Berwyn Heights
A small storefront is seen at night, it features a column of rainbow-colored bricks. The inside is brightly lit, seen through large windows next to a far door.

Reporter’s Notebook: Good news for Mt. Rainier library; College Park fee review; Berwyn Heights tweaks charter

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I hope you all had a warm and wonderful snow-filled weekend. Here’s hoping it doesn’t put too much of a damper on your early-week plans. Word on the street is most Route 1 communities reported few issues with snow clearance. It always helps matters when the snowstorm is on a weekend. From Route 1 Reporter’s world headquarters in Berwyn, crews were seen at all hours working city and state roads alike.

College Park

To block development, group wants College Park to buy Route 1 Metro property

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Just north of Riverdale Park Station, a wooded tract of land sits for sale. On state property records, its listed at 4535 Albion Road. If you’ve ever driven between College Park and Hyattsville on Baltimore Avenue, you’ll recognize it by the grove of bamboo that fronts the eastern edge of the roadway. It is owned by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which purchased the land for just under $432,000 in 1989 as it prepared to construct Metrorail’s Green Line out to Greenbelt. Underneath, tunnels carry trains between College Park and Prince George’s Plaza Metro stations. WMATA has recently listed the 12-acre property for sale.

College Park

Analysis: In UMD golf course debate, open space matters. So what is open space?

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In the contentious debate over a proposal to build athletic field facilities on the University of Maryland Golf Course, defenders of the links have settled around two rhetorical framing devices. One is concerned with maintaining the golf course in its present operational state: 18 holes and a driving range with easy access to and from the clubhouse. But another, broader argument is concerned with preserving the golf course as a source of “open space.” This argument is frequently employed by nearby non-golfing residents who oppose redevelopment of the course. This argument is a tool, one that indicates to others why they should value the presence of a golf course in their neighborhood, despite perhaps not golfing themselves.

Adelphi

UMD golf course update: Administrators asked to study alternatives

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University of Maryland officials have been instructed to more closely analyze alternatives to a proposal to build new athletic facilities on the campus golf course. This is the result of a closed-door meeting of the University of Maryland’s Facilities Commission, according to College Park city officials. University officials did not respond to multiple requests for more information on the results of the meeting. The decision to study alternatives was made less than a week after College Park City Council demanded such a study in a letter that expressed concern about the proposal, falling short of explicitly opposing it. The move gives some breathing room for those opposed to redevelopment of the golf course.

College Park

Concerned, but not yet opposed: UMD Golf Course proposal splits College Park Council

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Correction: This article has been updated to correct an error that misattributed votes by Councilors John Rigg and Robert Day.College Park City Council, with Mayor Patrick Wojahn in the tie-breaker role, voted five-to-four to send a letter outlining serious concerns with, but not-yet opposition to, a controversial proposal to build intramural fields on the University of Maryland Golf Course. Minutes earlier, Wojahn cast a similar tie-breaking vote to defeat a motion to send a letter to university officials explicitly in opposition to the proposal. The votes disappointed dozens of city residents in attendance who encouraged City Council to flatly reject the proposal during debate over the issue at its Dec. 11, 2018 meeting. The proposal now heads to the University of Maryland’s Facilities Council, which will consider the proposal at a closed-door meeting scheduled for Dec.

Berwyn Heights
Cars drive along a moderately-congested Greenbelt Road, a six-lane suburban throughway overlooking a green horizon.

With Beltway Plaza redevelopment in play, a new vision for Greenbelt Road emerges

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As long-term plans to redevelop Beltway Plaza gain inertia, economic development and planning officials are developing planning and policy strategies to reshape Greenbelt Road to be a more pedestrian, cyclist and transit-friendly corridor. Guiding those actions for now is a report compiled over the summer by the Urban Land Institute, released October 2018. 

“The Greenbelt Road corridor is at a crossroads. Like many suburban commercial areas, it has lost some business to newer, outlying shopping centers and grapples with some disinvestment and traffic congestion,” reads the report. “Many community members express a desire for a greater variety of retail, but there is no singular vision for how the area can attract that.” The full report can be read here.

Business
A partly-cloudy winter sky hovers over Riverdale Park Station at dusk, seen looking west from the Van Buren Street overpass. In the foreground, the concrete bridge platform curves away from the viewer, leading the eye to an unadorned concrete structure in the center of the photograph. This is the parking garage. It is flanked by rows of townhomes. A white sports utility vehicle is seen on the bridge, driving eastbound.

Cafritz phase II takes first step; 600+ apartments in review

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A long-planned but yet-to-be approved proposal to build hundreds of apartments at Riverdale Park Station – also known as the Cafritz Tract – is now in the earliest phase of Prince George’s County’s development review process. According to Henry Zhang, master planner in the Prince George’s County Planning Department, developers Calvin Cafritz Enterprises have submitted plans to build two apartment buildings for pre-application review. In this stage, county planning staff reviews prospective development applications before officially accepting them for public review in order to give developers feedback on issues that may arise and to avoid a time crunch. Once an application is formally submitted and accepted, the clock starts ticking on a mandatory maximum 70-day review period. During that period, County planners will solicit feedback from residents and nearby city councils before the application is considered by the Prince George’s County Planning Board.

College Park

Biznotes: University View breaks records with sale; Tech firm picks College Park

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The University View student apartments in College Park have sold for $235 million, a record-breaking transaction. The property was previously owned by Greystar Real Estate Partners LLC and Rockpoint Group, which acquired the property in 2016 for $114.7 million.Property records for the sale have not yet been processed and the buyer was not disclosed in the announcement. The sale is believed to be the highest-priced single-asset student housing transaction in U.S. history. University View is a 1,570-bed, 507-unit, two-building mixed-use student housing facility with nearly 9,220 feet of retail space. It is located across Paint Branch from the University of Maryland at 8204 Baltimore Ave. in College Park.

Berwyn Heights

Beltway Plaza mall mixed-use redevelopment in the works

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UPDATE – Dec. 11, 2018, 5 p.m. – The conceptual site plan for the proposed redevelopment of Beltway Plaza was accepted for review by county planning officials Dec. 10, 2018, kicking off a 70-day review timeline. Proposals to redevelop Beltway Plaza Mall into a mixed-use, open-air neighborhood with homes, offices and retail are moving forward. Renderings of the conceptual redevelopment proposal are embedded below this article. Officials with Quantum Companies, the Bethesda-based company that owns the mall, have submitted paperwork with the Prince George’s County Planning Department seeking approval of redevelopment plans that would allow residences to be built behind the mall along Breezewood Drive.

College Park

Council rundown: College Park City Hall takes shape; Term committee created; UMD golf course update

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College Park’s City Hall could be replaced by a multifaceted four-story building overlooking a corner plaza at Baltimore Avenue and Knox Road, according to conceptual design details unveiled Tuesday evening. The presentation was conducted by Scott Vieth, principal at Baltimore-based Design Collective, the architectural design contractor hired for the project. It occurred during College Park City Council’s regularly-scheduled Nov. 21, 2018, legislative meeting, and reviewed findings gathered in public feedback sessions. Vieth said residents wanted a city hall that was inviting and which provided multiple ways to approach it.