The developers behind a plan to put apartments and shops next to the historic Armory building in Hyattsville are moving ahead.

D.C.-based Urban Investment Partners filed an application for a permit earlier this summer to tear down an area just south of the three-story stone castle at 5340 Baltimore Ave.

When built, the development now known as Hyattsville Canvas would feature 284 apartments as well as 32,000 square feet of retail, including an outdoor eating area and pedestrian plaza in the alley between it and the Armory.

The project was previously known as the Rail Yard Apartments and the Armory Apartments, but the new name reflects its position at the center of the city’s Arts District.

Hyattsville Canvas would be the latest in a series of similar new developments along the Route 1 corridor that include one at 3200 Rhode Island Ave. in Mount Rainier and more apartments at the Station at Riverdale Park including The Pilot House which is now leasing units.

In a recent roundup, D.C. Urban Turf calculated that there are nearly 3,000 new apartments and homes coming to the Route 1 corridor.

The site of the planned Hyattsville Canvas development is where the effort by local firm Green Owl Design, “Fight the Blight,” took place back in 2017.  Urban Investment Partners hired Green Owl to turn the empty buildings there into walls of art.

The site is also where you can still see little reminders of Route 1’s history, like the Blue Bird Cab Co. sign hidden beneath all the overgrown trees.

The area is now fenced off in preparation for the new development.

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