by Maya T. Prabhu | Staff Writer
Developer Herschel Blumberg has owned the 56-acre property where the University Town Center is being built along East West Highway for almost 50 years, where only three office buildings and parking lots sat up until the late 1990s.
It was then that Blumberg and his team decided to further develop the property, going to the Prince George’s County Planning Board to rezone the project in 1998.
Nine years later, apartments and a movie theater have opened, and residents will move into new condos and business owners will open their doors within the next few months at University Town Center, a mixed-use redevelopment project that will include residential, retail and office space near the University of Maryland College Park and next to the Prince George’s Plaza Metro Station.
Chris Hanessian, chief operating officer of University Town Center, said about 100 residential units and a couple million square feet of offices will be built on the property in the future.
‘‘[The project] is turning into a true town center,” said Tim Taylor, vice president of leasing for the development. ‘‘We started with office buildings, then added residential and retail. Many places call themselves a town center, but it’s just retail.”
Taylor said the town center will look like old-fashioned cities do, with retail on the first level and offices and residences above.
The project has 227,000 square feet of retail, including the Hyattsville Royale 14 movie theater and several restaurants.
Hanessian said construction of a 56,000-square-foot Safeway grocery store will begin at the end of the year and the developers are working on securing a hotel for the site.
The Towers at University Town Center, which opened last August, houses 910 students in 248 units from 11 local colleges and universities. Condominiums One Independence Plaza and Plaza Lofts 22 bring about 135 more residential units to the development.
Hanessian said residents at One Independence Plaza should start moving in toward the end of August. About 80 percent of the 122 units have been sold, he said.
George Gorayeb, sales manager for One Independence Plaza, said a mix of residents have purchased condos.
‘‘A majority are first-time home buyers who are federal employees working in [the District] and are pleased with town center living,” he said. ‘‘Some people have lived here their whole lives, raised children and are empty-nesters. So they’re selling their homes and purchasing here because they like the idea of being able to shop and have fun right outside, and not having to mow the lawn.”
A model for Plaza Lofts 22, which Taylor described as a more upscale development, should be open the first week of September with construction being complete by the end of the year.
A grand opening is scheduled for November but retail, which currently is mainly restaurants, will begin to open at the end of August.
‘‘We’re looking for retail that is not restaurants [since many of the current tenants are restaurants],” Hanessian said. He said he hoped to get a small electronics, camera and sporting goods stores signed on to the project.
‘‘We want to make it an entertainment destination,” Taylor said.
E-mail Maya T. Prabhu at mprabhu@gazette.net.
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