Rethink College Park

Although it has taken a bit longer than we expected, we finally completed locating and uploading digital copies of many of the plans and drawings produced during the 2006 SGA College Park Charrette. We have created a library page for the event spearheaded by former SGA president Andrew Rose and containing a presentation he created summarizing the outcome of the forum and charrette events. That page contains one image from each team, all of the images are viewable through our Flickr account.

Many of the drawings contain ideas about how to better connect the College Park Metro Station to campus for pedestrians, ideas that could be threatened or complicated by the College Park Historic District now under consideration. Some of the teams also tackled East Campus - a project we expect the University to announce a development partner for this semester.

While there is no quick-fix for community redevelopment, community beautification through art is relatively simple. The only ingredients are cheap materials such as paint and the spark of a creative mind. Let us take into account the current state of affairs in downtown College Park aesthetics.

The horizon is bland, squat, and nearly uniform. From the vantage point sitting on the bench in front of Noodles and Boston Market facing north, a strip mall of just three stores stews in an awkward parking lot devoid of logical design. From the left they are College Park Bicycles, Kimi & Phil’s China Café (which is so unsavory that I ate there once and never returned) and 7-Eleven. Abutting this federation of mediocrity is, of course, Santa Fe Café. There is a reinforced vinyl banner strung up on one of the unused terraces, half of which is a Bud Light logo, the other the phrase “WELCOME BACK STUDENTS.” Further to the east is a retail bank, Bentley’s, and a spate of grub joints.

In the center of this panorama is the one aesthetic anomaly in downtown College Park. It is a towering trompe l’oeil painted façade of a building, attached unceremoniously to the side of an actual building. The mural is odd – it would seem to be the upper portion of a neo-Georgian brick home. Complete with three flat chimneys and five green attic windows, the center of this faux home is crowned by a hexagonal spire that juts above the building and is propped up from behind. The base of the spire is rimmed with miniature balustrades and what are perhaps baroque portals. It is supposed to be a belfry but it has no bell. Not even a painted one. It is the tallest point in downtown College Park and would be tallest point in the entire town were it not for the Memorial Chapel looming in the distance. The painted façade represents College Park in many ways – its disjointed attempt to look authentic and functional when in fact it is a messy pastiche of frippery. The painted bell tower without a bell could not be a more appropriately hollow symbol.

The implementation of better public art would mean a lot more to our community than painting a bell inside that fake tower. Good public art provides a common point of reference. It can unite a localized region while endowing it with something attractive, something compelling. There is hope for College Park art yet. My personal favorite mural in CP is tucked away on a wall inside alumni-owned California Tortilla. Painted by UMD students Graham Garvie and Matt Mayer, the work cleverly promotes CalTort while playing up Maryland’s reputation. It conveys the diversity of our campus through the common point of reference of our mascot.

Reviewing the public art of College Park it would seem there is no shortage of places for new work like the CalTort mural: in or around new projects along Route 1, the underpass along Paint Branch under the railroad tracks, or even incorporated into the new parking garage or city hall now being planned.

Photo credit Flickr user Loke Sonne

The student body isn’t the only thing in town getting brighter. College Park now boasts a series of new lampposts lining Baltimore Avenue (Route 1) downtown. These lamps enhance safety (as we have written before) while adding a touch of needed elegance to the city.

Tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. in the Gallery of the Architecture Building, architecture and urban planning master’s student Brian Carroll will defend his thesis examining the Knox Box and downtown area of College Park. His thesis proposes a possible redevelopment of this area including changes to street alignments and the design of possible new buildings both on and off campus. We hope to feature some digital images of his work on this site. The defense is open to the public.

Today’s Diamondback article about Santa Fe’s growing reputation as a live music venue reminds us of a gradual trend that we often overlook - College Park’s downtown is actually starting to take on the characteristics of a real College Town. Everyday another store seems to be extending their hours for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, a fifth bar is coming to town (if it ever opens), and the streets are genuinely busy through most of the day. Certainly College Park isn’t what it could be, but what it is today is a far cry from the boarded up storefronts and abandoned gas stations that plagued downtown just a few short years ago. While its not clear exactly what’s responsible for this trend, the completion of the South Campus Commons just up Knox Rd as well as other demographic changing developments in the area must have played a big role. Yes, theres a lot of work yet to be done, but that doesn’t mean students should ignore the small stuff - like a nice midnight burrito.

Today’s Washington Post includes a story about East Campus development, the first time the Post has reported on the project. The story summarizes the project rather quickly and mentions some of its goals, including the aim to increase the university’s supply of graduate housing.

The article also mentions the concern some current business-owners have as to the impact that such a large development may have on the existing downtown:

“One of the goals of this east campus project is to help all of the area,” said John Brown III, who is working with a university committee on behalf of downtown businesses. “It doesn’t benefit if all of a sudden that area becomes a wonderful new town center and we see everything else decay.”

Also in the works, says the article, is some sort of revenue transfer agreement between the University and the City, which no doubt feels entitled to some of the action.

Students who face lines, crowds, and repetitiveness at the current downtown College Park bars have eagerly awaited the opening of The Thirsty Turtle since the beginning of this fall semester. While nobody knows exactly how long that wait will continue, we at least have some idea why it exists.

We have heard from several sources that The Thirsty Turtle has not opened due to a conflict between the bar owners and the owner of the alley behind the property. Apparently the alley-owner will not allow The Thirsty Turtle to open its back doors to the alley. Without this back exit, the bar does not meet the fire safety requirements that would allow it to reach its several hundred person maximum capacity. Rather, with just the front doors accessible in case of emergency, the bar is only allowed to have about 50 people inside at any one time, simply not enough to do business.

Supposedly The Mark is having similar issues, but having its back doors open to the alley would only increase maximum capacity from about 50 to 100. So, The Mark has been able to operate despite the back-door hurdle.

This conflict is unfortunate. Students in College Park frequently decry the lack of bar options downtown, especially compared to other college towns. In addition, some people will go as far as saying that the reduced crowding more bars would likely produce could have a positive impact on the climate in downtown bars.

Maybe the most reviled building in College Park, the University View has been the subject of much criticism ever since its doors opened last fall. Indeed the building is a bit overwhelming, but the benefits of putting 1,100 students right at the university’s front gate are hard to ignore. Also, the complex actually hasn’t been completed yet. Original plans called for a 177,000 square foot office building immediately in front of the View’s Parking garage - aptly named the “University View Overlook”. Since the lot is zoned “mixed use” and falls under the Route One Sector plan, the planned building will come directly up to the sidewalk and include 5,000 square feet of retail on the ground floor.

College Park Planning Director, Terry Schum, told us that there is no timing requirement for building the office complex and since the developer no longer has the university as a potential tenant (they were originally going to lease the space) the project is currently in limbo. And there is always that pesky #1 liquor store…