$75,000 College Park Grant Brings Shop Made in D.C. to New City Hall

College Park will give a $75,000 grant to help a retailer build a store in its new, soon-to-open mixed-use City Hall. 

Development notes: Three major Route 1 projects moving through pipeline

A trio of major real-estate development projects – two in Hyattsville and one in Greenbelt – are making their way through Prince George’s County’s development review process. For starters, developers have submitted detailed site plans for approval by Prince George’s County planning authorities for a 350-unit multifamily building near the Greenbelt Metro and the intersection of Cherrywood Lane and Edmonston Road. Route 1 Reporter first wrote about this project back in July, when the developers were seeking approval of their preliminary plan of subdivision, a procedural step where property lines are redrawn or consolidated to accommodate new development. The preliminary plan was approved by planning officials last week. For developer NRP Group LLC, a new face in the D.C. development scene, the project is only its second in region. NRP Group LLC is a large Cleveland-based developer, property management and real estate investment company with a large portfolio.

Metro reveals new details of controversial College Park land sale

The controversial – and not-yet realized – sale of a Metro-owned plot of land on Route 1 is part of a larger effort by the regional transit agency to capitalize on its property assets. This week, officials with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Administration revealed they hope to sell several property holdings spread across the region. The new information provides additional context for a College Park neighborhood association’s opposition to potential development of a WMATA-owned wooded tract of land immediately north of Riverdale Park Station under which Metro’s Green Line travels between Prince George’s Plaza and College Park Metro stations. WMATA announced this week it hopes to sell eight properties spread across the greater D.C. region. They are as follows, taken right from WMATA’s press release:

Baltimore Avenue, College Park, Maryland

Parcel is located at the intersection of Baltimore Avenue and Albion Road and adjoins the Riverdale Park Station residential and retail complex anchored by Whole Foods

Southern Avenue Metro Station Parcels, Temple Hills, Maryland

Two parcels adjoining the Southern Avenue Metro Station on the Green Line

Glenmont Metro Station Parcel, Silver Spring, Maryland

Parcel adjoins the Glenmont Metro Station west entrance on the Red Line

9400 Lottsford Road, Largo, Maryland

Parcel is ¼ mile from the University of Maryland Capital Region Medical Center, in construction, and the Largo Town Center Metro Station on the Blue and Silver Lines

Branch Avenue Metro Station, Suitland, Maryland

Parcel is across the street from the Branch Avenue Metro Station on the Green Line

5708 Vine Street, Alexandria, Virginia

Pad site just off the intersection of Eisenhower Avenue and South Van Dorn Street

7100 Chestnut Street, Washington, DC

Single family lot

1100 Park Road NW, Washington, DC

Corner lot at the intersection of Park Road, NW and 11th Street, NW

12415 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, Maryland

Pad available for ground lease only next to the Glenmont Metro Station east entrance.

Property Notes: Riverdale apartments sell for $8.4 million; Greenbelt Station gets new neighbor

Hundreds of renters in Riverdale Park have a new owner as multiple apartment complexes trade hands in a single transaction. A bit further north, a court auction results in the sale of industrial land near Greenbelt Station. For different reasons, they are two notable commercial real estate transactions to enter the record from the past quarter in Prince George’s County’s Route 1 communities. River Crossing Apartments go for $8.4 million

A number of apartment properties traded hands for a cool $8.4 million in a sale recorded late November in Riverdale Park. All of the properties in the transaction neighbor each other, located at 5610, 5609 and 5505 54th Avenue in Riverdale Park.

A large suburban strip mall is seen from above, at an angle. A sidewalk of street-facing retail, including a Shoe Show store, can be seen across a small two-lane circulator roadway.

Beltway Plaza update: Hearing pushed back as Greenbelt Council weighs proposal

While there are concerns about density and other issues, Greenbelt’s City Council seems cautiously supportive of a proposed redevelopment for Beltway Plaza. The six-phase plan would add between 175 and 250 townhomes or quadplex units, between 875 and 2250 multi-family units, and replace the 800,000 square-foot central mall with between 435,000 and 700,000 square feet of commercial retail space to the Greenbelt Road property. 

On Jan. 11, 2019, representatives from the city of Greenbelt and the mall’s owners, Bethesda-based Quantum Cos., briefly met with the Prince George’s County Subdivision Design Review Committee to discuss the proposed redevelopment. Nothing major came of the meeting, aside from the rescheduling of a Planning Board hearing for the proposed redevelopment to March 14, 2019, to give city officials there time to consider whether or not to support the proposal. Greenbelt City Council is tentatively scheduled to consider and vote on such a resolution at its Feb.