The College Park City Council moved a step closer last night to approving a plan that could bring a 300-unit condominium complex to the Southwest edge of the campus, opening convenient housing for university staff and others.
Developer Thomas Farasy appeared at last night’s council worksession, telling members that an undeveloped area close to the Hillel Jewish Student Center should be rezoned, which would allow a complex called Mosaic at Turtle Creek to be built on land previously allotted for single-family homes.
The development is the third area development aimed at housing university staff to move closer to approval, signaling a strong demand by faculty and others to live closer to work. Workforce housing has been a hotly debated topic this election year, and city officials have clamored for improved high-density housing such as Mosaic to be built closer to the campus because they believe it may ease traffic congestion and boost property-tax revenue.
But city officials have also criticized a lack of similar housing for university students, as they have grown increasingly frustrated with landlords snapping up single-family homes across Route 1 that are then rented to students at premium prices.
Last night, council members lamented the lack of graduate housing proposed for the project, and city planner Terry Schum urged developers to reconsider their position that the economics of the project do not make such housing feasible. A city review board had earlier recommended the project have a condition that would include 25 percent graduate housing before the city grant approval.
“It’s one of those bright lines for us,” said Bill Shipp, an attorney for Farasy. “You don’t have a project if we have a condition like that.”
“I think you could set aside some units and make them affordable,” Schum responded last night.
For now, Mosaic will bear remarkable similarities to the recently approved Northgate Condominiums, a 17-story, 204-unit complex set to begin construction near University View. Units at Mosaic will be marketed toward faculty, alumni and other professionals who wish to live near the campus, Farasy said.
“There’s a high level of interest in the faculty to live near the university,” Farasy said.
Although the council will vote next week on the proposal, the zoning request is expected to be approved as long as the developers agree to conditions such as annexing of the property within city limits so the city will benefit from property taxes, Schum said.
Once completed, the complex will stand as high as six stories and wrap around a parking garage. The building will also house conference and seminar rooms that will allow faculty and students to interact in an off-campus environment.
University officials and developers refer to the complex as “intergenerational housing,” meaning they hope people connected with the campus – from graduate students to professors and alumni – will live in the complex.
“At its core, this is what intergenerational housing is all about,” a letter Shipp submitted to the council read. “First class, secure high-quality housing serving professionals and empty nesters with a strong attraction to the University.”
Many universities, particularly in the Midwest, have already successfully developed intergenerational housing, Shipp said in the letter.
City Council members will most likely approve the zoning change request even though the developers would not set aside affordable housing for graduate students. The project must also meet approval by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission and the Prince George’s County Council.
“This is just the first step,” Shipp said. “We still have at least a year of process.”
Contact reporter Will Skowronski at skowronskidbk@gmail.com.
