New, rent-controlled apartment buildings are set to open in College Park this spring and summer.
The buildings will house 317 units along Route 1 between Cherokee Street and Delaware Street, according to Danny Copeland, vice president of RST Development — the project’s developer. The new apartments provide additional low income housing opportunities in the city.
The first 78 units are expected to open in May and the remaining are set to open in August, Copeland said. The new apartments will include amenities such as a courtyard, a dog park, pool and grilling stations, according to Flats at College Park’s website.
Copeland said the new apartments’ rents are adjusted to be an average of 60 percent of the area’s median income. The rent limit in the apartments ranges from 50 to 80 percent of the area’s median income, he explained.
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District 2 College Park City Council member Susan Whitney said providing housing at a 60 percent median income rate diversifies the range of rent prices in the city because other affordable housing options in College Park are adjusted to about 80 percent of the area’s median income.
Whitney said she hopes creating these units will help the city thrive by bringing in new voters, event participants, committee volunteers and people to support small businesses.
“So much of our new housing is student housing and that makes it hard for businesses in the summer,” she said. “That is really helpful, to have 317 units of workforce housing with residents who will be here over the summer.”
The new development provides one- to three-bedroom apartments with different income-fixed rent options per floor plan.
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“It’s important that we have a community that’s welcoming to everyone,” Whitney said.
RST Development has also partnered with Food 4 Maryland, a nonprofit organization that provides hot meals to people in need, Copeland said.
The development company is providing a 3,000-square-foot commercial space to the nonprofit on the corner of Cherokee Street to increase community engagement and affordability, according to Copeland.
The commercial space will become Food 4 Maryland’s new headquarters, according to Mark Boulis, the nonprofit’s partnership development manager.
“Usually the people that are struggling, or homeless, they don’t really get a tasty meal. They’re eating whatever is given to them,” Boulis said. “We want to make sure that they’re getting an experience that … has some humanity and give[s] them a little dignity.”
