Developers swarm to East Campus

More than 130 developers showed an intense early interest in the proposed East Campus Development being touted by university officials - so many that a second round of developers is set to tour the site today.

University officials hope the future East Campus, located on property owned by the university near Route 1 and Paint Branch Parkway, could become a seismic shift in College Park, providing development opportunities that would move the city from a beer-and-burgers town to a community of attractive upscale retail and housing.

"If you look at the university itself - 35,000 students, outstanding faculty, a growing national and international reputation - all of that provides a great base for some kind of town center development," said John Porcari, vice president for administrative affairs.

The interest in the site was so high that the Sept. 14 tour drew more developers than the university was prepared to accommodate, Porcari said, prompting today's tour. Initial proposals, due from developers by Oct. 13, will provide a conceptual idea of how the developers plan to use the land, Porcari said.

A recent survey, which was sent to deans and department heads, also showed "a very high level of interest in a first-class hotel," Porcari said. But he hopes developers bring some ideas that would entice the surrounding communities to frequent the businesses offered there.

"It's very open-ended on purpose to give them maximum ability to use creativity," Porcari said.

The city is already undergoing an unprecedented move to higher-end development outside of university land, with several new projects set for approval and many more on the books awaiting review by council members. But the city is challenged with a narrow swath of land lining Route 1, and few properties offer the large amount of space the university officials have assembled at East Campus.

"The fact that we rezoned the property makes the property a lot more valuable," City Councilman Bob Catlin said, referring to a rezoning plan that took effect in 2002. "Plus there's more recognition that the University of Maryland and the area deserve tremendous revitalization."

Developers interviewed said although college students may be viewed as residing on the lower end of the income scale, they actually present quite an attraction for their amazing ability to come up with spending money.

"I know you all feel like you don't have a lot of money, but there's a lot of discretionary income there," said Alton Fryer, the senior vice president of Manekin LLC, one of many development groups eying the city for development.

Mark Vogel, another local developer who recently saw his Northgate Condominium project approved for construction near University View, said the area has become ripe as more people look to avoid commutes and live near work.

"The demographics have changed substantially at the university," Vogel said. The 17-story, 204-unit Northgate will be primarily marketed toward university faculty and staff. Vogel added that he's looking to build another project to house parents when they are in town for visits.

But the essential motive of the development reverts back to the simplest lesson in economics: where there is a demand, it's profitable to provide a supply.

"For a long time nothing has been built around the University of Maryland," Vogel said. "There's no restaurants, there's not enough housing, there's no quality hotel rooms."

Fryer said East Campus could be the city's answer to solving the problem of the narrow lots.

"If you look at what's along Route 1 in College Park now, it's single-lot developments," Fryer said. "In order to do something - a hotel or a shopping center - you need more land than that. Even your typical grocery-anchored town shopping center takes 10 or 12 acres."

Fryer said the 38-acre expanse of land available to the developer of East Campus piqued his company's interest and drew him, and probably most of the other developers, to the site.

"The university's willingness to try and create a larger development parcel there is really the catalyst for the interest," he said.

The university will require anyone willing to develop a property on the East Campus to relocate any service that now exists there, a drawback Fryer called a costly and time-consuming process.

"You have to do all the work of relocating those other functions and there's a lot of costs associated with that before you ever even start thinking about what you're going to do on the development site once you get it," he said.

And while the push to redevelop the area appears promising to most, taxes are still an area of contention that will need to be addressed, said Mayor Stephen Brayman.

The university struck a deal with the city for its Msquare development that allows the city to charge taxes for the development but not the land, but taxation for East Campus hasn't been determined, Brayman said.

"I appreciate the sensitivity to this issue that the university has voiced," he said, "but we still have challenges, and I don't think the city of College Park will prosper as it should and deserves based on [payment in lieu of taxes]."

Contact reporter Sara Murray at murraydbk@gmail.com.