An award-winning apartment building has opened in West Hyattsville.

Located at 5685 Little Branch Run near the Metro station, Sovren features 293 apartments, including 147 units reserved for residents earning at or below 80% of the area median income.

The five-story building also has 2,500 square feet of retail space and a parking garage with 298 spaces decorated with a mural by Route 1 native Miss Chelove.

In March, the development won Best Residential Development from the Washington Business Journal, which praised its “public art, sustainable Green Building-certification, transit-oriented and affordable housing.” (Atworth in College Park was a runner-up.)

The development was built on a 24-acre brownfield site with funding from an Amazon housing fund and grants from the state and the county.

“With this second collaboration with Amazon, we are broadening access to modern, affordable housing and strengthening the long-term vitality of the region,” said Robert Gilbane, Jr., Senior Vice President at Gilbane Development.

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Purple Line light-rail trains have begun doing test runs near Riverdale Park.

The Maryland Department of Transportation announced Thursday that it has begun “dynamic testing” of the trains on a one-mile test track along Veterans Parkway.

The testing process is expected to take about a year. During testing, the 142-foot light rail vehicles run on the tracks to check mechanical systems such as braking, propulsion and signaling under real-world conditions.

A spokesperson said the Purple Line is about 75 percent completed and expected to open in December of 2027.

Since its launch in 2015, the 16.2-mile light rail transit project that will run through parts of Riverdale Park and College Park has seen construction delays and cost overruns.

But the sight of trains actually running on tracks is the most visible evidence yet that the project remains on track.

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Community Forklift is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year with a number of events.

Located at 4671 Tanglewood Dr. in Edmonston, the nonprofit resells donated housing materials and furnishings.

To mark its anniversary, Community Forklift will be holding monthly events all year as it plans for the future.

In April, it will hold a Garden Supply Pop-Up Shop during regular store hours from April 11-13, with deals on new and gently used gardening supplies and a seed giveaway and plant swap on Saturday, April 11.

In May, June, September and October, it will also bring back its popular First Friday events featuring live music, food trucks, local artists and vendors, a face painter and discounts on secondhand materials, among other things.

Other events — including happy hours at Denizens Brewing Co. and metrobar D.C., anniversary celebrations in October and a Small Business Saturday event in November — are listed on the Community Forklift website.

An RSVP isn’t required for any of the free events, but it is encouraged to help with planning.

Community Forklift is also asking members of the community to share their stories, some of which will be shared on social media and its website.

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A new international market in Hyattsville is importing Nigerian delicacies.

Located at 4802 Rhode Island Ave., in the former auto shop next to Pizzeria Paradiso, Motojesi Foods brings in regional favorites from all over the West African country.

There’s Ofada rice, an indigenous variety grown in the southwest; red palm oil from the southeast; and yellow garri, a type of cassava flour popular in the east, among other staples.

And there’s also Indomie, a type of instant noodles that’s a popular cheap eat.

Owner Adeniyi Motojesi works with farmers in his native Nigeria to buy many of the products in bulk and have them packaged in his store’s own facilities and shipped. He brags that his large boxes of Indomie sell for $13.99, compared to the $25 shoppers may pay at other stores.

But Motojesi also aims high, building out a meat department and having fufu made in Nigeria shipped overnight once or twice a week for immigrants who think the sticky dough dish just doesn’t taste the same here.

The store opened about a month ago, and Motojesi says he’s seeing steady business from African immigrants who have long said they wanted a store that catered to their tastes as well as shoppers passing by who grab a soda or some chips.

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WETA’s “Signature Dish” TV show will air a show in April about Streetcar 82 Brewing Co.

In a special alcoholic drink-centered episode on Monday, April 14, host Seth Tillman visits the Hyattsville brewery as well as Barrel Oak Winery in Delaplane, Va., and Tenth Ward Distilling Company in Frederick, Md.

Previous episodes of the locally produced show have featured Mr. Mush vegan burgers at the miXt Food Hall in Brentwood, Hyattsville’s Chez Dior, Riverdale Park’s 2Fifty Texas BBQ and Mr. Bake desserts and Mount Rainier’s Pennyroyal Station.

Named for the trolley line that used to run through Hyattsville, Streetcar 82 opened in 2018 after a successful Kickstarter campaign.

The 30-minute show premieres at 8 p.m. on Mondays on WETA and then airs several times throughout the week.

After the episodes have aired, they will be available to stream at any time on the PBS app.

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A Bethesda company has bought The Station at Riverdale Park.

First Washington Realty, which owns 142 open-air shopping centers in 22 states, bought the Riverdale Park shopping center anchored by Prince George’s County’s only Whole Foods.

The Station at Riverdale Park, which opened in 2017, was one of the first big mixed-use projects that have dramatically changed the Route 1 corridor in recent years, after the Arts District Hyattsville.

Previously undeveloped land, the development now features restaurants, a food hall, a gym, a bank, apartments, row homes, a pretty nice playground and even a section of the Rhode Island Avenue Trolley Trail.

It currently attracts over 2.3 million visitors each year.

First Washington, which also owns shopping centers in Takoma Park, Falls Church and D.C., indicated that it will be looking to fill the remaining unleased spaces at The Station.

“Our team looks forward to the strategic merchandising and lease-up opportunities at The Station at Riverdale Park,” said Emily Gagliardi, a senior vice president of leasing for the firm, in a statement.

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College Park has been on a building spree over the last decade so intense that it made a list of the top 10 most-changed cities in the country.

As part of a long-term plan to build more student housing, the city has approved several large apartment buildings along Route 1, such as The Varsity and University View, and even projects aimed at graduate students.

One statistic tells the story. In 2013, the median year that a home was built in College Park was 1979. Ten years later, it’s 17 years younger.

That made College Park the ninth most-changed city over that time period, according to data from PropertyShark cited in the New York Times.

Other cities on the list include Hoboken, N.J.; Atlanta and Seattle. Notably, the cities that changed even more include Williston, N.D., where the discovery of oil has transformed the local economy, and Farmers Branch, Texas, a fast-growing suburb of Dallas.

Urban planner Dan Reed noted that a lack of a lack of student housing led to a “tent city” protest in 2007, writing on social media that the growth in housing has made Route 1 “unrecognizable” compared to then.

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