RT. 1 Between College Park and Hyattsville Set To Look Very Different in 3 years. (Greenbelt: neighborhoods, new construction)

[Mr Beco]

Originally Posted by NJ2MDdude

I remember when Ratsie's first opened in the early 1980s. My former classmate from UMCP worked there part-time. The pizza used to be very good, but not as authentic/good as Mama Lucia (defunct pizza parlor once located at PG Plaza), until the current owner bought the establishment. The building was once occupied by a head shop. In fact there were a string of head shops at that corner.

Apparently, Blaze Pizza is there, just opened. I wonder if it will be a hit with the students.

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by NJ2MDdude

The pizza used to be very good, but not as authentic/good as Mama Lucia (defunct pizza parlor once located at PG Plaza),

You sure that Mama Lucia is defunct? One is located in College Park in the College Park Marketplace. that food is AWESOME! Pricey, but worth it.

[Catcprtc]

The garage cost $9 million for almost 300 spaces plus a 5800 square foot shell for a business. That doesn't count the high land cost either. The City could have spent less for a less attractive garage. Parking at 75 cents an hour doesn't recover the cost of providing structured parking even if the garage was 100% full, 24/7.

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by Barry Rock

I am curious to see how the Book Exchange goes, the hotel and of course, Knox box. Perhaps it will all blend together.

I too am interested in how it all blends together as well. I do like the fact that the city is growing block by block and not by whole town centers like in Silver Spring. Every block will be unique.

There is also another development that will be built in the Applebee's parking lot.

[RickyRoma]

Adelphi - what's the deal with that project? It is never listed in the college park development updates. Is it still happening and if so, when are they supposed to break ground?

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by RickyRoma

Adelphi - what's the deal with that project? It is never listed in the college park development updates. Is it still happening and if so, when are they supposed to break ground?

You know, that's a good question. perhaps the owners, JBG, haven't submitted any paperwork yet. They have it on their site, but it doesn't appear as if they've engaged the city. Also, there's no mention of it in any PG development docs. Weird. Perhaps it's a red herring in that they just left it up on their site even though they are not pursuing it. But there's no news even about them doing that. So, who knows?

JBG also owns the ford property which has still not broken ground yet. Perhaps we'll here some news next year about it. They did update their delivery date from 2015 to 2016. So, perhaps they are allowing time for the process to begin.

[adelphi_sky]

If you have time, take a drive along Baltimore Avenue by the new Whole Foods in Riverdale Park. All of the trees have been removed and you can see the entire construction site from the road now. They have already started on other buildings.

[NJ2MDdude]

Originally Posted by adelphi_sky

You sure that Mama Lucia is defunct? One is located in College Park in the College Park Marketplace. that food is AWESOME! Pricey, but worth it.

The original Mama Lucia was located at PG Plaza. It faced East-West Highway at the western most mall entrance near the Old Woodies store. It was owned by an Italian who employed Italian immigrants to make pizza. This restaurant was nothing more than a pizza parlor. It didn't have half window curtains, nice linen and fancy menu items like the one at the College Park Marketplace. But it did have great pizza. Unfortunately it closed down in the early to mid 1980s.

[NJ2MDdude]

Originally Posted by NJ2MDdude

I remember when Ratsie's first opened in the early 1980s. My former classmate from UMCP worked there part-time. The pizza used to be very good, but not as authentic/good as Mama Lucia (defunct pizza parlor once located at PG Plaza), until the current owner bought the establishment. The building was once occupied by a head shop. In fact there were a string of head shops at that corner.

Actually Ratsie's was called Tartarugas before the Indian guy bought it. He must've used low quality ingredients because his pizza really sucked. It was worse than the pizza at Purple Pizza.

[soug]

Originally Posted by NJ2MDdude

Actually Ratsie's was called Tartarugas before the Indian guy bought it. He must've used low quality ingredients because his pizza really sucked. It was worse than the pizza at Purple Pizza.

He's not Indian, he's (I think) Iranian. Nobody ever accused Ratsies of being good but late at night after the bar it was where you got pizza. It was definitely a CP cultural institution and a big part of my college experience, I'm sorry to see it go.