Fueling the College Park Rumor Mill
One of the advantages to running a blog is that you can throw caution and standard journalism practices to the wind and basically publish whatever you care to. While we usually avoid doing this, every once in awhile we like to clue in our readers on some of the rumors going on around town about projects in the very initial throes of planning. This is one of those times. According to this month’s University Park Newsletter (Page 8), preliminary plans are underway to create a major “new urbanist” residential community and possibly a Whole Foods on the (wooded) 40-acre Cafritz Property just south of the College Park city limits. It should be pointed out that construction of a Whole Foods on this property has major implications for UMD’s East Campus Development which is widely expected to contain some kind of grocery store.
Redevelopment of the Cafritz property could also be incorporated into the proposed Trolley Trail Extension since the trail right-of-way runs directly adjacent to the property.
Click here to view our interactive project map
April 2nd, 2007 at 7:38 pm
It’s always nice to see people drreaming big for this part of PG County, but I’m not optimistic that this will ever happen. Whole Foods is a pretty big fish to try to land in a realtively low-density area; look at how hard a time EYA is having trying to get a simple Trader Joe’s in their Arts District Hyattsville project. The kind of housing density needed to support a Whole Foods will have many of the neighbors up in arms.
April 3rd, 2007 at 9:32 am
Development of the Cafritz tract with a mixed use development that would bring a Whole Foods market to our neighborhood would be fabulous. It is about time that there are retailers willing to serve the actual homeowners and year round residents of this community. Being on top of a METRO station and close to the district, we deserve the upscale type of development that has occurred in Virginia such as Clarendon and in Maryland such as Silver Spring. It is about time.
April 3rd, 2007 at 12:30 pm
Im hoping Mr Caitlin posts becuase I vaguely recall from my student days attending City Council meetings (back when Anna Owens was the Mayor) that the parcel could and would never be developed (some kind of Deed or Legal issue)
I agree w/ Calvert Hills res that this type of development would be a good thing but I would rather see it a bit north in the new Guilford Run District (currently known as the “Knox Boxes”) and preserve the Cafritz property as a park or forest preserve forever. Sure, putting it up in East Campus would be cool too but Im thinking of the residents of Univ Park
The Knox Box area could be the coolest area if redone properly focusing on Guilford Run as an attirbute as opposed to a burden (”oh - that polluted ditch in the middle of Guilford Rd?”) as some see it
April 3rd, 2007 at 3:58 pm
I wasn’t going to respond to this item, but since I was asked to, I will provide some information. The Cafritz property is zoned for single family residential properties. Past ideas for development called for denser development which would have required rezoning the land. The two adjacent neighborhoods (University Park & Calvert Hills) have never been interested in rezoning this large parcel.
Every ten years or so the parcel is floated as a possible location for a new high school (which would require 50% of the parcel). This school possibility spurs the owners of the parcel (various members of the Cafritz family and the United Jewish Appeal) to start talking about developing the property. The most recent talk about the site for a high school happened in 2005. No location was selected in the College Park area and instead the site selected for a new high school was far away in Bowie, leaving our area still in need for a new high school.
Perhaps just the talk of a Whole Foods locating there might restrain opposition that would come to a future proposal to rezone the parcel.
April 3rd, 2007 at 8:24 pm
I hardly think that the nature conservancy is going after the Cafritz property to purchase as parkland. There are not any ecologically significant properties within the beltway especially nonriparian ones (like this). Everyone would definitely like to see the knox area redeveloped, but it’s worth noting that Guilford Run also is not ecologically significant (I know it’s your baby Kevin). Not only does is the drainage ditch (can’t really call it a stream) known as Guilford Run undergrounded through Old Town on it’s way to the Paint Branch, but the Mosaic at Turtle Creek Project will decimate a vast portion of it’s remaining forested watershed (upstream). It’s far more likely that East Campus will contain a grocery store and that the knox boxes will make way for a gargantuan student housing project with an equally gargantuan parking garage. More on this to come.
April 26th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
On their website (http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/realestate/index.html), Whole Foods indicates that the company looks for the following features when deciding where to locate new stores:
o 200,000 people or more in a 20 minute drive time,
o 40,000–75,000 Square Feet,
o Large number of college-educated residents,
o Abundant parking available for our exclusive use,
o Stand alone preferred, would consider complementary,
o Easy access from roadways, lighted intersection,
o Excellent visibility, directly off of the street,
o Must be located in a high traffic area (foot and/or vehicle).
By these criteria, it seems unlikely that the company would consider a place like the Guilford Run area (”Knox Boxes”) to locate, as Kevin suggested, although they might consider a location on Route 1 north of campus. I confirmed with the comopany’s respresentative today that they are considering the Cafritz property right now. As a University Park homeowner, I strongly support the proposal. Like Kevin, and perhaps others, I would miss the several blocks of forest reprieve that the Cafritz property provides currently, although I don’t doubt that Whole Foods might be willing to save some of those trees. In any case, I’d still heartily welcome the opportunity to walk to Whole Foods to shop. It’s the gold standard of top-quality produce, meats, cheese, and drinks. The company’s commitment to environmental causes is second-to-none. And I would welcome the powerful, quality growth in quality of life and home values that I have observed Whole Foods driving in several different cities where I have lived over more than a decade.