Crowning a downtown Prince George’s (Silver Spring, Bethesda: 2013, houses, neighborhoods)

[UrbanScholar]

Interesting article. I wonder how successful they will be with this effort and where they will decide it will be.

Establishing a Prince George’s downtown district — a gathering point of dining,
entertainment and shopping — is a smart strategy to create synergy and build
buzz around a specific county location. County officials were undoubtedly
influenced by the success of Montgomery County’s popular Silver Spring model,
which is packed with patrons on a nightly basis.

Gazette.Net: Crowning a downtown Prince George’s

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by UrbanScholar

Interesting article. I wonder how successful they will be with this effort and where they will decide it will be.

Gazette.Net: Crowning a downtown Prince George’s

While the best option of the three, traveling to Hyattsville can be a daunting prospect given the traffic congestion on nearby roads, such as U.S. 1., and there doesn’t seem to be much space for additional growth in the area.

Huh? Have they seen the redevelopment plans for Belcrest Plaza? The Kiplinger project? A UTC that is only 50% complete? The Landy Project next to Northwestern? The tons of empty parking around the perimeter of the mall? I mean how big of a downtown are we talking? That's at least 10,000 more people in the next 10 years all within a square mile and 1/2 mile from the metro.

I think a continuously connected downtown is hard to do without over 100 acres of open land. North County is a unique situation where you have three cities in Hyattsville, College Park, and Riversdale, each with their smaller downtown nodes. Hyattsville may end up with two in the Arts District and surrounding the mall.

If the owners of the PG mall redevelop the 1950s style mall, perhaps a real downtown can be created.

[UrbanScholar]

Originally Posted by adelphi_sky

Huh? Have they seen the redevelopment plans for Belcrest Plaza? The Kiplinger project? A UTC that is only 50% complete? The Landy Project next to Northwestern? The tons of empty parking around the perimeter of the mall? I mean how big of a downtown are we talking? That's at least 10,000 more people in the next 10 years all within a square mile and 1/2 mile from the metro.

I think a continuously connected downtown is hard to do without over 100 acres of open land. North County is a unique situation where you have three cities in Hyattsville, College Park, and Riversdale, each with their smaller downtown nodes. Hyattsville may end up with two in the Arts District and surrounding the mall.

If the owners of the PG mall redevelop the 1950s style mall, perhaps a real downtown can be created.

Good point, there is a lot of infill development that could be done there. I think that they should target three downtown area (one north, central and south). I think the population would be big enought to support that. Montgomery not only has Silver Spring but Bethesda and even Chevy Chase.

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by UrbanScholar

Good point, there is a lot of infill development that could be done there. I think that they should target three downtown area (one north, central and south). I think the population would be big enought to support that. Montgomery not only has Silver Spring but Bethesda and even Chevy Chase.

I see your point. But I think the central and southern centers would take a lot more investment and focus. Arguably what helps PG Plaza and College Park is the university along with M-Square, a growing arts district, and UTC which still has over 1 million sqft of office space. This is all contained within a few square miles.

I guess one could ask do these areas around the university even need support. They seem to be doing pretty well on their own. There is a momentum there that is not seen elsewhere besides National Harbor. The Arts District is coalescing into a pretty virbant district. Albeit a small one and disconnected from both PG plaza and College Park by single family residential areas.

I don't think any current location can be as big as Bethesda or Silver Spring. For the towns around the university existing homes would need to be razed for redevelopment to connect PG Plaza College Park, and West Hyattsville. Interstingly enough, Cafritz, in its current location, would act as a bridge within a primarily single family home sector connecting the Arts District, PG Plaza, College Park.

I keep hearing about New Carrollton, but all I see are roads and warehouses. At least around the metro station. I imagine there would be quite a few over and under passes to get people to and from the metro. Where is the planned core of New Carrollton supposed to be anyway?

Branch avenue is even farther behind in the process. I think it would almost be better just to get transit to National Harbor instead of trying to piece something together at Branch Ave. It's sad, but currently, NH is the most complete downtown in the whole county. It just lacks a full service grocery store. Hmmmmm. Surprised that Whole Foods isn't there right now. But I digress.

[EdwardA]

Which Metro stops would this downtown be based? Naylor Rd, Capital Heights?

[mtbr22]

If they eventually build out the full development at West Hyattsville Metro, then eventually they could start building between that and PG Plaza, although this would involve the demolition of old neighborhoods bordering Queen's Chapel. This would create a rough triangle of development between the two Metro stations and the Arts District.

[UrbanScholar]

Originally Posted by EdwardA

Which Metro stops would this downtown be based? Naylor Rd, Capital Heights

I don't think either of them are options

[justtitans]

I always saw Hyattsville having this potential. It is the closest thing to Silver Spring in PG, it has the infrastructure there already, it is very centralized as far as location and it has a lot of great development in the future. They could make an effort to make the area have a bit more character.

One thing I would add that I think the county is sorely missing out on, is redeveloping Upper Marlboro. Upper Marlboro is indeed small (I'm talking about the area near the court house), but it could be developed similar to how downtown Fairfax City is. Even the older portion of Rockville is a good example too, especially how they developed around it. I think that area has a lot of potential, especially considering how many people work there, or have to go down there on a daily basis.

[Mahatma X]

Hyattsville/PG Plaza area.

[EducatedBro82]

Originally Posted by pgtvatitans

I always saw Hyattsville having this potential. It is the closest thing to Silver Spring in PG, it has the infrastructure there already, it is very centralized as far as location and it has a lot of great development in the future. They could make an effort to make the area have a bit more character.

One thing I would add that I think the county is sorely missing out on, is redeveloping Upper Marlboro. Upper Marlboro is indeed small (I'm talking about the area near the court house), but it could be developed similar to how downtown Fairfax City is. Even the older portion of Rockville is a good example too, especially how they developed around it. I think that area has a lot of potential, especially considering how many people work there, or have to go down there on a daily basis.

I see what you are saying, but with lack of Metro and even some type of nightlife to draw people to drive all the way out there, it isn't likely to be develop. That part of PG is mainly rural.

I see Hyattsville having this true downtown feel. However, Im surprised nobody said National Harbor