Another national real estate developer is looking to provide more student housing and high-end shops in College Park.
South Carolina-based Greystar Real Estate Partners, which manages $26 billion worth of apartments and student housing, received preliminary support from the College Park City Council for a plan to build 341 student apartments and 30,000 square feet of shopping.
The project would require demolishing existing shop space just off Route 1 currently home to Krazi Kebab, Marathon Deli, a UPS store, a 7-Eleven, Café Hookah, Kevin Nails, Lotsa Pizza, Insomnia Cookies and C.B. Chinese Grill, according to the Diamondback.
The proposal is the latest sign of how successful the University of Maryland’s long-term plan to turn the former commuter school into a great college town has been, as well as how lucrative the student housing market has become.
Last year, an investor in the United Arab Emirates bought the Towers at University Town Center in Hyattsville, popular among students at Howard University, for $69.5 million and spent $5 million on upgrades.
One risk is that the redevelopment may squeeze out locally owned businesses. Other than Lotsa Pizza, Insomnia Cookies, the UPS Store and the 7-Eleven, the other shops are all small businesses that may not be able to afford the rising rents including long-time establishments like Marathon Deli, which has been a part of the College Park community for over 30 years.
Though College Park Mayor Patrick Wojhan said, according to the Diamondback, that the developer is working with the businesses that currently call the shopping strip home to help them set up shop again once the project is completed.
Greystar, meantime, has indicated that the apartments may go for as much as $1,500 a bed.
Affordable housing is coming. We promise. But in the meantime, let’s keep building these $1500-2000/ unit rentals.
Why can’t the University only admit only students from poor families who can”t afford these rents? Then developers would now to stay away from College Park!
Yeah… I guess that’s the direction my comment was pointing in. The level of discourse on these local sites is troubling. Misspelled words, poor punctuation and a lack of critical reading skills abound.
Oh sure, every great college town I have seen is a sea of chain restaurants and high density apartments. Let’s push out local businesses so we can have more chain sandwich shops underneath while piling more kids into overpriced shoeboxes right on Rte1. Great plan!
“The proposal is the latest sign of how successful the University of Maryland’s long-term plan to turn the former commuter school into a great college town has been, as well as how lucrative the student housing market has become.”
The above quote is troubling. Is the definition of a college town now a place where there’s nothing but unaffordable housing for students, generic retail, and restaurants that believe a $10 to $12 lunch (without a drink) is a bargain? It’s only a matter of time before Route 1 is unrecognizable and the quirks that made it special–the art scene, the independently-run stores, the unique restaurants–will be gone. What’s the point? Turning it into D.C. adjacent?