College Park - News, Events, Updates, Questions and Developments Etc. (Baltimore: best, money)

[hikerMD]

Originally Posted by adelphi_sky

Thank you for sharing! Nice to have you in the forums!

If you thought there was frustration in 2016 when this thread was started, it was worse right after the housing crises in 2008. I'm very glad that College Park and Hyattsville both were able to recover and continue to grow into the great places they were destined to be.

Some of us remember the promise of East Campus back in 2008. Ironic how now there is the Aster south of campus that has a slight town center look and the old East Campus site still just has the hotel and The Hall CP.



https://activerain.com/blogsview/330...-a-town-center

East Campus (current site of The Hotel at UMD) never seemed to get off the ground. I think it went through three iterations and three developers before being abandoned. The article even mentions the Purple Line. Which is a 20+ year endeavor by local transit advocates and multiple administrations. The period a few years ago when the project was halted was very frustrating for a lot of us. Even with a new contractor signed, construction won't resume until next spring. It was supposed to be completed next year. Now it is projected to finish in 2024.

Thank you for the welcome adelphi_sky! And thank you for all your contributions to this forum over the years: you've prompted great discussions and provided great info.


It is a pity what happened to the East campus grand plans because that area still has the best potential for a town center: large undeveloped surface, closer to the center of gravity of CP, and not overwhelmed by student housing around it.


But with the City hall, the Aster, and the Union downtown, the best chance short term for a town center would be redeveloping the shopping center, and I'm glad it was mentioned earlier in this thread that this was a possibility in the past and it may be in the future too. Continuing the Union's Sterling place into a nice, walkable commercial area could be really a boon for downtown CP.


A missed opportunity though is that the Aster focused on Calvert road, which runs East-West, and North-South connections seem to have been an afterthought, so it would make it hard to connect it to a potential continuation of Sterling coming from the Union and the shopping center.


You can see in their detailed plans that there's not even a sidewalk going from the Northern end of the retail to Calvert in the center. And given how ugly that facade is with the large garage opening, I doubt future development in the corner lot will improve the situation. https://klnb.propertycapsule.com/pro.../view/id:33473




As an aside, they already leased two of the small spaces and are negotiating three others. Any guesses/wishes at what these may be? I sure hope we get some cool/useful non-food options like an Apple store or a Zara.

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by hikerMD

As an aside, they already leased two of the small spaces and are negotiating three others. Any guesses/wishes at what these may be? I sure hope we get some cool/useful non-food options like an Apple store or a Zara.

Well, I know that the gym will be a Crunch Fitness. I just hope that It is a Signature Club. PG County has no higher end gym to go to. Gold's Gym is nice. But it would be cool to have an upper tier gym.

An Apple store would be nice. It was hoped that one would open within the Riverdale Park Station development where the Burton's restaurant currently is.

Clothing stores may follow Trader Joe's.

Urban Outfitters was believed to be coming to the development years ago from this old rendering. I hope it is still considered as part of phase two. That would be awesome!

[terp80]

Didn't realize owner/chef of Daikaya and a bunch of other ramen spots in DC is UMD alum. Would be cool if he opened a spot in College Park, need some of these DC restauranters with UMD ties and bonafides in the food and beverage community to open up shop here. Go to other Big Ten cities like Ann Arbor, Columbus, and so forth and the food options are just more variety at all price points.



https://today.umd.edu/a-ramen-fueled-recovery

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by terp80

Didn't realize owner/chef of Daikaya and a bunch of other ramen spots in DC is UMD alum. Would be cool if he opened a spot in College Park, need some of these DC restauranters with UMD ties and bonafides in the food and beverage community to open up shop here. Go to other Big Ten cities like Ann Arbor, Columbus, and so forth and the food options are just more variety at all price points.



https://today.umd.edu/a-ramen-fueled-recovery

I think when these people graduated, College Park was a shell of its former self. Ratsie's anyone? But Lately, College Park has been taken over by tons of Asian restaurants. I would agree that we could use another Ramen spot.

Also, UMD needs to up its game to attract all the UMD alum who are prominent in the restaurant industry. Probably get a nice food hall going.

[hikerMD]

Demolition of the last Knox boxes started today


The Aspen, a set of two 9-story buildings with 2k sqft of retail, will be built in its place



One building abuts Terrrapin row, and the other one is next to the new Hub, whose construction started a bit earlier.

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by hikerMD

Demolition of the last Knox boxes started today


The Aspen, a set of two 9-story buildings with 2k sqft of retail, will be built in its place



One building abuts Terrrapin row, and the other one is next to the new Hub, whose construction started a bit earlier.

Ironic how South campus just blew up big time while East campus languished for so long. South campus will be poppin' in a few years with all the new residences and retail.

[hikerMD]

The new City hall is scheduled to "open" Dec 6. https://www.collegeparkmd.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=295

Do you know what that means exactly? The public plaza is already open, and the "ribbon cutting and dedication ceremony will be held in mid-December". Does it mean that Dec 6 is when you should start going to this address for city business?

Let me say again that I just love this project, a real slam dunk in my opinion. I was reading an old thread where there were some concerns about the City hall taking a prime spot on Baltimore

Originally Posted by Mr Beco

I just hate to see goverment buildings locate in a prime spot, vs a building that could house a small business or a really great store, residences, or other.

I guess at that point it was not clear what the new city hall would look like, but with a public plaza, good looks, and retail, Baltimore is exactly where it should be. Bringing office workers to downtown and showing off to everyone driving down Route 1 that College Park aspires to be a great city will bring benefits to the city long term.

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by hikerMD

The new City hall is scheduled to "open" Dec 6. https://www.collegeparkmd.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=295

Do you know what that means exactly? The public plaza is already open, and the "ribbon cutting and dedication ceremony will be held in mid-December". Does it mean that Dec 6 is when you should start going to this address for city business?

Let me say again that I just love this project, a real slam dunk in my opinion. I was reading an old thread where there were some concerns about the City hall taking a prime spot on Baltimore


I guess at that point it was not clear what the new city hall would look like, but with a public plaza, good looks, and retail, Baltimore is exactly where it should be. Bringing office workers to downtown and showing off to everyone driving down Route 1 that College Park aspires to be a great city will bring benefits to the city long term.

I would assume that offices would be open to the public on Dec. 6th. But if your business is not pressing, I'd wait a little to let them get settled in. But if you just want a tour of the facility, I think you can do it on Dec 6th. Always good to call first.

[hikerMD]

Originally Posted by adelphi_sky

I would assume that offices would be open to the public on Dec. 6th. But if your business is not pressing, I'd wait a little to let them get settled in. But if you just want a tour of the facility, I think you can do it on Dec 6th. Always good to call first.

Thanks! Indeed, you're right.


By the way, the Nov business beat was released. This bit cracked me up and also annoyed me a bit



Both Trader Joe's and Popeyes "rumors" had already been confirmed, but the interesting bit is that TJ will open in the "Spring". Since the Aster opens summer of 2022, I guess this means that TJ will take a page out of Whole Foods playbook and open in the Spring of 2023, spending 9 months preparing the store and personnel. It is a bit disappointing that it'll take so long, especially because TJ is critical to bring vibrancy to the new retail area in Calvert.


Of course, it could also just mean Spring of 2022

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by hikerMD

Thanks! Indeed, you're right.


By the way, the Nov business beat was released. This bit cracked me up and also annoyed me a bit



Both Trader Joe's and Popeyes "rumors" had already been confirmed, but the interesting bit is that TJ will open in the "Spring". Since the Aster opens summer of 2022, I guess this means that TJ will take a page out of Whole Foods playbook and open in the Spring of 2023, spending 9 months preparing the store and personnel. It is a bit disappointing that it'll take so long, especially because TJ is critical to bring vibrancy to the new retail area in Calvert.


Of course, it could also just mean Spring of 2022

Spring of 2023 sounds about right if the project opens in the summer.

Also, IONQ! If you guys haven't gotten in on that now, please do. I invested in it back in October trying to support local business and also quantum computing is just cool! I got in under $10 a share. It is now over $26. Google and Amazon investment is a very good sign.


Congrats to IONQ! And kudos to College Park for making a home for what could be the next Dell, IBM, of HP of quantum computers. Very exciting times!