A well-known developer has proposed new apartments and townhomes for graduate students on a 17-acre site just on the border of College Park.

Rhode Island-based Gilbane Development Co., which is also building the Riverfront at West Hyattsville and another project by the College Park Metro station, is behind the proposal.

Like those two developments, the Western Gateway project would be near mass transit, in this case a stop on the upcoming Purple Line.

The 17-acre project would include 300 apartments aimed at graduate students, 81 townhomes, shops and green space, according to a recent report in the Diamondback.

The land is on unincorporated properties just outside current city limits, behind the Domain College Park, near the roundabout on Campus Drive. It would need to be annexed by the city for the project to move ahead.

The proposal is just the latest sign of how much College Park could grow in the next few years, due to investments by the University of Maryland and construction of the Purple Line.