Rethink College Park

A small group of city officials and citizens gathered at the Greenbelt Metro station this morning to observe a balloon demonstration intended to provide residents with a way to gauge the potential impact of the Greenbelt Towne Center project. According to the latest plans provided to demonstration attendees, the current proposal includes over a dozen buildings ranging up to 18 stories. The demonstration included 6 balloons, designed to provide a sense of size to neighborhood residents. The entire complex will include over 2 million square feet of retail and office space, two 150 room hotels, over 1,200 residential units, and a whopping 14,000 parking spaces. The project also includes a section containing townhomes now under construction south of the station along the railroad tracks.

In the photo above, city staff and residents stand in the backyard of city Councilmember John Krouse, who is concerned about the increased density of the project. The view from his backyard (seen below) directly overlooks the Metro and project site. Krouse and other neighborhood residents object to recent changes to the plan that has introduced two 12-story buildings immediately at the Metro Station, instead of making those buildings four stories and “stepping up” to the taller buildings farther into the site.

As we have previously reported the plans we have obtained show the project will contain a one acre park at the exit of the station, and will involve reconfiguring the ramps connecting it to the beltway. Click here for a closer look at the open space site plan shown below.

More images from the balloon demonstration and related to the project are available here.

The developer for the Greenbelt Station project will be conducting an exercise using balloons this Saturday at 8:00 a.m. to demonstrate the height of the buildings planned. The project, which we described last week, includes 2,000 townhomes now under construction and a mixed-use complex of offices and shops located at the Greenbelt Metro Station. The demonstration was planned after local citizens expressed concern about the height of the project. Joe from the the College Park Observer has reprinted a letter from College Park City Councilmember John Krouse, where the councilmember explains his concerns with the project, which has been approved by County officials. Join us at this demonstration to learn more about the project.

Update: We just heard the developer will give a presentation at 8:00 a.m. outside the Metro’s East entrance

We stumbled across this early rendering of the 8400 Baltimore Avenue project directly north of the 16-story University View that we first reported on in early December. As proposed it would be a 12-story (4 parking, 8 residential) condominium tower with 301 units and 14,000 square feet of retail fronting Route 1. Koons Ford would remain at its current location in the middle of the “L” shaped building. According to county documents, it will be named “Raymond Towers”. The City Council gave the project a lukewarm reception in December and again earlier this month. Their opinion counts strongly, but is not the final word. If built, it will likely carry a substantial owner occupancy requirement (interesting discussion on this) and be marketed as luxury condominums. More to come on this project as details and new renderings become available.

After significant digging this is the information we have come up with:

The Mazza Grandmarc is a proposed four to five story 231-unit (630 bedroom) student housing project (here) that received preliminary approval in November 2004 and final approval from the PG County Planning Commission in May 2006. It would have been exclusively reserved for UMD graduate students with undergrads filling any vacant beds. County Councilman Dernoga (in who’s district the project would reside) exercised his right (in late May 2006) to have the project reviewed before the County Council and as yet the case has gone unheard. The project would be located in North College Park, provide a bike path to the Paint Branch Trail, convey 6.5 acres of parkland to the county, and would contract with Shuttle UM to bring students to the university. It also contains retail that fronts Route 1.

Mr. Dernoga is barred by a county rule from talking with us, since he may eventually hear/vote on the case. From what we can surmise, Mr. Dernoga disagrees that the developer should be eligible for a $1.7 million fee waiver ($7,000 per unit) that student housing within 3 1.5 miles of the university is legally eligible for. The principle behind the impact fee waiver is that since student housing (for university students) doesn’t burden the local public school system (few student have children), student renters shouldn’t have to foot the bill for local public school construction. This fee waiver is apparently essential for the financing of the project.

The City of College Park, the North College Park Citizens Association, and the university are all in support of the project. As we’ve reported in the past, UMD lags far behind its peer institutions in terms of graduate housing and the City of College Park has had real difficultly in holding on to graduate students. UMD maintains a private partnership with Southern Management Company that guarantees 476 units (740 bedrooms) in Graduate Gardens and Graduate Hills for Graduate students and their families. While the Mazza Grandmarc project will not be “University-Provided Housing” it will nearly double the amount of beds guaranteed to UMD grad students.

The following is from an extensive report that examines the dearth of guaranteed graduate student housing in College Park:

Rarely will we take a strong editorial stance on a project. In this instance we must: Any further delay of this project by the County Council is absolutely unacceptable and completely at odds with College Park’s aspirations to be a vibrant, dynamic city.

Read the Mazza Grandmarc:

>>Preliminary Plan

>>Detailed Site Plan

Thanks to the wintery weather outside, the University of Maryland will be closed today, Wednesday, Feb. 14th. Prince George’s County Public Schools are also closed, and most Washington-area schools and other institutions are either closed or operating under a delay. For the latest weather-related announcements from the university, bookmark the weather alert page.

We often use one word to describe the amount of development coming to College Park - “staggering“. Yet while driving down Route 1, not one crane can be seen nor construction project underway. Even on campus, the recent building frenzy seems to have trickled to a halt among higher bond prices and tightening state purse strings.

We were able to find one project physically underway at the university’s M-Square (our recently updated library page) Research park next to the CP Metro Station. The building is one of 3 planned and approved that will look similar to the rendering below. A fourth building, NOAA’s beautiful Center for Climate and Weather Prediction, is scheduled to open in February 2008, but has not begun construction despite several “ground breakings.”

We also uncovered a aggressive proposed phasing plan for the university’s landholding around the Metro Station (below). Much of it is planned to be office space with a decidedly suburban office park character. This massive amount of office space is sure to sap up a lot of the market for office space in College Park (over the next 15 years?). At the same time, it’s important to remember that many of the tenants of these offices wouldn’t be here in the first place had it not been for the draw of the research park and the need for some firms to locate next to firms in the same (or closely related industries). Put more simply - the private market doesn’t build research parks by itself.

There is some housing proposed at the far southwest in addition to a major condo project planned for the WMATA parking lot (seen in yellow). We like the connection to the Anacostia Tributary Trail system, but eventually it will be necessary to have a meaningful pedestrian link under the Metro tracks towards campus.

Yesterday, the Graduate Student Government joined with the undergraduate SGA in support of the Purple Line in recognition of the enormous benefit the project will bring for students. The GSG’s resolution also recognized that “light rail technology has a strong record of promoting compact, pedestrian-oriented revitalization” and stated the tremendous importance of the project for the East Campus Development. Students organizations are just one of an expanding list of groups that support the project - including the UMD administration, the City of College Park, and the unanimous backing of all Prince George’s and Mongomery County councilmen.

Support for the Purple Line seems to be at an all time high, yet last year’s election frenzy over the project seems to have quickly dissipating among the realities of the state budget. The project (formerly know as the Bi-County Transitway) has an estimated price tag upwards of $1.3 billion. This in the face of of a $0.9 billion state transportation shortfall over the next 5 years and $13.5 billion over the next 20. Not only is the Purple Line competing against several major transportation projects statewide, but federal assistance will be awarded competitively on a nationwide basis. According to acting state Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari, “We have a very ambitious transportation program, and we know, given the current revenues, that we can’t fund it.”

How can such a funding gap be bridged? The Gazzette published some state number crunching that could conceivably make the project a reality.

Note: The picture above is from a real light rail in Shaker Heights, OH. No Purple Line alignment proposes track across the UMD Chapel field nor in any location that will significantly impact exisitng CP neighborhoods. See the CP alignment here.

Wednesday night’s City Council Meeting was choc full of development issues. Briefly, here’s what you missed if you didn’t want to brave the cold (or turn on your TV).

–> The council indicated their initial satisfaction of the proposed 220 unit College Park West Development on the Lasik’s site. JPI, the developer, had the blessings of a community group who appreciated JPI’s improved community cooperation since their last project (Jefferson Square) across the street.

–> The council approved, with some minor conditions, a 4-5 story office building at 9909 Baltimore Ave. The site tucked in an odd place, but we still think it’s a shame it turned out to be such a standard office park and won’t be prominent from Route 1. (kind of like the M-Square project which the city is so quick to criticize). Granted M-Square is adjacent to the metro and the 9909 site is on the beltway.
–> District 1 councilman Krouse (see his letter to the community) tussled with the developers of the massive (we covered it yesterday) Greenbelt Town Centre project at Greenbelt metro station. Many were outraged to hear the potential of a 18 story building and the developer now plans “balloon tests” in the coming weeks to demonstrate the scale of the project to nearby North CP neighborhoods. This new revelation comes after over 7 years of planning. The developers were challenged to find another example in the DC area where a single family home community was subjected to such high density by a WMATA redevelopment.

–>Otis Warren of the University View came in for a chat over a number of things. He repeated his intention to complete the project as originally proposed (see image to the right) although he’s holding out the possibility that the building proposed for the grassy area in front of the University View may end up being more student housing or a hotel instead of the originally proposed office building. He guessed about 350 student beds could fit in the project should it go forward. Retail would still front Route 1 on the ground floor.
Warren expressed surprise that the council had reservations about his proposed 12-story condo at 8400 Baltimore Ave given their friendly reception to it in December. He also disclosed a failed deal with the university to build a garage and grad school housing on campus on lot 11 directly behind the View. While not binding, the campus master plan envisions that lot for a mega parking garage.
We’ll defer to the Diamonback’s article about a number of interesting quotes on this and other topics, which some at the meeting probably didn’t want reprinted.