Elections reshape Route 1 corridor councils

Hyattsville voters chose incumbent interim Mayor and Ward 1 City Councilor Kevin Ward as their next mayor, along with five other City Council members, concluding the spring 2021 municipal election season along the Route 1 corridor, with elections in Mount Rainier, Brentwood, Riverdale Park and University Park taking place the week before. 

The elections brought some firsts, as well. In Hyattsville Ward becomes the first African American man elected to the Mayor’s office. Ward is also the first African American man to serve as Mayor, though he earned that distinction in January when he succeeded former Mayor Candace Hollingsworth, who resigned her seat early to focus on other political ambitions. 

Ward handily beat campaign rivals in Ward Five City Councilor Joseph Solomon and political newcomer Austin Martinez. Ward received 1,606 votes to Solomon’s 823 and Martinez’s 247. With only 500 same-day votes uncounted, Ward’s 783-vote lead over Solomon is more than enough to secure the win.

Mount Rainier, Brentwood, Riverdale Park, University Park voters hit the polls

Consider this Route 1 Reporter’s paean to the elections of the Prince George’s County Route 1 corridor’s smaller towns. Amid an historically-large field of candidates in Hyattsville this year, I was unable to provide the type of coverage I’d like for the other races in the corridor. Still, voters in Mount Rainier, Brentwood, Riverdale Park all have elections that are coming to a close today, May 3, 2021, while University Park will vote the next day. Below, a rundown of the races:

Brentwood

In Brentwood, a rhetorically contentious election pits two slates of candidates against each other. The Fair Leadership slate sees incumbent Mayor Rocio Treminio-Lopez court votes alongside council hopefuls Stefan Leggin, Quianna Taylor and Mary Vechery.

College Park Metro Marriott would have 165 rooms, 8,000 sq. ft. of retail

New details of a planned Marriott Hotel near College Park’s Metro station have come into light as the project seeks county approval for its preliminary plan of subdivision, a procedural step where property lines are redrawn to accommodate  new development. 

Prior documents have revealed the broad size of the project – 126,000 square-feet – planned for a triangular-shaped 2.1-acre parcel bound by Campus Drive, Corporal Frank Scott Drive and Lehigh Road practically across the street from the College Park-University of Maryland Metro Station. The latest filings, to be discussed by College Park City Council at its Nov. 6, 2019, worksession, reveal the hotelier, through Republic Properties Corp. and its holding company New Hotel LLC, plans to build a 165-unit hotel with 8,000 square feet of retail space. 

College Park City Staff recommend City Council issue a letter of support to the Prince George’s Planning Board with some conditions, including improvements to area sidewalks, and the installation of a bus shelter at 50th Avenue and Campus Drive. 

Additional documents on file with county planning officials reveal the footprint of the planned hotel, which will form a kind of boomerang shape with most of the building massed along Campus Drive, north of River Road. The documents also show the developer plans to build a new road through the property, extending River Road across Campus Drive to Lehigh Road. 

A (very pixelated, apologies) diagram showing the proposed footprint of a planned Marriott Hotel developers hope to build near the College Park Metro Station.

Hotel planned near College Park Metro

A public parking lot near College Park’s Metro station could become a Marriott Hotel, if developer plans pan out. Details are limited at the moment. However, according to documents filed with Prince Georges’s County planning authorities, development firm Soltesz LLC has partnered with the hotel chain to develop a hotel with ground floor retail elements at the northwest corner of Campus Drive and Corporal Frank S. Scott Drive in College Park. The northwest corner of that intersection is currently occupied by a drab, lightly-used, public parking lot. The property is currently owned by Prince George’s County, according to state land records.