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Discussion starter · #101 ·
Great project, I haven't seen that before...and if the GSA is building it, you know it won't be postponed! This will be a great addition to the area, and add the needed employment base to support further residential/retail development in the area.

This project is continuing the trend of building tall buildings (15 story+) along the Beltway. People passing through DC on 95 will get a pretty great impression of the city based upon the Beltway's growing skyline.
What Prince Georges needs is an urban district like downtown Silver Spring or Bethesda/Chevy Chase. Right now it's still considered a "bedroom" community with no real urban business center. Though that is slowly changing. Ideally, urban clusters with 15+ story office buildings should form around/near metro stations. The GSA building is a great start. There was supposed to be a 15+ story office building on top of Prince Georges Plaza. But I don't know what happened to that project. I believe there was a Landy Project supposed to be happening opposite the University Town center. But the renderings looked like a glorified Cabrini Green. But those were 15+ stories. Perhaps we can get College Park along Rt. 1 to be the first urban business district with 15+ story office/residential. For now, those buildings are for student residences.

http://www.g-and-o.com/projects/pr_civ11.asp
 
Discussion starter · #102 ·
Belcrest Plaza in Hyattsville Getting Redeveloped

Found this little nugget about Belcrest Plaza located directly behind The Mall at Prince Georges. The architects will be the Lessard Group. I looked at their site and have not seen any renderings yet. Take note at the list of preliminary designs at the bottom.

http://www.thesentinel.com/pgs/Belcrest-Plaza-redevelopment

Belcrest Plaza residents balk at redevelopment plans
Published on: Wednesday, May 20, 2009

By Tamra Tomlinson

The transformation of the Prince George’s Plaza Metro Station area took another step forward Tuesday night as the owners of the Belcrest Plaza apartment complex revealed plans for the property’s dramatic redevelopment.

The approximately 36-acre community is just behind The Mall at Prince Georges, at the intersection of Belcrest Road and Toledo Terrace.

The plans were presented to a group of about 90 Belcrest Plaza residents who attended a meeting with the property owners and management at Northwestern High School in Hyattsville.

“We wanted to alert our residents before they heard it from anyone else,” said Jonathan Genn, executive vice president and general counsel for Silver Spring-based Percontee Inc., owners of Belcrest Plaza.

“The property is 50 years old. There comes a time when it becomes less cost effective to make repairs. It got to that point.” The new development, Genn said, will be “a community for the next 50 years.”

Genn emphasized that detailed plans haven’t yet been finalized and that there won’t be any physical changes until at least 2011.

The redevelopment is expected to take at least five to 10 years.

The developer’s plan divides the 783-unit community into four parcels, with demolition and construction proceeding in three phases. A fourth parcel along Dean Drive will be left intact. The buildings in that part of the complex, labeled “Parcel D” in Percontee’s plan, are expected to remain for 10 to 15 years. Any residents whose leases extend beyond their units’ scheduled demolition will have the option of moving to one of those units at company expense, Genn said.

Belcrest Plaza is already hemmed in by new development at both ends, with a nearly completed Post apartment complex to the west and University Town Center to the east. New commercial and residential projects surround the Prince George’s Plaza station two blocks south. The Prince George’s County Planning Board has also granted conditional approval to redevelopment plans for the Plaza Towers apartments just across Toledo Terrace.

Stephen Gang, lead designer for the project with Lesssard Group, said that a detailed site plan will be submitted to the county’s planning board at the end of June, with final approval by the county council expected in spring 2010.

The new community will be “an exciting place to live seven days a week, morning, noon and night,” said Ayana Lambert, deputy general counsel for Percontee, Inc.

Lambert opened the meeting with a digital slide show of the new project’s proposed townhouses, four-story lowrise apartments and 30-story residential tower with street-level retail and rooftop greenspace. The tower is planned for the corner of Belcrest Road and Toledo Terrace, with 11 or 12 stories of office and neighborhood amenity space nearby.

After the presentation, residents were invited to ask questions about the development plans. But most who spoke took the opportunity to instead vent frustrations with the state the apartments are in now. Complaints ranged from poor exterior lighting and slow maintenance service to mice and break-ins.

“It doesn’t come as a surprise,” Carlene Darbeau-James said of the redevelopment plans. “The owners and management have to stay up to date to compete.”

Darbeau-James grew up in Belcrest Plaza. Her mother has lived there for 36 years.

“My major concern is for the residents here now,” she said. “The management and upkeep, it’s very poor.”

She was also skeptical about the offer to move residents to the Dean Drive units.

“That ‘Parcel D’ plan sounds to me like a pocket of the projects,” she said.

Other residents expressed resentment that new development will price them out of a neighborhood they want to live in.

“There is no question that some of these residences will be more expensive,” Genn acknowledged. But current residents who want to return “will get first crack” at choosing homes in the new community, he said.

Genn also said that he’s thought “long and hard” about the need for another meeting with Belcrest residents, this time focusing solely on ways that the community can be improved right now.

Edna Smith, a four-year Belcrest Plaza resident, said that she’d been hearing rumors about the apartments’ fate for about a year.

“I wanted to get it firsthand. I had a feeling they were coming down,” she said.

Smith, who is 82, plans to move to a retirement community when she leaves Belcrest Plaza. But, she wonders what will happen to the many young families who live there.

“Where in the world will some of these families go?” Smith said, gesturing toward three little boys playing in the grassy courtyard just in front of her living room window. “There are no more cheap apartments around here.”

PRELIMINARY DESIGNS

Preliminary designs for the new mixed-use development include:

• 2,750 condominium and rental residential units
• 200,000 square feet of office space
• 50,000 to 75,000 square feet of retail and commercial space
• 25,000 square feet of community recreation space
• 20,000 square feet of neighborhood amenities, possibly including a library
• 300,000 square feet of mixed-use, non-residential space
 
Found this little nugget about Belcrest Plaza located directly behind The Mall at Prince Georges. The architects will be the Lessard Group. I looked at their site and have not seen any renderings yet. Take note at the list of preliminary designs at the bottom.

http://www.thesentinel.com/pgs/Belcrest-Plaza-redevelopment

Belcrest Plaza residents balk at redevelopment plans
Published on: Wednesday, May 20, 2009

By Tamra Tomlinson

The transformation of the Prince George’s Plaza Metro Station area took another step forward Tuesday night as the owners of the Belcrest Plaza apartment complex revealed plans for the property’s dramatic redevelopment.

The approximately 36-acre community is just behind The Mall at Prince Georges, at the intersection of Belcrest Road and Toledo Terrace.

The plans were presented to a group of about 90 Belcrest Plaza residents who attended a meeting with the property owners and management at Northwestern High School in Hyattsville.

“We wanted to alert our residents before they heard it from anyone else,” said Jonathan Genn, executive vice president and general counsel for Silver Spring-based Percontee Inc., owners of Belcrest Plaza.

“The property is 50 years old. There comes a time when it becomes less cost effective to make repairs. It got to that point.” The new development, Genn said, will be “a community for the next 50 years.”

Genn emphasized that detailed plans haven’t yet been finalized and that there won’t be any physical changes until at least 2011.

The redevelopment is expected to take at least five to 10 years.

The developer’s plan divides the 783-unit community into four parcels, with demolition and construction proceeding in three phases. A fourth parcel along Dean Drive will be left intact. The buildings in that part of the complex, labeled “Parcel D” in Percontee’s plan, are expected to remain for 10 to 15 years. Any residents whose leases extend beyond their units’ scheduled demolition will have the option of moving to one of those units at company expense, Genn said.

Belcrest Plaza is already hemmed in by new development at both ends, with a nearly completed Post apartment complex to the west and University Town Center to the east. New commercial and residential projects surround the Prince George’s Plaza station two blocks south. The Prince George’s County Planning Board has also granted conditional approval to redevelopment plans for the Plaza Towers apartments just across Toledo Terrace.

Stephen Gang, lead designer for the project with Lesssard Group, said that a detailed site plan will be submitted to the county’s planning board at the end of June, with final approval by the county council expected in spring 2010.

The new community will be “an exciting place to live seven days a week, morning, noon and night,” said Ayana Lambert, deputy general counsel for Percontee, Inc.

Lambert opened the meeting with a digital slide show of the new project’s proposed townhouses, four-story lowrise apartments and 30-story residential tower with street-level retail and rooftop greenspace. The tower is planned for the corner of Belcrest Road and Toledo Terrace, with 11 or 12 stories of office and neighborhood amenity space nearby.

After the presentation, residents were invited to ask questions about the development plans. But most who spoke took the opportunity to instead vent frustrations with the state the apartments are in now. Complaints ranged from poor exterior lighting and slow maintenance service to mice and break-ins.

“It doesn’t come as a surprise,” Carlene Darbeau-James said of the redevelopment plans. “The owners and management have to stay up to date to compete.”

Darbeau-James grew up in Belcrest Plaza. Her mother has lived there for 36 years.

“My major concern is for the residents here now,” she said. “The management and upkeep, it’s very poor.”

She was also skeptical about the offer to move residents to the Dean Drive units.

“That ‘Parcel D’ plan sounds to me like a pocket of the projects,” she said.

Other residents expressed resentment that new development will price them out of a neighborhood they want to live in.

“There is no question that some of these residences will be more expensive,” Genn acknowledged. But current residents who want to return “will get first crack” at choosing homes in the new community, he said.

Genn also said that he’s thought “long and hard” about the need for another meeting with Belcrest residents, this time focusing solely on ways that the community can be improved right now.

Edna Smith, a four-year Belcrest Plaza resident, said that she’d been hearing rumors about the apartments’ fate for about a year.

“I wanted to get it firsthand. I had a feeling they were coming down,” she said.

Smith, who is 82, plans to move to a retirement community when she leaves Belcrest Plaza. But, she wonders what will happen to the many young families who live there.

“Where in the world will some of these families go?” Smith said, gesturing toward three little boys playing in the grassy courtyard just in front of her living room window. “There are no more cheap apartments around here.”

PRELIMINARY DESIGNS

Preliminary designs for the new mixed-use development include:

• 2,750 condominium and rental residential units
• 200,000 square feet of office space
• 50,000 to 75,000 square feet of retail and commercial space
• 25,000 square feet of community recreation space
• 20,000 square feet of neighborhood amenities, possibly including a library
• 300,000 square feet of mixed-use, non-residential space
Damn, 30 stories!!:banana:
 
Discussion starter · #106 ·
^^i dunno' if 30 stories is going to fly in PG county, especially being so close to the district & everything.

what got me was the 2750 residential units!:nuts:
I'm not so sure about that. Is there a ban on high rises in central business districts in the county? I think it would be a welcome site east of the district. WEll, northeast. AS far as being close to the district, two areas come to mind. Rosslyn and Arlington. And they are right next to the airport. Downtown Silver Spring is no slouch to tall buildings either and they are just as close to the D.C. line. On the other hand, 30 stories is kinda high. You'd be able to see it from miles around. Although, that would be kinda cool. It'd put Hyattsville on the map visually. :)

I do recall some complaints about the Landy Property planned across the street and their proposed 16 story high rises. Talked about the shadow falling over the high school and neighborhoods behind it. We'll probably see a 20 - 25 story version. It will be interesting to watch it all play out.
 
Discussion starter · #107 ·
^^i dunno' if 30 stories is going to fly in PG county, especially being so close to the district & everything.

what got me was the 2750 residential units!:nuts:
Actually, we forgot about this one going up in New Carrollton inside the beltway (25 stories) so, I think 30 stories will fly just fine. :) There's a 16 or 17 story student housing tower down the street from Belcrest and the Belcrest Office Tower will be 14 stories two blocks up. No more building out, finally people are starting to build up.

 
Actually, we forgot about this one going up in New Carrollton inside the beltway (25 stories) so, I think 30 stories will fly just fine. :) There's a 16 or 17 story student housing tower down the street from Belcrest and the Belcrest Office Tower will be 14 stories two blocks up. No more building out, finally people are starting to build up.

Is this U/C? What project is this?
 
Discussion starter · #114 · (Edited)
Some U of MD/ RT.1 Projects Soon To Break Ground

Mosaic at Turtle Creek (Luxury)

Detailed site plan was approved last year. Not sure when they are breaking ground.

http://mosaicatturtlecreek.com/index.html





Starview Plaza (Students/Retail)


The developers have started prepping the construction site. I imagine construction will begin late summer or early fall.





Parkview Student Housing/Retail (Formerly The Varsity at College Park)

I tried to find a drawing, but no luck. The only one I found was on the following website:

http://www.ellergrp.com/

To see it, click on "Our Portfoilio", then "Special Use Facilities", then click the right arrow under "View Projects" in the picture frame.

Developers expect to break ground in August.
 
Mosaic at Turtle Creek (Luxury)

Detailed site plan was approved last year. Not sure when they are breaking ground.

http://mosaicatturtlecreek.com/index.html





Starview Plaza (Students/Retail)


The developers have started prepping the construction site. I imagine construction will begin late summer or early fall.





Parkview Student Housing/Retail (Formerly The Varsity at College Park)

I tried to find a drawing, but no luck. The only one I found was on the following website:

http://www.ellergrp.com/

To see it, click on "Our Portfoilio", then "Special Use Facilities", then click the right arrow under "View Projects" in the picture frame.

Developers expect to break ground in August.
I can't wait to see the transformation of rt 1.
 
Brick Yard welcomes its first tenants

Businesses have started to occupy the newly constructed office buildings in the mixed-use Brick Yard development, located off Route 1 between Contee and Muirkirk roads.

Of the seven completed office buildings in the complex, three were bought by area businesses and one is being leased.

A 44,000-square-foot building, which sits near the entrance, was bought by Freestate Electric, which designs, installs and maintains electrical systems.

The other two sold buildings were bought by American Mechanical Services, AMS, which provides energy and plumbing services, and Floor Max (formerly Carpet and Things), a supplier and installer of flooring and carpeting.

A portion of the fourth office building, 82,000 square feet, was leased by Party Rental, a supplier of a wide-range of party materials.

"It's turning into a nice corporate headquarters park with a mixture of light industrial businesses," said Thomas Aylward, vice president of Jackson-Shaw, the Brick Yard's developer. "Other office parks like Konterra are filled up, so we feel we have a first-class project that doesn't exist in the market with the openness and quality that we offer."

Colleen Clayton, marketing director for Floor Max, a five-store chain that has had offices in Laurel for more than 20 years, said they saw moving to the Brick Yard as a way to keep a presence in Laurel at a time when company officials needed a facility that would allow them to expand.

"In addition to our flooring business, we're going to start doing bathroom remodeling and countertops for kitchens and bathrooms," Clayton said. "We have a much larger facility here where we have a 6,000-square-foot showroom, 30,000-square-foot warehouse and our administrative offices are upstairs."

Floor Max will have a formal ribbon cutting on Sept. 23 and a grand opening the following weekend. Freestate and AMS are currently open for business.

When it is eventually completed, the $500 million Brick Yard complex, which sits on 125 acres of land at the site of a former brick manufacturing plant, will consist of 11 office buildings and 1,300 residences.

Last year, Jackson-Shaw officials predicted the project would be further along at this point, but just like most real estate development projects, construction at the Brick Yard has slowed down due to the recession.

"We're 60 percent occupied, but we need more tenants before we start any new buildings," Aylward said.

In addition to office building starts being stalled, construction has not started on any of the 380 townhouses, 51 single-family homes and 860 multi-level apartments slated to be built at the Brick Yard. With the glut of unsold homes nationwide, many builders have put new construction on hold until the housing market bounces back.

"We believe that the market will come back, but you probably won't see any construction on the housing here until 2010," Aylward said. "We're still getting inquiries, so we know it's definitely coming back. Right now, it's not pleasant, but we didn't get started (on housing construction), so we don't have infrastructure that's unoccupied, which puts us in a good position."

Other work around the Brick Yard has been completed, such as the extension of Mid Atlantic Boulevard to Contee Road, and a path leading to an area referred to as dinosaur park because of shark and dinosaur bones unearthed there.

"We've done landscaping around it and fenced it (dinosaur park) in and have an entrance and parking," Aylward said. "That area has significant scientific value and it won't be developed, but protected. We built a walking path where people will be able to walk up to the fence or sit around the area but not go in."

The seating along the landscaped ground surrounding the park is made of slabs of flooring taken from buildings in the old brick yard facility.

The project is LEEDS-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), and much of the material from the old Washington Brick Company, which operated at the site from the early 1900s until 1992, is being used in the new development or recycled.

According to Aylward, several thousand tons of steel from the demolished brick company's buildings was shipped to Bethlehem Steel in Baltimore for reuse, and crushed brick from the former facility's kiln was used on the complex's parking surfaces.

Additionally, Aylward said they still plan to turn the old brick company's office building into a coffee or sandwich shop in the residential section of the development, once the economy improves and that construction gets going.

Alyward said, "We've slowed a bit now, but we're still making deals and getting calls of interest."


http://www.explorehoward.com/promotions/63640/brick-yard-welcomes-its-first-tenants/



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