Cover photo by John Keith

Mixed-use projects roll into the Corridor

By This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it | Corridor Inc. Staff Writer

Originally published May 2007

      The endless crawl of cars that traps busy commuters in the Baltimore-Washington Corridor’s infamous rush hour logjam has helped perpetuate the latest trend in urban planning.     

     Developers and government officials are jumping onboard transit-oriented development, projects designed to create communities around public transportation.

     This latest coup for smart growth addresses concerns about congestion, sprawl and air pollution while catering to a population looking for convenience. The Corridor has recently become the launch pad for a fleet of these mixed-use projects.

     “It’s a smart way for areas with diverse populations to create lifestyle centers,” said Walter H. Petrie, chairman of Petrie Ross Ventures, an Annapolis developer.

     Transit-oriented projects all have a unique look and feel, but tend to be pedestrian friendly and include living, working, shopping and entertainment opportunities within a half-mile or 15 minute walk of a transit station, according to the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT).

     Petrie Ross is currently working on two transit projects in the Corridor: Greenbelt Station Towne Centre, a 2.7-million-square-foot project at the Greenbelt Metro stop in Prince George’s County and Savage Towne Centre, an 110,200-square-foot development at the Savage MARC station in Howard County.

     “Right now they don’t generate taxes or employment, they are just big parking lots,” Petrie said. “It’s a great opportunity for us to create these living, working communities where everybody wins.”

Walter Petrie, chairman of Petrie Ross Ventures, at his office in Annapolis discussing his firm’s transit-oriented developments. A rendering of Savage Towne Centre is behind him. Photo by John Keith.

     That kind of economic impression has made transit-oriented development a priority.

     “It pushes a number of buttons for us in terms of things we can achieve,” said Henry Kay, deputy administrator for planning and engineering for the Maryland Transit Administration, an arm of MDOT. “We have an extensive transit system already and it makes it more efficient because it packs uses there. They become centers of community life and nodes of activity versus a place to just leave your car.”

     Currently, there are  25 transit-oriented projects completed, in various stages of development or under review in Anne Arundel, Howard, Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties.

     With a mean average commute of over 31 minutes for Corridor residents, centralized living, working and shopping, adjacent to a transit line, is an alternative to suburban living.

   The projects are more complex than other developments like retail strips, said Chris R. Hanessian, chief operating officer of Prince George’s Metro Center Inc., a developer building University Town Center, a 3.3-million-square foot office and retail site at the West Hyattsville Metro with over 2,000 residential units.

“Legally it’s complex and it’s very expensive to build,” he said.

     “Coordinating that effort on an approval basis is challenging,” Petrie added.

     In Anne Arundel County, the long-anticipated Odenton Town Center has been mired in discussion for months. John B. Slidell, vice chairman of the Bozzuto Group, one of the three companies selected to develop the 24-acre site, said initial negotiations on a memorandum of understanding between all parties involved are “99 percent done.”

     A proposed project at the College Park Metro is also still in talks, with Manekin LLC and Fairfield Residential both tapped to develop the site, said Nat Bottigheimer, acting assistant general manager for planning and joint development at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), which runs the regional transportation systems around the Washington area and owns the College Park property.

     Regardless of hold-ups, without some sort of public support all these developments wouldn’t be happening at all, said Gerrit-Jan Knaap, director of the National Center for Smart Growth at the University of Maryland, College Park.

     For WMATA, the motivation is about building good communities but also creating a more stable ridership, said Bottigheimer.

     “Building a system with attractors like shops and residences gives people more options and spreads ridership out, making the system more cost-effective and efficient,” he said.

     These higher density projects also have environmental benefits.

     “Instead of building two-story condos that would take hundreds of acres to develop, this is all on a small site,” said Petrie.

     Petrie Ross’ Greenbelt project will feature 1,267 new residential units and the Savage property will have 416 new units. Both are in preliminary planning and approval stages but Petrie Ross hopes to break ground at Savage by next spring, in plenty of time for the Base Realignment and Closure moves that will bring more than 45,000 new jobs to Maryland, a large number to Fort George G. Meade in Anne Arundel County.

     “Savage is ideal for the short commute to Fort Meade,” Petrie said.

John Tschiderer, Federal Realty’s vice president of development, accesses the residential units being built at Bethesda Row.

     “Over the years, it’s become apparent that the infrastructure outside the Beltway is overwhelmed,” said Hanessian.

     While transit-oriented developments are an improvement, they don’t make a large dent or reduce congestion in a noticeable way, especially in a metropolitan area like this one, said Anthony Downs, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute in Washington, D.C.

     But they can make a big economic impression.

     “Retailers like it because it’s a ready-made market,” said Petrie, who is working to nail down Greenbelt’s retail components by the end of next year.

     These developments have a more captive audience, which is more profitable for retail and office tenants, said Jennifer Rademacher, chief operating officer of Taylor Development and Land Co. The Miami-based firm won a WMATA bid for a transit-oriented site at the Prince George’s Plaza Metro station that will include over 490,000 square feet of retail and office space and 260 apartments.

     “The demographic is strong and there is a pent-up demand for retail here,” she added.

     Prince George’s County currently has seven Metro-centered transit-oriented developments underway and WMATA is looking at eight additional sites, including the Capitol Heights and Morgan Boulevard Metro stations. The state, which owns MARC station properties, is also looking for additional partners at projects like the Muirkirk MARC station.

     Montgomery County has almost a half dozen completed transit-oriented developments. One project that has been around for more than 10 years is Federal Realty Investment Trust’s Bethesda Row.

     Located three blocks from the Bethesda Metro station, Bethesda Row is continuing to expand, said John Tschiderer, Federal Realty’s vice president of development.

     When the latest phase is completed next spring, the development will include 520,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, 140,000 square feet of office space and 180 residential units.

    Tschiderer cites government policy and market conditions for the success of the project, noting job, residential and income growth in Montgomery County keep the project thriving.

     “It’s a viable urban district and we’ve taken advantage of it,” he said.

     Howard County hopes to capitalize on that too. In addition to Savage, the county has had discussions about potential transit-oriented developments at the Dorsey MARC station and Laurel Race Track, which also has a MARC stop. No plans have been submitted at either site yet, said Dace Blaumanis, a planning manager at Howard County’s Department of Planning and Zoning.

     From these projects to the 45-acre Metro Centre at Owings Mills and a 15-acre development at the Reisterstown Plaza Metro Station in Baltimore County to the completed six-acre Symphony Center in Baltimore City, transit-oriented development seems to be full-steam ahead.

     “If I were in Dubuque, Iowa, I wouldn’t be building this,” Petrie said about the opportunities in this area.

     “The market will dictate when it reaches the point that there are too many,” he said. “The market is strong for this here; I think it will be around for a while.”  <