The City of College Park’s plan to redevelop its downtown City Hall property into a luxury hotel may be threatened by dissent among city officials and a lack of developer interest.
City officials hope to have a full-service luxury hotel downtown – a Hilton or similar – that would be used by dignitaries visiting the university and may help revitalize the downtown area.
Although the 38-acre East Campus development is just a few blocks north of the City Hall site and will likely include a hotel, East Campus developers support a downtown hotel. Local support for East Campus had been contingent on keeping the existing downtown area competitive rather than allowing all business activity to move up the road.
Under its plan, the city would sell its property and arrange for a new developer to buy out several storefronts that separate the city property from Route 1, between Lehigh and Knox Roads, including Subway and Smoothie King.
But city officials disagree on several aspects of the project.
City Planning Director Terry Schum clashed sharply with Mayor Stephen Brayman at a recent council meeting when the mayor asked her to narrow down seven “expressions of interest” the city received from developers about the possible project.
Schum said there was not enough information yet to choose a preferred developer because the city hasn’t yet been able to provide developers with enough information. When the initial request for expressions of interest was sent out over the summer, the city was months from securing property for a replacement city hall, a key step in the redevelopment that is still weeks away.
Without a new city hall site, the existing city hall property could not be redeveloped. Brayman said he hoped one or more developers would work with the city in discussing detailed plans for the site even before the city was certain it would be able to sell it, which Schum said may not work.
“We’re sort of flying by the seat of our pants, and you’re throwing out a lot of questions, and I don’t think we’re able to answer them. We can’t take seven people and just sort of string them along and throw them out along away,” she said. “I understand your goal, I just don’t know if it’s an attainable goal.”
None of the expressions of interest promised a Hilton or similar hotel, but one suggested a Hilton Garden Inn – an “upscale” hotel not quite as luxurious as Brayman had hoped for – that some city officials said is more likely to be able to survive on the relatively small property size and tight height restrictions the city is offering. District 2 Councilman Jack Perry supported the Hilton Garden idea, which Brayman rejected as “at the get-go trying to cheapen what we’ve got.”
“You couldn’t cheapen that block of Route 1 if you tore the whole thing down,” Perry said. He waved a picture of a Hilton Garden Inn, adding, “This is going to cheapen Route 1?”
Discussions among city staff and council members and a lack of detail in the expressions of interest are problematic in a development project with tight deadlines. The city is hoping to use a financing deal tied to the neighboring East Campus project, which is much further along the design process than the city’s hotel plan.
“It’s sort of like we’re juggling seven or eight balls in the air. There’s always the possibility for one or two of the balls to drop,” District 2 Councilman Bob Catlin said. “It’s somewhat of a long shot that this thing can be done, but there’s enough payoff that it’s worth it.”
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