BY PAULA MINAERT — The biggest new construction in Hyattsville is happening along the east side of Route 1. A year after the first tenants opened there, the retail space at Jefferson Street is nearly at capacity. The Hair Cuttery opened last month, and the long-awaited Spice 6 Indian restaurant will open in May, according to Guy Silverman of Streetsense, the retail developer. Also coming – sometime this summer, he says – is My Eye Doctor optometrists.

“That will fill the shopping center,” said Silverman.

Meanwhile, a few blocks away, more development is underway. The three tall buildings going up just north of Longfellow Street will be apartments with some retail; the developer is Woodfield Investments, LLC. Two of the buildings, three stories each, will face Route 1 and one (five stories) is set back behind them; all together they will have 243 apartments. About 4,600 square feet of retail space is planned for the southernmost building.

Pulte Homes plans to build 180 townhouses on the east side of Route 1. Photo courtesy Paula Minaert. (2012)
Pulte Homes plans to build 180 townhouses on the east side of Route 1. Photo courtesy Paula Minaert. 

Margaret Smith Ford of Wood- field described the apartments as high-end. They will have granite countertops and stainless steel appliances; some will have fireplaces. The bigger building will house a pool, fitness room, club room and other amenities.

“[Hyattsville] is a fabulous location for young professionals who want to be near all the amenities around there,” Ford said.

Parking for the residents of the bigger building will take the form of what’s called a “Texas doughnut,” according to Ford. “It’ll be a five-story garage in the middle and the apartments will wrap around it. You won’t see the parking from the outside.”

The other two buildings will have surface parking adjacent to them.

The first apartments will be available in October and the whole project is expected to be completed by the middle of next year, she said. The monthly rents will range from $1,400 to the low $2,000s.

Another developer, Pulte Homes, is building a total of 180 townhomes, also on the east side of Route 1. Most of them are not right on Route 1 but are set back. Four models are available.

According to Kevin McGovern, sales consultant for Pulte, the homes sell for between $320,000 and $500,000, and 25 of them have already sold. Nineteen of them are occupied, with the remaining due to be occupied by the end of May.

The design also calls for building a pool and playground with a picnic area.

McGovern said that all the homes come with either a one- or two-car garage, and there are also 75 street parking spaces for residents and their visitors.

And what’s the old boarded-up building sitting at the north end of all this construction? It used to be Jey’s Auto Care, which operated in that location for many years. According to realtor and listing agent Paul Buggappa, the property is a ground lease (meaning it can be built on) for $5,000 a month and, like the surrounding area, is zoned Mixed Use Town Center.