[RP TownTalk] Fwd: [HOPE_in_Hyattsville] Cafritz Property

[Dwight Holmes]

Cross-posted here, with Chris Curries' permission.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: The Curries <the.curries at verizon.net>
Date: Jun 11, 2007 9:58 PM
Subject: RE: [HOPE_in_Hyattsville] Cafritz Property
To: HOPE_in_Hyattsville at yahoogroups.com

 My views on urban planning were largely formed as a child witnessing the
growth of suburban Detroit.  It was a clinic on what **not** to do to create
healthy, vibrant communities.  One particular memory I have from my late
teens was a newspaper report on the rapid advance of commercial blight in
Detroit's inner suburbs.  At that time, experts said that the commercial
dead zone was expanding outward from Detroit at the rate of one mile per
decade.  The primary reasons?  Unrestrictive zoning and the seemingly
inexhaustible supply of flat, buildable greenfields in southeastern
Michigan.  There was no incentive to redevelop existing retail/office
districts when it was so cheap, easy and profitable to build new ones.



That reminds me a little of the prevailing conditions in the inner-Beltway
Rte. 1 area.  Look first at what EYA is trying to do.  They had to buy
existing commercially-zoned land at the premium price such sites command.
Then they had to raze existing structures and do environmental abatement.
Then they had to create a development proposal within the constraints of a
detailed zoning master plan, with all of its attendant expensive
conditions.  Now they are trying to lure wary retailers with incentives and
somehow they also have to turn a profit.  (The way they are doing that is
with maximizing the number of housing units, but that's another story.)



Then look at the Cafritz property.  Zero cost basis for the land.  A rare
greenfields tract in a developed area – a clean site almost ready to build
on.  The zoning is R-55 single family detached residential, but the owners
will apply to have it rezoned to fit nicely whatever it is they want to do
there.



Now it is easy to see what the Mayor means about Cafritz having "competitive
advantages" over Arts District Hyattsville, Riverdale Park Town Center, or
UTC.  And why he – and others – are concerned about the potential adverse
impacts of creating new, cheap-to-develop commercial districts in an area
where the existing centers are struggling and vulnerable – particularly on
Rte. 1.  The laws of economics indicate that our under-served area will
attract new retailers to serve the existing and emerging market.  But where
we will allow them will have very much to do with whether the final result
is a vibrant, sustainable community or another sad rerun of the failed
development patterns on Rte. 1 from time immemorial.



The rumors are that Whole Foods wants a location close to the University of
Maryland.  That doesn't surprise me.  Several years ago, when I learned
Wegman's Food Market was planning to enter the Washington market, I called
their site selection manager and talked up the (then) Lustine tract.
Unsurprisingly, he told me that our income levels were too low and the site
not quite large enough (they wanted 18 full acres).  But he did ask me how
far the site was from the university campus, telling me that they would
relax the demographic requirements to get a site close to the school.  He
said that upscale grocers typically do better near college campuses.



Whole Foods has a choice between the Cafritz property and the East Campus
site, which is contiguous to the campus and in an existing commercial
district.  The latter site is also better situated with respect to income
and educational attainment levels within a three-mile radius.  The chief
advantage of Cafritz would seem to be the low cost of the development and
therefore the more greatly discounted prospective rents.  If I'm on the site
selection team for Whole Foods, I'm thinking this: Play Cafritz's low-ball
offer against East Campus to strengthen my negotiating position and get a
better deal on the site I really want.



If that's the scenario, is Cafritz the loser? Not necessarily.  Whole Foods
is the lure that gains community acceptance for a radical up-zoning of the
parcel, which in turn allows for much greater returns on other development.
Building stores, offices and condos will make them more money than
single-family homes.  (But rest assured they would make good money either
way.)



Therein lies my chief concern.  Right now there is a very successful,
economically productive single-family residential district nearly
surrounding the Cafritz property.  It's not an urban residential district –
it's a more suburban model.  One that values lower density, less congestion,
quiet and serenity, low crime.  If you develop a high-density mixed-use
center in the middle of it – particularly one anchored by a big-box tenant –
you are going to permanently alter the character of that community.  There
will be significant impacts in terms of traffic, noise, crime, litter and
light pollution.  Impacts that are tolerable in a more urban setting – such
as Arts District Hyattsville – but much less so in that community.  There is
a danger that the surrounding neighborhoods might begin to decline (even as
other communities' commercial districts also decline as a result of
competition from the new commercial center).



Although one might argue that from Hyattsville's parochial point of view, we
shouldn't be too concerned about maintaining the character of that community
if new amenities can be put there that will serve ours, I would respond that
there is a symbiotic relationship between the two now that can be damaged if
everyone is not careful.  Hyattsville is primarily a community of "starter
housing" – and is becoming ever more so with the influx of new townhomes,
condos and apartment housing.  I think we all know families who have moved
to University Park or College Heights as their families have grown.  There
is an increasing shortage of "move-up housing" here in Hyattsville, which
makes it all the more important for community stability (for, as Margaret
Morgan-Hubbard pointed out, all of our Rte. 1 communities share a common
thread) to have such options nearby.  In terms of the overall housing mix,
putting high-quality single-family-detached homes on the Cafritz site will
help restore balance to our market, while putting more high-density attached
or multifamily housing will make the imbalance worse than it already is.



And we should also not forget that the prospective customers for new retail
at UTC and Arts District Hyattsville (and patrons of Renaissance Square's
forthcoming YMCA) may come from new homeowners in the Cafritz development,
as customers for places like Franklin's do now come from those neighborhoods
north of East-West Highway.



I think there are a number of good things that are emerging from the
community feedback process – like the Trolley Trail, historical markers,
retention of a tree buffer on Rte. 1, etc.  They are all consistent with
having a development with lower-density housing as its primary component.
We should be careful, in my opinion, not to focus on one retailer, nor
should we view this development in isolation – away from the context of the
character of surrounding neighborhoods and from nearby commercial centers.



Chris
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