Why Route 1 Is Getting Another 7-Eleven

7-Eleven Riverdale Park Maryland Route 1 Baltimore AvenueThe Route 1 corridor will get yet another 7-Eleven, and it’s a good news/bad news kind of development.

The new convenience store at 6315 Baltimore Avenue in Riverdale Park is about a third of a mile north of one in Hyattsville and about a mile south of one in College Park.

On the one hand, that’s not surprising. There are more than 60,000 7-Elevens in the United States alone, and many of them are similarly situated.

The town fought hard against the new store, which it argued did not meet the design specifications of its Mixed Use Town Center standards, even pursuing a judicial review at one point. One major criticism was that the design lacked windows that would make it appear inviting to pedestrians—the developers responded by adding fake windows.

The site, just south of Riverdale Park Station, was previously home to a dentist’s office and, before that, a gas station. Since the new development didn’t increase the square footage dramatically, county planners overruled the town.

While the 7-Eleven is not the kind of new development that residents want to see more of, it’s also worth looking at the bigger picture. The site is too small and nearby traffic too heavy for it to have been much more than a convenience store, and the fact that 7-Eleven wants yet another store in this area is a sign of the growth underway in the area.

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One response to “Why Route 1 Is Getting Another 7-Eleven”

  1. What really angers me is that despite what the town wanted, “county planners” overruled it. Why do they get to decide what we get to do or not do with our municipalities? We should be the arbiters, not them.

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