Rethink College Park

Public-private partnerships have become increasingly popular methods of financing infrastructure and redevelopment projects. The structure of such partnerships is simple: the government supplies the land and a private company builds and maintains a highway or development that benefits the public. Not too far from College Park, the Commonwealth of Virginia has struck deals with private [...]

Governor O’Malley unveiled his plan today to head off a major impending budget shortfall in Annapolis. He has proposed to raise corporate income taxes from 7 to 8 percent with half the increased funds going to higher education and the other half going to transportation projects such as (in College Park’s case) the ICC, the [...]

Rethink College Park will have their own booth at the First Look Fair this Thursday, September 20, from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. on McKeldin Mall at the University of Maryland campus. Come meet the contributors, learn more about what we do, and find out how you can get more involved. We will be located [...]

“The Jefferson” (pictured above), a proposed 220-unit mixed-use project was approved by the PG County Planning Board late last week. The project site is just north of 193 at the former location of Hillcrest Hotel and Lasiks and across Route 1 from JPI’s already approved “Jefferson Square” project (pictured below). The newly approved project will [...]

As Route 1 redevelopment progresses with the East Campus and other projects, there may be opportunities for the public sector to use tax increment financing as an incentive for developers. Tax increment financing, a form of a public-private partnership, is an agreement between a developer and municipality in which future tax revenues are used to [...]

The fifth Cafritz Property meetings will be held this SATURDAY (Sept. 15, 10am-noon) and TUESDAY (Sept. 18, 7pm-9pm) at RIVERDALE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (5006 Riverdale Rd, Riverdale MD). Both identical workshops will present a concept plan for the mixed use development. The concept plans are to be based on design principles culled from previous workshops. There [...]

Today, Tuesday Sept. 11, from 11:30 a.m. to 12 noon, the University of Maryland’s Solar Decathlon Team will celebrate the completion of construction of LEAFHouse, its entry for this year’s international solar house competition on the National Mall in Washington. The event will be held in the parking lot adjacent to the construction site, east [...]

With the public input process well under way, more and more information is being released about the East Campus project. On a mild weekday afternoon this past August, I decided to take some pictures to capture “before” images to contrast with the rough renderings that Foulger-Pratt released last spring to the general public. I parked [...]