College Park approves developer tax cut waiver for ‘ineligible’ projects

College Park City Council appears set to grant a student-housing development a tax cut the project was once ineligible for.

Downtown College Park retail could become 175-unit mid-rise apartment building

A prime downtown College Park block could transform from a single-story strip of retail to a mid-rise multi-story mixed-use apartment complex, but only if the developer’s rezoning dreams come true. The developer in question is Richard Greenberg’s Greenhill Companies, whose subsidiaries Terrapin Main Street LLC and Carrol Investors have assembled a block of adjoining properties on the southeastern corner of Baltimore Avenue and Hartwick Road. Under Greenberg’s conceptual plans, the 17,000 square-foot site would be redeveloped with 13,000 feet of ground floor retail topped with 150 to 160 apartments. Greenberg has asked Prince George’s County planning authorities to rezone the entire site to mixed-use-infill. In order to obtain a rezoning, he has to get a conceptual site plan approved.

Planned Beltsville Treasury facility raises environmental concerns

Concerns about polluted creeks, increased car traffic, and loss of wildlife habitat dominated a public hearing on a Treasury Department proposal to build a 1 million square-foot cash factory on the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center. 

“This project is sited in the wrong place,” said Greenbelt City Councilor Rodney Roberts during the meeting. “It should not be on BARC at all.”

The virtual hearing was hosted Dec. 2, 2020, by representatives from the Department of Treasury’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the government office in charge of the production of U.S. coins and cash. The public meeting is part off a mandatory environmental review process for new federal facilities. More specifically, the meeting sough comment on a draft environmental impact report prepared for the project. 

The Proposal

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing wants to build a 1 million square foot cash production facility at a 104-acre tract of land along Poultry Road between Odell Road to the north and Powder Mill Road to the south.