Construction has begun on the Residences at The Six, a new mixed-use development at University Town Center in Hyattsville.

Located at 6400 America Blvd. just off East West Highway, the $110 million building will feature 316 apartments, 2,052-square-feet of ground-level retail and a 276-space parking garage.

According to the developers, Perseus TDC, the Residences at The Six will be the first apartment complex in Prince George’s County to be certified Gold under the National Green Building Standard and will feature all native plants and Energy Star appliances.

Five percent of parking spots will be reserved for electric car charging stations.

Amenities include a two-level fitness center and yoga studio, a coworking space, a courtyard and rooftop entertaining area, a dedicated pet spa and a top-floor pool.

At least three-fourths of the units will also be reserved for families earning less than $2,500 a month.

The development is expected to open in the summer of 2024.

The project is the latest apartment building located within the crucial half-mile around the Hyattsville Crossing Metro station, previously known as Prince George’s Plaza. Another project is planned for the former site of the J.C. Penney’s at the Mall at Prince George’s.

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Crews continue to pick up dozens of downed trees and work to restore power after a severe thunderstorm on Tuesday evening blew through several communities along the Route 1 corridor including College Park, Berwyn Heights and Greenbelt.

A storm that extended from Tennessee to Maine hit three towns on the corridor particularly hard with hail hitting Berwyn Heights, high winds uprooting trees and splitting a College Park home in the 5000 block of Lakeland Road down the middle.

The winds, which were recorded as high as 90 mph in College Park, also knocked out power lines, leaving more than 44,000 customers in Prince George’s County without electricity. As of Thursday evening, more than 10,000 were still without power.

These straight-line winds, caused by air being dragged along with precipitation, have the same force as a low-end EF-1 tornado but without the rotation.

The storm left only about a half-inch of rain, but there were reports of quarter-sized hail.

Prince George’s County Fire and Emergency Medical Services received 360 calls for service as a result of the storm, and the University of Maryland suspended in-person classes on Wednesday as campus crews cleaned up damage.

This Pepco outage map shows communities along the corridor which are still affected.

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A new development is being considered for a wooded lot next to the upcoming Purple Line station just outside Riverdale Park.

Located behind the Megamart off East West Highway and Kenilworth Avenue, the Headen Spring development would include 290 apartments, a 25,756-square-foot community building, 3,200 square feet of retail and 526 parking spaces.

It’s being proposed by a partnership with Refreshing Spring Church of God in Christ and a related non-profit community development corporation Sowing Empowerment & Economic Development, or SEED.

An outline of the project states that there would be four apartment buildings, with one dedicated for seniors and another with ground-floor retail. The community building would include a gym, child care center and community outreach space.

The development would also include 20 three-bedroom row homes.

Since some of the apartments would be affordable housing, the project has gotten loans from a Kaiser Permanente fund and another set up by Amazon.

With nearly 10 acres, the site is one of the largest tracts of undeveloped land next to the Purple Line in the area. Major construction is set to begin again on the 16-mile transit line in August and be completed in late 2026.

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Federalist Pig is reopening its popular Fedmobile food truck after receiving an outpouring of customer requests.

As it prepared to start construction on a sit-down restaurant at 5504 Baltimore Ave., the barbecue joint shut down the food truck in mid-June to make room after.

But spokeswoman Laura Rankin told the Hyattsville Wire that customers reached out through social media, phone and email to ask them to reconsider.

Starting today, July 7,  they’ll have limited operating hours in order to accommodate construction crews in the morning.

The Fedmobile, which first set up in Hyattsville in March 2021, will be open from 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays and from noon to 8 p.m. on weekends. The menu remains the same.

“One of our goals is to stay close to the community, and listen to the communities needs, so we are thankful we were able to work out our operations to accommodate both the Summer Pop-Up at Hook Hall and run limited hours at Hyattsville,” Rankin said. “We look forward to offering the full Federalist Pig Experience very soon at Hyattsville!”

She said crews are due to break ground “very soon” on the new restaurant on the same site as the Fedmobile.

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A new mural is going up on the side of Pyramid Atlantic Art Center in Hyattsville.

Located on the alley side of the building at 4318 Gallatin St., the mural, which is slated to be finished by next weekend, will feature fluffy yellow clouds on a dark blue background.

D.C. artist John Ortiz, who has a studio at Pyramid Atlantic, is painting the mural with  artist Korey Richardson, who is an exhibit specialist at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Ortiz’s recent print, “In Your Name We Rise George Floyd,” was recently added to the ephemera collection at the National Portrait Gallery, the National Museum of African American History & Culture, the Library of Congress as well as the Smithsonian Archives.

Kate Taylor Davis, executive director of Pyramid Atlantic, told the Hyattsville Wire that the mural, titled “The Sky’s the Limit,” uses the “iconography of different elements of printmaking” to reflect the nonprofit’s mission.

Pyramid Atlantic is paying for the mural with a grant from the city of Hyattsville.

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A new comic book store opened this holiday weekend in College Park.

Located at 4744 Cherry Hill Rd. in the Best Buy shopping plaza, Third Eye Comics is taking over the business from Big Planet Comics, which closed its College Park location.

All subscriptions and reward points from Big Planet will carry over to the new store.

“The history of comics in College Park is a rich one, and we remember ourselves personally convincing our parents to drive us as kids out to Closet of Comics to hunt down books,” owner Steve Anderson wrote.

Big Planet Comics has been at the same location in College Park, on the same block as Cornerstone Grill, for more than three decades.

This is the seventh location for Third Eye, which has its largest location in Annapolis.

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Four eateries on the Route 1 corridor made a new list of the best tacos in the greater D.C. area.

A recent Washington Post story included tacos made by Taqueria La Placita in Edmonston, La Michoacana in Brentwood and Taqueria Habanero and Tacos a la Madre in College Park.

Here’s what food writer Tim Carman recommended:

Cueritos tacos at Taqueria La Placita: “Cueritos is pork skin, and it’s nothing like the puffy fried snacks that you eat straight from a bag. … The kitchen spoons gooey slivers of skin into a pair of tortillas and promptly buries them under chopped raw onion and cilantro. The taco has a taste and texture all its own.”

Tacos Yucatecos at Taqueria Habanero: “It features grilled shrimp that are briefly tossed in a pan with tequila and Chihuahua cheese until the ingredients combine into a gooey mass of deliciousness. The cheesy shrimp are then slipped into a housemade tortilla and garnished with roasted poblanos, cilantro and pico de gallo.”

Tacos de tinga at Tacos a la Madre: “Her tacos de tinga, also known as spicy chicken tacos, drip with an adobo that electrifies the shredded breast meat packed into the tortilla. The burn is courtesy of chipotle peppers and another chile that Pedro prefers to keep secret.”

La Michoacana at the miXt Food Hall in Brentwood: “The salmon is not cooked in the consommé, as beef or goat is, but grilled separately with a little birria, then draped into a housemade tortilla with Chihuahua cheese, onions and cilantro.”

The story is the latest to highlight how the Route 1 corridor has become an authentic taco haven thanks to a growing population of immigrants from Latin America, cheap rent and college students looking for a cheap meal.

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