Heather Curtis
WMAL.com.
WASHINGTON — Development is booming in College Park, Maryland, especially by the Metro Station. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority has contracted with Gilbane Building Company to build two new apartment buildings with ground-level retail space on a piece of land that’s now home to a parking lot.
Prince George’s County Council member Danielle Gloros said they have wanted to build up the area around the Metro station for years. There are already office buildings in what has been dubbed the University of Maryland Discovery District, but more development is needed.
“We have thousands of employees already working there, but many of them are commuting from far away, so this definitely gives the opportunity for people to live right at the Metro station and then also work right across the street,” said Gloros.
Gloros hopes the apartment buildings would also attract people who work in D.C. or Baltimore because MARC trains that connect to Baltimore also stop at the station. The Purple Line will connect to the station once it’s built.
The extra residents and development would bring in more tax revenues for the city of College Park and Prince George’s County.
WMATA’s Director of Real Estate and Station Planning Nina Albert said it would help the struggling transit agency financially as well. The developer would pay 14 million dollars up front to lease the land in addition to other payments over the court of the 100 year lease.
Metro wouldn’t only get money out of the deal, the apartments would add another 300 or so riders at the College Park station according to Albert.
Gilbane Building Company tells WMATA it could have shovels in the ground in the next two years.
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