In a sign of things to come, the Firehouse Lofts also have commercial space for sale.
The newly renovated lofts on Farragut Street have eight residential units for sale as well as a 1,789-square-foot commercial space on the first floor that is selling for $421,000.
The Hyattsville Wire caught up with John Lin, president of CapStar Commercial Realty, which focuses on commercial real estate in the greater Washington area and is a broker for the space. We asked him about the lofts and talked with him about the area in general.
“I went to the University of Maryland, so I know the area,” he said. “They are adding 400 apartments so it will bring close to 1,000 new people into the Arts District. I think this will be pretty attractive for college students and younger families who want to be close to D.C. and they are going to build the rapid-bus system which will take them to the Metro much quicker.”
Lin said the commercial space on Farragut Street is good for general retail like a spa or even a professional office type such as an accountant, dentist or even a pharmacy. He added that since the whole area is becoming more mixed-use, with retail on the lower level and housing above, the developer of the Firehouse Lofts wanted to be consistent with the rest of the area.
When asked about the future of Hyattsville, Lin said he thinks the area will probably take about five years to come to a more mature stage of development.
“It’s not easy to attract high-profile retailers immediately because at this stage it’s not ready for that yet,” he said. “Some have come in but we need more. For example, a Barnes and Noble or some kind of clothing store. Not just eateries so people can truly live, work and play in the area.”
He sees a lot of potential in Hyattsville, especially along Route 1.
“Right now you see transition changes, but in five years it will be more mature and then you will start to see the next phase where developers come in to make a real downtown feel. Because what you see right now are just two- or three-story buildings, but when development is more mature we might see higher structures.”
Lin said Hyattsville is an up-and-coming hotspot like H and Florida in Northeast D.C., unlike the National Ballpark area, which was hot a few years ago, but is now cooling off.
“No one had a purpose to go there unless you were going to a baseball game so it was hard to sustain the traffic, like the National Harbor too, but that’s not the case in Hyattsville. It’s an area on the Route 1 corridor, so it has enough traffic to support the new development with everyday traffic to keep it busy.”
