College Park was selected in July as a top small college town by College Values Online, a website that ranks schools and programs in various categories.
College Park ranked as the 44th-best small college town on the site, which ranked 50 college towns based on cost of living, unemployment rate, crime rate and “wow factor,” according to the website.
Randall Toussaint, the city’s economic development coordinator, said it was satisfying to receive recognition, but added the city is still working to improve and become a more desirable place to live.
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The city is working toward persuading professors, engineers and other professionals who work in College Park to also live there, Toussaint said. Development projects such as Monument Village and the housing retail community near the Metro are a step in that direction, he said.
While the city is focused on housing, Toussaint said, keeping shoppers in the area is also a priority.
Local residents and students spend about $205 million annually on retail products, according to a study conducted by College Park this year. And over the next five years, the city anticipates its local average household income will increase from $75,892 to $85,318, Toussaint said.
“Those figures illustrate the strength of our community’s spending power,” he said. “However, many of our residents spend their retail dollars in other communities. We are actively working to attract new retail stores to our community to retain our local consumer spending dollars.”
Students make up a large portion of the city’s consumers, but sophomore computer science major Sam Friedman said it is hard to consider College Park a college town when getting to a grocery store is difficult for students without a car.
“It is not really quite a college town yet,” he said. “I have heard that they are trying to make it more of one. We do have some aspects that are fun.”
Recent developments, such as the opening of TargetExpress and the future retail opportunities with Terrapin Row and The Hotel at the University of Maryland, will make it easier for students and residents to get some essentials without a car, Friedman added.
Dan Bugos, a junior computer science major, said having only a few bars and some run-down buildings hurts College Park as a college town, but he said the variety of food establishments and the planned developments are good signs.
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“It is a work in progress, and we are getting to be more of a college town,” he said.
The rapidly increasing lists of development projects are also going to help decrease unemployment, which in turn will help raise the city’s status, Toussaint said. The hotel and conference center, for example, will create 350 new jobs in the community and will provide access to employment for students and city residents, he added.
“Job creation remains a central component of College Park’s economic development strategy,” Toussaint said. “The new development projects taking place in our community are indicative of the extent to which local development projects can decrease unemployment while generating economic growth.”
