Mystery of U of M area - College Park/University Park/etc. (Baltimore: apartments, foreclosure)

[Tiger Beer]

Kind of curious about that area...is it mostly just residential with a big university in it? Do most of the students live on-campus or commute from somewhere else by car?

It seems like it COULD be some hangout area for college students...maybe like a potential midwest college town that is generally quite desireable - Ann Arbor, Madison, etc. However, this part of DC seems to be 'undesireable' for whatever reasons.

Just trying to piece together why...

[Nova10]

College Park is mostly about UMD, yes. There's that strip (Route 1) and that's pretty much it. They have ONE chain grocery store, Shoppers Food Warehouse right on the 495 exit and pretty much just the stores along that main road that runs through the town that the university sits on.

Other than that, not much there but residential. It's a tiny town but close enough to other larger towns like Laurel and Greenbelt.

[PGC301]

Baltimore Ave (Route 1) is the main north-south road through College Park. The university takes up most of the areas west of Route 1. Alot of students live on campus, and alot of them live in off-campus housing in College Park.

South of the Baltimore Ave/Greenbelt Road intersection, the city is almost entirely off-campus student housing. There are alot of apartment buildings/complexes, and almost all of the single-family houses are used as group houses for students. There is some retail along Route 1 between Knox Rd and Guilford Rd (restaurants, banks, stores, bars, etc).

North of Greenbelt Rd, there a few apartment buildings (Rhode Island Ave, Cherry Hill Rd) but its mostly single-family houses. There are still alot of students renting them but there are also more families in this part of the city. Again there is random retail and hotels all along Route 1, and a shopping center up by the Beltway with a Home Depot and IKEA.

University Park is south of College Park and in general is a more wealthy area (alot of professors from the school live there, etc). From what I remember, it is entirely single-family residential (no apartments, retail etc). There may be some student housing in UP but not nearly as many as College Park.

[dkf747]

Originally Posted by PGC301

South of the Baltimore Ave/Greenbelt Road intersection, the city is almost entirely off-campus student housing.

Could have fooled me. I used to live south of there and there are quite a few single family homes (with families living in them) there. If you said south of Paint Branch Parkway then you'd be closer to the truth, but even there it is not all student housing.

[PGC301]

You're right, there are definitely more students living in the area south of Paint Branch than north of it, I should have made that clear. There's still plenty of them up there though, especially along Lakeland (except that townhouse complex behind the fire station which I believe is some type of public housing), Berwyn House, etc...

Granted its been a few years since I went to school there, but I remember most of the neighborhoods south of Paint Branch being almost entirely made up of students. West of Route 1 in the "Knox Box" area along Knox Rd, Guilford, etc, I would say that the percentage of non-students is no more than 5-10%. And on the other side of Route 1 (Hopkins, Dickinson, Princeton, etc) it seems like I could count the number of houses that weren't occupied by students on one hand. It's entirely possible though that since I was a student at the time I was spending time in that area, I tended not to notice the non-student housing as much.

[Tiger Beer]

So, PART II.

The houses and affordability issues seem pretty good there compared to other areas in the greater DC area.

Is there a CATCH in there somewhere? Is it just because adults don't want to be around a college campus? Is there a lack of places to go to near there...like some undesireable mall, that people have to drive much further to get to somewhere more pleasant?

There seems to be a subway station right into DC...is it that people don't want to be on the subway going through the 'wrong' side of DC?

Just trying to figure out this area...seems interesting, massive college presense...usually in the Midwest, those areas are considered desirable...but sounds like from a DC/MD perspective, that somehow isn't?

Just trying to figure out why that may be the case...?

[justtitans]

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

So, PART II.

The houses and affordability issues seem pretty good there compared to other areas in the greater DC area.

Is there a CATCH in there somewhere? Is it just because adults don't want to be around a college campus? Is there a lack of places to go to near there...like some undesireable mall, that people have to drive much further to get to somewhere more pleasant?

There seems to be a subway station right into DC...is it that people don't want to be on the subway going through the 'wrong' side of DC?

Just trying to figure out this area...seems interesting, massive college presense...usually in the Midwest, those areas are considered desirable...but sounds like from a DC/MD perspective, that somehow isn't?

Just trying to figure out why that may be the case...?

Well for one College Park is in Prince George's County which has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country and the highest in Maryland. Homes have lost a lot of values in recent years and they never were as expensive as surrounding areas anyway. Montgomery, Howard, Anne Arundel, Fairfax, Alexandria City, Arlington Counties, and DC have always been higher than Prince George's County.

You also have increasing crime in that area. College Park is starting to develop quite a reputation and that maybe scaring off potential buyers.

Overall, believe it or not, College Park is quite expensive for this county. The home are a lot older but it seems that most areas that have comparable properties come much cheaper in this county. If I were considering living up there, I would choose Greenbelt before I chose College Park. There is just too many things going on up there and it is no longer considered a safe place. Greenbelt has a lot of the same things College Park has including a metro station, its not too far away, and its much safer.

[Bigbluelandrover]

I'm from the Midwest-Ohio. Most families do not want to live near a big college campus. My examples are Ohio State, Univ of Dayton and the Univ of Cincinnati. The surrounding areas of those campuses are seen as a bit more urban, robberies and break ins are higher. Criminals target students (and some of the students have sticky fingers too). Campus crowds bring noise, traffic and drunken behavior.

UMD seems a bit tame to me, but then I don't go near the campus at night. I think the perceptions are different because the campus isn't out in the middle of no where. Urban campuses scare some folks.

[dkf747]

Originally Posted by meatkins

.... I would choose Greenbelt before I chose College Park. There is just too many things going on up there and it is no longer considered a safe place. Greenbelt has a lot of the same things College Park has including a metro station, its not too far away, and its much safer.

I always felt safer in CP than Greenbelt, but YMMV, but yeah, there are parts of CP that don''t feel safe.

The station in Greenbelt is not located close to homes in Greenbelt, while in parts of CP you can walk on a walkway to Greenbelt station. In other parts, you can walk to CP station. Greenbelt has apartments near the statiion, but they are crime ridden. CP is better for walkability to Metro.

Most of the time UMD is tame, but watch out when Duke comes to town to play basketball.

[justtitans]

Originally Posted by dkf747

I always felt safer in CP than Greenbelt, but YMMV, but yeah, there are parts of CP that don''t feel safe.

The station in Greenbelt is not located close to homes in Greenbelt, while in parts of CP you can walk on a walkway to Greenbelt station. In other parts, you can walk to CP station. Greenbelt has apartments near the statiion, but they are crime ridden. CP is better for walkability to Metro.

Most of the time UMD is tame, but watch out when Duke comes to town to play basketball.

When I was talking about Greenbelt, I don't mean Berwyn Heights (which is different but sometimes gets grouped as being Greenbelt, i.e. the Beltway Plaza Mall is Berwyn Heights not Greenbelt, but people always say its in Greenbelt), I mean Greenbelt, as beyond Kenilworth Avenue and starting at B-W Parkway, the area close to Cipriano Road and further down. That is what I had in mind when I was thinking of safer. I definitely agree the area around Greenbelt metro is not that walkable, but I just wasn't sure if the OP wanted to walk to a metro station or just be near one to drive to (huge difference).

And as for College Park, I think the safety there is debatable. I think any place that has plans to get a task force, should raise a red flag for anyone, but one could also argue that a lot of the crime that happens there could be prevented by taking measures like not walking alone at night, walking in crowds, etc. etc.