GreenBelt Station

The City Council will vote tonight on an agreement between the City of College Park and the developer of the Greenbelt South Core developer.

As we discussed recently, SunTrust, who currently owns the land in the south core of the Greenbelt Metro development, has approached the City to negotiate an agreement to proceed with the south core development.

This development currently includes two already approved detailed site plans, one for about 600 units of townhouse residential development, and one for a 4-6 story multifamily apartment building with about 300 units. The third portion of the development has an approved conceptual site plan that includes commercial development in the northwest area of the development, and includes options for a pedestrian footbridge to North College Park.

The City and the developer negotiated an agreement that includes $1.25 million that the City can put toward the renovation of Duvall Field or other projects in North College Park. The City will receive $625 thousand at the time of sale of the apartment building portion of the development and $625 thousand within three years after that. The agreement also includes a provision that the developer will work with the cities of College Park and Greenbelt to locate the footbridge and obtain financing through a tax increment financing (TIF) program or special taxing district (STD).

SunTrust has already negotiated an agreement with Greenbelt, which includes provisions that the development will be a mixed-use development with no more than 983 residential units and 115,000 square feet of neighborhood-serving retail. The agreement also proposes that SunTrust will provide 2.27 acres of land and $1 million to the City of Greenbelt for recreational purposes, devote over $1.4 million toward recreational purposes on the site that it develops, and construct both a hiker/biker trail from the development to the Metro and a light rail or tram system between the South Core and the North Core once the north-south connector road is complete.

The Greenbelt agreement also requires that the developer give $250,000 to Greenbelt to expand police facilities serving the area, and pursue a number of measures to mediate the environmental impacts of the development.

Let me know if you have any questions or other thoughts about this agreement.