

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by RickyRoma

Realistically when would the hotel be ready to open its doors? The city and county seem to take an inordinate amount of time approving projects. Cafritz and the book exchange are perfect examples.

The next phase of east campus should be graduate housing with ground floor retail and a multiplex theatre in my opinion. Then the concert hall. But that could be 10 years from now given the history of east campus.

Currently, I believe UMD and the hotel developer (Southern Management) may have just struck a land deal on Friday. There has been no conceptual site plan as of yet. So, we're at least 9 months out from actual construction. I would look for an early 2016 opening if all goes well.

Cafritz and the Maryland Book Exchange had to go through a number of appeals. That's probably why they took so long. Once the hotel is built, I don't think it will take long for other projects to follow. Graduate student housing was always programmed to be in East Campus.

[$mk8795]

After reading the comments on here, its easy to understand the fine line deference in booming economic/business growth along US Highway 1 in Northern Virginia(Arlington/Alexandria) vs. US Highway 1 in PG County that is very lacking in attracting new business growth.....

[armory]

One resounding theme I see with any type of growth in PGC is the promotion to 'consume' rather than 'produce'.

Consumption equals retail which equals minimum wage.

The sky is the limit with production.

Is the state/county that business unfriendly? It seems it has been this way for decades.

[RickyRoma]

Good article in the Sun about CP development: After slow progress, College Park moving quickly toward "real college town" goals - baltimoresun.com

Here is the most interesting quote: there is "very serious discussion" about redevelopment of the main College Park shopping center at U.S. 1 and Knox Road.

Didn't know the shopping center was in play but that is fantastic if it is, especially if there is a big vision. Knox/Hartwick/Guilford should be the heart of downtown College Park if done right, not the East Campus corner or the Rt 1 corridor. The shopping center is in a prime location but a complete waste of space with the surface lot. Would be nice if the plan is to raze the existing structure, build an underground parking deck with some real restaurants and shops at ground level, perhaps a nice common area/green space and housing / office on top. With that and the new knox box development, the only blight on knox road would be the college park towers - if only they would come down eventually...

Obviously all of this won't make CP a "top 20" college town, perhaps nothing will realistically, but at least it could make it a respectable town that students will be drawn to, alum will want to come back to and families would consider moving to. The other interesting quote in the article was about potentially opening a Corcoran gallery in CP - the more attractions in town, the better, especially if it is a good cultural draw.

It will be really interesting to see the town in 10 years or so if the momentum keeps building. It will, if we are lucky, be unrecognizable to the town as it currently exists. The university will benefit greatly in so many ways if the vision comes together.

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by RickyRoma

Good article in the Sun about CP development: After slow progress, College Park moving quickly toward "real college town" goals - baltimoresun.com

Here is the most interesting quote: there is "very serious discussion" about redevelopment of the main College Park shopping center at U.S. 1 and Knox Road.

Didn't know the shopping center was in play but that is fantastic if it is, especially if there is a big vision. Knox/Hartwick/Guilford should be the heart of downtown College Park if done right, not the East Campus corner or the Rt 1 corridor. The shopping center is in a prime location but a complete waste of space with the surface lot. Would be nice if the plan is to raze the existing structure, build an underground parking deck with some real restaurants and shops at ground level, perhaps a nice common area/green space and housing / office on top. With that and the new knox box development, the only blight on knox road would be the college park towers - if only they would come down eventually...

I think that shopping center and parking lot can be put to better use as well. I also look forward to the strip center across from The Varsity to be redeveloped as well. Though I haven't heard any news about it.

[$mk8795]

Originally Posted by armory

One resounding theme I see with any type of growth in PGC is the promotion to 'consume' rather than 'produce'.

Consumption equals retail which equals minimum wage.

The sky is the limit with production.

Is the state/county that business unfriendly? It seems it has been this way for decades.

And as long as the current set of Politicians continue to run PGC and the state of Maryland then Suburban Maryland will continue to be inferior to Virginia's wealthy Business and Economic Growth. Notice how the OP never shows any support on expanding Office Growth into College Park and how he/she raised hell with the plans to build a Highway between the School and the I-95/Beltway Interchange in College Park in which it will open up new opportunities for Office, Upscale Retail, and Hospitality Growth for College Park. And also look at how he/she raised hell at the possibility of expanding the Lanes on US Highway 1 in which it is needed but yet he/she claims that building a street trolley and bike lanes along US Highway 1 that already is a bottleneck will make traffic much worse in which the little development project that he/she is always talking about will be failures due to bad traffic and sure he/she will say it worked for Georgetown however M Street NW is 6 lanes along with the K Street Expressway, Wisconsin Avenue, and Several Side Streets help maneuver traffic throughout Georgetown but that can not be said for college park due to US Highway 1 and MD Highway 193 being the only two major roads that people use to get through college park.......

[Mr Beco]

Originally Posted by $mk8795

And as long as the current set of Politicians continue to run PGC and the state of Maryland then Suburban Maryland will continue to be inferior to Virginia's wealthy Business and Economic Growth. Notice how the OP never shows any support on expanding Office Growth into College Park and how he/she raised hell with the plans to build a Highway between the School and the I-95/Beltway Interchange in College Park in which it will open up new opportunities for Office, Upscale Retail, and Hospitality Growth for College Park. And also look at how he/she raised hell at the possibility of expanding the Lanes on US Highway 1 in which it is needed but yet he/she claims that building a street trolley and bike lanes along US Highway 1 that already is a bottleneck will make traffic much worse in which the little development project that he/she is always talking about will be failures due to bad traffic and sure he/she will say it worked for Georgetown however M Street NW is 6 lanes along with the K Street Expressway, Wisconsin Avenue, and Several Side Streets help maneuver traffic throughout Georgetown but that can not be said for college park due to US Highway 1 and MD Highway 193 being the only two major roads that people use to get through college park.......

Again, ITS THERE! They don't need MORE office in College Park. M Squared has plently, UTC has 200-300,000sf for rent. They can't fill the office space....If Maryland or the Federal Govt doesnt lease space, all bets are off...do your research before spouting off