Construction appears to be the theme this semester as students at the University of Maryland return for their classes, but it’s not all taking place on the campus.
The College Park Shopping Center, located at the intersection of Hartwick Road and Route 1, has been under construction since the beginning of summer, said Dana Green, the property manager for JBG Companies. The complex, which is owned by JBG Rosenfeld Retail Properties, hosts a number of restaurants and retail shops including Starbucks, CVS and Jason’s Deli.
The construction is for a relatively “minor renovation,” said Terry Schum, the city’s planning director. The project involves “painting, structural modifications for new entry features and use of new materials to give a fresh look to the center,” according to a JBG Rosenfeld tenant memo sent in May.
The center will have a new, “up-to-date” look, featuring gray colors and “a lot of stone,” Green said.
Despite the size of the renovation, the project “is taking longer than expected,” said Patrick Wojahn, the city’s mayor.
The construction teams experienced some delays that have been resolved, and “the main work is going on as we speak,” Green said.
“As with construction, nothing really goes exactly as planned,” Green said. “There’s always room for hiccups and there have been some.”
The work was supposed to be finished before the semester started — about early September, Green said. However, “according to retailers in the shopping center, the initial time they were told the construction would finish was in July,” Ryan Chelton, the city’s economic development coordinator, wrote in an email.
Anticipated completion is now slated for October.
“Hopefully they’ll get through it soon,” Wojahn said. “Some of the real estate in our downtown area is getting old and [this renovation] certainly helps.”
Although the site will have an updated look, senior Vidal Serfaty, a journalism major, said he is more concerned with the current “awful” parking situation.
“The parking is garbage there,” Serfaty said. “It’s going to make it worse because it’s already terrible to begin with.”
As these renovations continue this semester, Miya Treadwell, a senior journalism and Spanish language, literature and cultures major, said she sometimes hears the work going on both on and off of the campus.
“I live in Commons 3 and I’m right across the street from it,” Treadwell said. “Knox Road is always busy. … It just kind of goes along with all the construction happening on campus.”
There are several projects also happening on the university’s campus, including the Cole Field House renovation, the Brendan Iribe Center and the construction on McKeldin Mall.
“I think the university is getting a whole face lift,” Treadwell said. “They’re trying to make it a little better and little newer for the new students coming in.”
