Behind College Park’s New $140 Million Project

Terrapin Development College Park Guilford Road

Developers are moving ahead with a dramatic plan on the former site of the Quality Inn and Plato’s Diner in College Park.

The Bozzuto Group, which is working on the project, recently signed agreements with the city necessary to keep the $140 million project on track.

Aimed at professionals instead of students, the project would include 400 apartments renting at a market rate of $2,300 a month.

It would also include about 73,000 square feet of retail — a little less than half the retail space in the Riverdale Park Station development.

Developers have said they want the site to be similar to the Monroe Street Market in Brookland, which features apartments alongside a Barnes and Noble, Busboys and Poets, Starbucks and other restaurants. They hope to land a grocery store as an anchor tenant.

If successful, the development would go a long way toward making College Park more of a “year-round city,” instead of a college town that essentially shuts down during the summer.

But one issue is exactly what kind of retail would work. As we’ve noted before, there aren’t many shops in Route 1’s new retail developments, just grocery stores, drug stores, 7-Elevensfitness studioshair and nail salons and a growing number of fast-casual restaurants — all businesses that are “Amazon-proof.”

Bozzuto addressed a similar problem at Monroe Street Market with a Barnes and Noble and a bike shop with a coffee bar inside — two options that would appeal to students at nearby Catholic University — as well as a row of artists studios. It may need to be just as creative to make the College Park site work.

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18 responses to “Behind College Park’s New $140 Million Project”

  1. jalisac1989 says:

    So are we getting a Trader Joe’s?

  2. Barbara Runion says:

    Anyone would be a fool to drop $2,300.00 per month for an apartment, especially at this poor location. Apartment dwellers will have noise from cars and trucks day and night driving up and down Route 1. That, coupled with rowdy U of M college students hitting up all the Route 1 bars. The College Park Metro Station is a long ways away. You would have to take the bus or dole out a stiff Metro daily parking fee.

  3. adelphi_sky says:

    The market supports $2,300 per month on RT. 1 when you have apartments in DC for $2,800. Also, there’s the Whole Foods effect. Coupled with a major artery into DC., and bars and restaurants. There are people paying $2,300 in the DC area for less. Road noise? Like the road noise in DC, Bethesda, Rockville, Silver Spring, Crystal City, etc. etc.

  4. Mark Brice says:

    How about a TJ’s? The Route 1 Whole Foods is a total snooze; it would be nice to have something interesting there by way of a grocery store.

  5. Mark Brice says:

    So how about a TJ’s? The Route 1 Whole Foods is a total snooze. Sure would be nice to have an interesting grocery option for a change. (Sorry, Hyattsville Mom’s–interesting, but way pricey.)

  6. Barbara Runion says:

    I don’t know about you, but I lived in College Park. You can’t even campare it to living in D.C. It’s a college town with nothing but wall to wall sleezy bars, fast-food and mediocre restaurants. There is no decent shopping of any kind in this area. Route 1 is a dangerous major tractor-trailer truck route as well as a major East Coast artery. You could never sleep from the 24-hour a day traffic. There is also no view from these apartments except perhaps the dumpsters and rodents from former Plato’s Diner. You are living a pipe dream thinking you can justify $2,300.00 per month living in this low-class blue collar location. You need transportation to even access the College Park Metro Station. Living in D.C. is where it’s at. You’ve got it all!

  7. Tom says:

    What a downer. Pessimism is strong with this. Why don’t you move out and into DC?

  8. Mark Brice says:

    So how about a TJ’s? The Route 1 Whole Foods is a total snooze. Sure would be nice to have an interesting grocery option for a change. (Sorry, Mom’s–interesting, but way pricey.)

  9. Locke says:

    Speaking as someone who does not have blatant anti-College Park bias, i can definitely see why they are building the apartments, though whether $2300 is sustainable is debateable. College Park has so many upcoming changes that you’d have to be living under a rock to not notice by now.

    The apartments would lie between more than sleezy bars and restaurants, a ridiculous assertion. Numerous quality restaurants now lie within one mile of that area (Old Maryland Grill, Busboys & Poets & Burton’s to name a few). IKEA and DC are easily accessible by car or metro shuttle (many apartment buildings offer a free shuttle) as well as a Whole Foods, a soon to come brewery at Riverdale Park Station (short walk away) and most of all the “loudness” of Baltimore ave is offset by the overall sleepiness of College Park— a coveted respite from the hustle of DC. Numerous parks and lakes within walking distance and the cities make it an extremely walkable area. An upcoming purple line adds to the increasing likelihood that College Park and the Route One corridor in general are going to be unrecognizable over the next 10 years.

    I do hope that this will contribute to the already growing trend toward developing a year-round community. I know a more upscale cafe/bar is going up across the street from that location, and Bozzuto has the potential of adding retail more appealing to that crowd as well. And I personally see it as a positive improvement over a burned down diner and a hotel which is literally falling down as I type this. Just my two cents.

  10. Mike says:

    Locke, I like your two cents. I couldn’t have said it any better.

  11. Bob says:

    The Alloy apartments opening soon in College Park have priced its 1,000 sq ft 2 bedroom 2 bath units at $2,700. One bedroom one baths are $1,900.

  12. Barbara Runion says:

    I am 67 years old and lived in Prince George’s County, MD, and neighboring Hyattsville for over 50 years. I also lived in College Park for a number of years. I know College Park better than those of whom criticized my comments on this thread They are truthful. The outside lot of Plato’s Diner was full of large Norway Rats. We saw them and told the Manager who said they were not Plato’s rats, they were the adjoining hotel’s rats. Ha! These rodents are borrowed under the ground of the land parcel designated for the $140 Million apartments. I know College Park inside out and like the back of my hand. You can argue and criticize me all you want, but I know whereof I speak. You can try to paint College Park any way you wish, but my depiction is the real-deal. I don’t wear rose-color glasses. I see it and tell it like it is.

  13. adelphi_sky says:

    You do know there are large rats in DC and NYC, two places where rents are much higher than College Park. I’ve been to Manhattan and saw rats the size of cats. So, I’m not sure rats are an indication of the livability of a place. I’m pretty sure construction will disrupt most of their habitat if what you say is true. If one doesn’t want to see rats, perhaps they should move further away from urban areas where there are less food establishments.

  14. Barbara Runion says:

    Seriously Adelphi_Sky? My point was in response to criticism regarding my comments about shelling out $2,300.00 per month for an apartment built on on the lot of a former greasy spoon with hordes of Norway Rats burrowed underground. That, plus noise from vehicular and truck traffic 24/7 traveling north and south on U.S. Route 1, a major East Coast thoroughfare, wall to wall dive bars and rowdy college kids partying to the wee hours in this blue-collar town, no decent retail and no aesthetics from the windows of these apartments whatsoever. There are no natural areas, recreation or parks for adults and children in this area. You also need transportation to access the metro station in which daily/monthly parking is costly. Hey, if you want to live there, be my guest. BTW, I was born and raised in D.C. from 1951-1960. I worked in downtown D.C. from 1969 to 2013. I know D.C. as well as I do College Park, MD.

  15. Former grad student says:

    What College Park needs is affordable housing for graduate students and junior faculty, who ARE primarily year-round residents.

  16. Bob says:

    New housing will never be “affordable”, without being subsidized. Housing built decades ago will always be more affordable. For graduate housing to be affordable it must be built on university property and be subsidized. The university is very much aware of these issues. I hope they can be tackeled soon.

  17. […] And farther north in College Park, new student housing complexes are being joined by places like Alloy by Alta and a $140 million project on the Quality Inn site. […]

  18. Cee K says:

    B. Reunion,
    Sooo, how long has it been since you’ve been to CP? The Plato’s building is soon to be no more. It’s been closed for a long time, the rats moved on. The apt/retail complex will be built over that land, which means that any remaining rat burrows will be dug up when they dig down for the foundation. The car parts store is also gone. And, surely, the residents could walk the few blocks to the metro- I do (and I live only a few blocks south of this location). Please remember that there is an entrance to the metro down Calvert Rd. No doubt there will also be a shuttle for those that don’t want to walk. Contrary to your statements, there are parks and bike paths in the area.
    Choices of restaurants have improved dramatically in a short time. Hopefully some retail stores will be able to set roots once more professionals move into the area. The changes I’ve seen over the 14 years I’ve lived here have all improved quality of life in CP, except for traffic. But then traffic is bad pretty much everywhere in the DC area. As I said, I live only a few blocks from this location. I can walk to Whole Foods and the Riverdale Station complex, I can walk to the metro, and I can even walk to the university. CP isn’t perfect, but it continues to improve. And, by the way, due to all the trees in the surrounding neighborhoods, the views won’t be bad either. My view to the east is of trees extending out to the horizon- it’s quite lovely. My hope is that CP will acquire a cool college town vibe that is a blend of small shops and restaurants similar to some other college towns or Takoma Park. It will probably end up more like Bethesda or Silver Springs, but that’s not terrible either. Change can be for the better. I do agree that the university needs to help subsidize housing for grad students and new faculty.

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