Two new Hispanic markets are now open along the Route 1 corridor, adding to the growing options for local groceries.

Located at 5106 Baltimore Ave. in Hyattsville, next to Arrow Bicycle, Habanero Market has a meat department and fresh produce along with staples like Jarritos sodas, cereal and canned goods.

Owners Ericka and Alex Castaneda told the Hyattsville Wire that this is their first store, but they have experience managing from working at a family grocer store in Baltimore.

“We opened in Hyattsville was because we saw that a lot people would walk in the area and there was no grocery store in walking distance,” Erica Castaneda told the Wire.

It joins Tienda El Quetzal, which opened last year at 3912 Rhode Island Ave., in Brentwood, across from the Brentwood Arts Exchange.

A number of other Hispanic grocery stores are located in Route 1 communities, ranging from the tiny Progreso Market in Hyattsville to an outpost of the popular Megamart chain in Adelphi.

The stores generally serve the 23% of Prince George’s County residents who are Hispanic, mainly from Central American countries such as El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

But their low prices and generous meat and produce selections often prove popular with all kinds of customers.

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College Park is again looking at the damage done to the historically Black community of Lakeland in the 1970s.

The city is paying Columbia University $150,000 for a comprehensive historical record of the community and its destruction.

The one-square-mile area around Lake Artemesia was a thriving Black community until an “urban renewal” program led by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development began systematically tearing down more than 100 houses in 1968.

At the time, residents were told the process would take about five years and that the local high school would be converted into a community center and new single-family homes. None of the promises were kept.

In recent years, the city has commemorated Lakeland with a mural and formed a Restorative Justice Commission to work with former residents.

The research will be done in conjunction with the African American Redress Network at Columbia.

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A Metrobus driver died after a medical emergency that caused a crash at the historic blues barbershop in Riverdale Park.

The F4 bus hit the brick building at 4701 Queensbury Rd., formerly the home of the Archie Edwards Blues Heritage Foundation, around 7 a.m. Friday, going all the way to its back wheels.

It also damaged the building at 6108 Rhode Island Ave., formerly home to Riviera Tapas Bar and S&J Restaurant.

The driver was taken to a hospital, but no passengers were harmed, according to the Washington Post. Authorities have not released the driver’s name.

The blues foundation, named for a legendary Piedmont blues guitarist who ran a barbershop near Mount Rainier for decades, moved from the building in 2019 and now meets at 4502 Hamilton St. in Hyattsville’s Arts District.

A coffee roastery made plans to move into the building that year, but they never came to fruition, and the building is currently vacant. County building inspectors are looking at the structural damage, which appears to be extensive.

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The town of Cheverly has sued the town of Bladensburg over its attempt to annex the site of a long-planned development.

In an 11-page lawsuit filed in Prince George’s County Circuit Court, Cheverly officials are seeking to block Bladensburg from annexing the former site of the Prince George’s Hospital Center and seeking $40 million in compensation.

Since the hospital closed in 2021, the county has planned to turn the 44-acre site into a massive development with more than 1,300 apartments, senior housing, and townhomes, as well as a hotel, 40,000 square feet of shops, and 70,000 square feet of medical centers, and offices.

The county and a developer had long worked on the project with the assumption that it would eventually be annexed by Cheverly.

After Bladensburg began planning to annex the property, a lawyer for the county wrote in a Dec. 6 letter that the proposed annexation “does not comply with Maryland law” because it is not contiguous and adjoining to the town’s current limits.

Cheverly claims in its lawsuit that the annexation could hurt the redevelopment.

“The economic benefit of this development would be in the many multiple of millions of dollars which are now in substantial jeopardy as a result of this illegal action,” the town wrote in its complaint.

Bladensburg officials have long argued that they have the right to annex the site.

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A new pizza place in Brentwood is known for its dough.

Located 3809 Rhode Island Ave. inside the miXt Food Hall, Flames & Cones uses a a 72-hour natural bulk fermentation process with whole wheat flour, which makes the dough more digestible.

Options include standards like a Margherita pizza, meat lover’s and veggie lover’s as well as specials like the Air Force One, which features roasted chicken breast, spinach and red onions on an herbed ricotta dough, and a seafood alfredo pizza.

Flames & Cones also offers a gluten-free and keto-friendly Cauliflower Crust as well as vegan cheese.

For a treat, you can get a Snow Cone or gelato from D.C.-based Gelat’Oh.

Owner Chris Whiting started Flames & Cones as a food truck and storefront located at 6426 Old Branch Ave. in Camp Springs, Md., before opening the spot in miXt.

You can also order online for delivery from the miXt location.

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After two years, a popular Hyattsville park has reopened with all-new playground equipment and seating.

Located at 4203 Gallatin St., next to the Mount Hermon Masonic Lodge, Robert J. King Park was closed since 2022 for major renovations and new landscaping to better handle stormwater.

The park is especially popular with younger students from nearby Hyattsville Elementary School and St. Jerome Academy and families from Hyattsville’s Historic District.

The new playground equipment emphasizes a nature theme, including large rocks with holes drilled so they can be threaded onto a metal sculpture and more wood instead of plastic.

The landscaping has also been redesigned to use native plants to absorb more rainfall and provide a home for birds and other wildlife.

There’s also a long curved reading bench near the park’s Little Free Library set back among trees, shrubs, and signs identifying native plants.

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After years of construction, the Purple Line is starting to take shape as transit shelters have been installed around College Park.

Light-rail stops in the Discovery District business park, at the College Park Metro station and on the University of Maryland campus now have glass-roofed shelters where future riders will wait.

In addition, the College Park Metro station now has seven new glass shelters where bus riders can wait outside of the rain.

Public art is also being installed at the new stops, including a sculpture outside the new Atworth apartment building by the Metro station and colorful glass panels at the stop on Campus Drive at the entrance to the university.

Art is also planned for the Adelphi Road stop, the Baltimore Avenue stop, the Kenilworth Avenue stop and the Riverdale Park North stop.

The 16-mile light rail line is currently scheduled to open in late 2027.

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