College Park Council asks developer to include affordable units in new building

By RILEY BOMGARDNER

College Park City Councilmembers on March 4 objected to a plan to demolish the 63-year-old College Park Towers near the University of Maryland (UMD) and replace it with two luxury high-rise apartment buildings.

A council worksession, intended for representatives of Landmark Properties to request rezoning of their property at 4330 Hartwick Road for future development, quickly escalated into a tense conversation about the lack of affordable housing in College Park. 

“Luxury apartments are replacing affordable housing,” Erica Otte, the council’s non-voting student liaison, said. “I know students who have had to take out loans to get apartments here.”

Councilmember John Rigg (District 3) agreed.

“What we have on site right now is an example of pretty good, market-rate affordable housing that would be difficult to replicate and if it is gone, then it is gone,” Rigg said. “I find myself not considerably enthusiastic” about the new development.

Rigg pushed back on remarks by Chris Hatcher, the attorney for Landmark Properties, who suggested the council was being inconsistent with prior guidance indicating the city welcomes student housing on the east side of Route 1, the same side where College Park Towers is located.

Councilmember Alan Hew (District 1) was the first to raise concerns about Landmark Properties’ proposal. 

“One thing I will always ask is that there be a percentage of affordable housing built into this,” Hew said. 

Llatetra Brown Esters (District 2) echoed that request, saying UMD students are the primary residents of College Park Towers.

“Students have come to us to say that they can’t afford a lot of the housing that currently exists in the city,” Esters said. “It’s important that the individuals who are building truly consider the need to incorporate some level of affordable housing.”

Every member of the council, including Otte and Anna-Kaye McDonald, the deputy student liaison, argued for affordable housing. 

Mayor Pro Tem Denise Mitchell (District 4) argued that The Mark at College Park and its developer are trying to sell a vision that is not accessible to its main audience: students.

“We need to be more collective in letting students find housing that is affordable and that they can afford, not what you’re trying to sell,” Mitchell told Hatcher. 

Hamilton Reynolds, a Landmark representative, said the developer has not set a price for rentals in the new complex but noted that a one-bedroom apartment at The Standard at College Park, which Landmark also developed on the same block, rents for approximately $2,600 a month. 

College Park Towers, completed in 1962, is surrounded by Terrapin Row, The Standard, Union on Knox and UMD student housing. 

College Park Towers contains 205 condominiums owned by multiple individuals and rented mostly to students. Plans for The Mark include 600 to 690 dwelling units, along with built-in pocket parks, other green spaces, artistic crosswalks and ADA-compliant sidewalks.

The developer’s representatives, who said construction would span five years, proposed that the building be allowed to contain 150 units per acre rather than 140, which is what its current zoning allows. They also asked for zoning that would allow the structures to be closer to the street than the usual setback.

Council members called on the developer to amend the plan for The Mark to include affordable housing. 

The council did not take action and scheduled a follow-up meeting with the developers for the March 18 council meeting.